HI Gman, Whew! hee hee...read it twice to absorb it all. I thnk I will just shoot him an email with a question about the guided portfolio. Thing is, I know I asked him about it last time we met in person but honestly was still confused, it was just 50 bucks a year I thought I did not really need to spend but did it anyway and have for the past year and a half or so. But I have had net losses pretty consistently for the past year and one half (coincidence? I dont know). I hate feeling dumb asking him questions but I did not graduate financial investing 101. lol. christy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gman" <gman.pctt@xxxxxxxxx> To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, February 01, 2009 7:53 PM Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: offtopic,mutual fund questions > Cristy, > Using email, I don't have the means to pour over your investments to > help you determine the answers you're seeking here. However, I'm a little > confused myself as to why you have both a financial advisor AND a > portfolio > guide service. Since you initially asked about mutual funds, you ALSO > have > the already paid-for services of the mutual fund's managers, which is a > group of advisors who's job security depends on how well they can predict > the market and make money for you. > > If you really think about it, the only folks who's own financial future > is truly linked with yours is with the mutual fund management team. They > also have more insider insight into what's going on behind the scenes > before > they make changes to their portfolio. You can pull out of the agreements > if > you're not happy with the performance/advice you get from your advisor > &/or > the portfolio guide service, but that doesn't threaten their business. > They'll still have plenty of other clients and they'll lose very little. > However, it's VERY much in a mutual fund manager's favor to always stay on > top of everything in their area of expertise in order to keep their job. > If > they fail the fund, they're fired and lose everything. For this reason, > the > safest bet is always going to be on a well managed mutual fund. Just keep > i > mind that there are different types of funds with some focusing primarily > on > stocks and quick turnarounds, others that divest between stocks and bonds > (both tend to move in different directions depending on the overall > finanical climate), some that focus on divident producing investments, > some > that focus more on overseas opportunities, etc.. To that end, not all > funds > are right for all investors, so be sure you're comfortable with the type > of > fund approach that you're money is going to. Also, compare different > funds > of the type you wish to use to make sure the one(s) you use have been well > managed over a long period of time. Some will obviously have better > performance than others. > > Having said that, several other thoughts still come into play here. > Some are universal and some apply specifically to your situation. > > Universally, those who are in control of the overall financial picture > of the world have made some mighty huge long-term errors (it can be traced > back at least to the US government's establishment of the Federal Reserve > Bank, but I'll argue that it goes back quite a bit further than that) and > brought about the present worldwide financial crisis. As a result, even > large businesses are losing tons of money. Some have already gone under > and > some others won't be around much longer. It's during times like these > that > we'll see more and more consolidation as some better off businesses will > do > all they can to buy up their not-so-financially-healthy competition. As > competition lessens, prices go up and that just makes things worse for > regular folks like you and me. As folks like us have less to spend, we > buy > less and that affects ALL businesses, but especially those who specialize > in > non-essential services such as home improvement contractors (heat is more > important than home improvement), restarants (folks eat at home more > often), > entertainment (who has money for going to the movies of theater these > days?), etc.. Since small businesses are the true economy movers (much > more > overall money trades hands through small businesses than through large > corporations), THIS situation is what's going to force the various world > governments' hands more than anything into forcing the money controllers > to > turn things around again. If many more of our small businesses go under > due > to lack of customers, some countries (including the US) could collapse in > on > themselves and we'll all lose much more than our money. I appologize if > any > of this is making you more nervous that you already were. > > My apologies to anyone following this thread who is not a US citizen, but > I'm going to focus specifically on the US for the next couple of > paragraphs. > > As I see it, the US government is WAY too big, spends WAY too much on > nearly worthless endeavors where they don't belong in the first place and > they don't even have any of their OWN money (they don't produce anything, > so > how can they earn money?). It's the taxpayer's money that they're > spending > on so many things we, the people, simply don't need. They need to start > spending our money on things that will create new jobs and put those in > need > back to work. Individual states try to brag about how they were able to > create 12,000 new jobs last year, but they fail to mention that 130,000 > old > jobs were 'repositioned' overseas. Of course, that's great news for the > other countries that received the jobs, but the losses here are a rather > significant part of what's hurting our economy, and that's on top of the > already straining financial market caused by the gov't printing too much > money to fund their various wars and skirmishes around the world in the > name > of "democracy". > > The reason why I bring all of this up is not to frighten you. It's to > try and explain that there's a lot more to the financial health of your > portfolio than just how well some guy picks out stocks, bonds, etc.. > Until > the world's government leadership makes most of the changes needed to turn > things around (here in the US that responsibility falls on Congress, not > the > president), our collective portfolios will not be able to fully rebound > from > the damage already caused by so many dumb laws, ignorant (but usually > intentional) loopholes and money wasted on things that aren't in the best > interest of the people providing that money. So far, Obama appears to be > doing all he can to lead the charge towards turning things around, but > he's > going to need a lot more firepower than just his presidency to get things > done in a hurry. He's not the one with any real power to make changes to > the laws that have allowed lenders to pillage us for years. Again, that > responsibility falls to the lawmakers and they are not hearing enough > warnings from the people who pay their salaries and elect them into > positions within the Senate and House of Representatives. In fact, most > folks seem to think that the responsibility falls on the presiding > president. Since they tend to take their frustrations out on the > president, > Congress doesn't even get to hear them. If everyone would direct their > displeasure at their own representatives in Congress, we'd see a LOT more > things 'fixed' in a really short amount of time. It would also give Obama > plenty of fuel & momentum to really push them into taking things off the > books that have been hurting the country (such as the laws that currently > allow credit card issuers to continue gouging us with ridiculous rates, > fees > and penalties for the next 17 months or so). If you want to help the > country get back on track, research the issues and get in touch with the > folks who make the laws we all have to follow. It's the only way to make > sure the laws actually work FOR us instead of AGAINST us. If we don't do > it > ourselves, the only voices the lawmakers will continue to hear are those > of > the lobbyists, and they only care about the folks who hired them. > > Ok, that should be enough of the world/US news to give you a wider view of > why things aren't going so well right now. So let's talk about your own > situation some more. > > If your personal financial advisor has never given you any reason to > doubt his/her advice (never intentionally stung you), I would suggest > spending a little time with that person discussing your options. In order > to sell that kind of service, they must pass a relatively long test to > show > that they understand each of the options available to their customers. > While it's definitely not the same thing as going to law school for 4 > years, > it still ensures that they are up to date on what's available to their > clients and that's more than I can say for myself, having been out of that > business for nearly 20 years (things change every year). I tend to agree > with the advice to stay away from portfilio guide services unless you plan > to use them as your primary financial advisor. You don't need two of them > unless you're rich and want to split up your investments among several > services. But if you're rich, you'd hire one to only work for YOU and > forget all of that. Unlike a service, his/her job would then depend on > their ability to keep your money growing. lol > > Take along a small tape recorder and ask them for permission to tape > the > session before you begin. That way, you'll be able to relisten to the > conversation, research any items or topics that need to be clarified, look > up and compare specific investment ideas they mention and finally make an > informed choice about how you'll weather out the remainder of this > financial > storm. It's great to have faith in someone else making educated > suggestions > (like you have with me), but nothing beats knowing what's going on when it > comes to that kind of a relationship. I know this appears to be the > opposite of what I said yesterday, but the difference is that you're > putting > your faith in a single person who doesn't need to perform at peak > performance in order to stay in business as opposed to a more diversified > fund management team who MUST get the best returns on the investment money > they handle. Of course, if they're investing your money in mutual funds, > you're hopefully getting the best of both worlds. > > Peace, > Gman > > http://www.bornagainamerican.org > "The only dumb questions are the ones we fail to ask" > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "cristy" <poppy0206@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Sent: Sunday, February 01, 2009 5:46 PM > Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: offtopic,mutual fund questions > > >> HI Gman, >> >> I must admit I am a bit uneducated in all of this but have put faith in >> my >> financial advisor. Under normal circumstances, I would know I will be >> working for at least ten more years so would make sense to leave it in. >> But, there is a possibility I could become disabled before then possibly >> to >> the point of not being able to work, so this part is a little risky for >> me. >> >> I also am somewhat confused about this portfolio guide service they >> offered >> that I went ahead and signed up for again on my advisor's advise. I pay >> about $50.00 bucks a year and the powers to be decide best where to put >> my >> money. It also gives you projections or something too. I had noticed my >> money in the +gain side before I went to this service, coincidence, I >> don't >> know. But for the past year and one half have seen all -loss signs in my >> total amount of my funds. I did do one withdrawal a few years back but >> was >> for a good reason and this was agreed that it was with my advisor. To >> buy >> back service credit at a very good rate at the time. >> >> I have steadily increased my monthly amounts going in also. I am >> wondering >> how did they determine where to put the money before the guided portfolio >> service and was it doing better then since I was seeing more gains than >> losses. >> >> christy > > --------------------------------------------------------------- > Please remember to trim your replies (including this sentence and > everything below it) and adjust the subject line as necessary. > > To unsubscribe or change your email settings: > //www.freelists.org/webpage/pctechtalk > > To access our Archives: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PCTechTalk/messages/ > //www.freelists.org/archives/pctechtalk/ > > To contact only the PCTT Mod Squad, write to: > pctechtalk-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > > To join the PCTableTalk off-topic group, send a blank email to: > pctabletalk+subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > --------------------------------------------------------------- > > --------------------------------------------------------------- Please remember to trim your replies (including this sentence and everything below it) and adjust the subject line as necessary. 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