All Topics / Help Needed! / Is it better to have a finacial advisor or do it yourself?

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  • Profile photo of doddsy1doddsy1
    Member
    @doddsy1
    Join Date: 2011
    Post Count: 1

    Hi,

    My wife and I have about 20K saved in a term deposit.

    We are both new to the investment game and are learning rapidly, though, we still have reservations on what to do with our money.

    We have a dual income and a fair bit left over that we seem to be able to waste without any effort at all.

    We have discussed at length what to do with our money and have so far not committed to anything though the idea of finding a finacial advisor keeps popping up.

    We have read Steve's books and are pretty keen to start investing in property though not sure if the aid of a finacial advisor is a waste of money or a positive step forward.

    Would anybody be able to help with this dilema?

    Can anyone recommend or provide any information that can help us getting started?

    Thanks

    Profile photo of DerekDerek
    Member
    @derek
    Join Date: 2004
    Post Count: 3,544
    doddsy1 wrote:
    We have a dual income and a fair bit left over that we seem to be able to waste without any effort at all.

    I was reading an article by Bill Zheng in recent weeks and he made a comment about successful investors also know how to manage their money. Got me thinking a bit I would say he isn't far off the mark. The reason I make this comment is that being an investor is not the panacea for everything and the first step in, what will be a long journey, is to learn to manage your money.

    By your own admission you seem to be able to 'waste without any effort' – to me this isn't a great sign unless you have recently recognised the issue and are now prepared to do something about it.

    Having said that having $20K put aside is a solid start – but the questions for you are: "What are you earning?" and "How long did it take you to put aside the $20K?" and finally, "Are you really prepared to make some sacrifices to your current spending/lifestyle habits to get started?"

    doddsy1 wrote:
    We have discussed at length what to do with our money and have so far not committed to anything though the idea of finding a finacial advisor keeps popping up.

     

    Most people here are anti-financial advisors as they, typically, are anti-property. Most advisors still work on a commission basis and got this reason they have a preference towards managed funds, shares and share funds. That is not to say these products don't and cannot be part of your overall plan but financial advisors/planners tend to be heavily biased away from property.

    It is also fair to say most people on here are DIY investors.

    doddsy1 wrote:
    We have read Steve's books and are pretty keen to start investing in property

    Not much argument here on this point.

    Profile photo of mattstamattsta
    Participant
    @mattsta
    Join Date: 2011
    Post Count: 604

    My parents use a financial adviser, but I tihnk it's because they don't really have the time or inclination to learn about money and financial education.
    I'm different though. I prefer learning things, so that I don't just hand over my money to someone else. Remember that some financial advisors tend to have a bias towards some products (since they get a commission for them)

Viewing 3 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

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