The N.C.F.B.A. met on Monday night (OK we sat and watched Preet eat dinner), and as usual the discussions and commentaries were entertaining, enlightening and fun (for me at least), and one of the topics that came up was about Advice and what people do with the advice you might give them (Michael James has in fact written an excellent post on how Investment Advice Usually Reaches the Wrong People).
I remembered one of my worst pieces of “advice” I ever gave to a dear friend, so here again, I reprise an “oldie but goodie” for you, dear reader. This post goes back four years ago, but is still as painful to read today as it was to write back then.
A parable about advice… (not just financial)
A few years ago I car pooled with a wonderful guy we’ll call Jack for this story. Read More…
It all depends. I’ve had a few stinkers in my day and have been pitched a few my way as well that i have been burned on. In the end the advice shouldn’t be acted upon so eagerly. That is the biggest lesson ive learned. A friend may have my ear but through experience i know to keep an eye in the books and research on my own.
Not providing any advice at all is the worst. If you provide bad financial advice with no true backing behind it, it makes you less trustworthy but if you truly believed in it well then better luck next time.
A common bad financial advice i hear is that debt is a factor of life and everyone has it. This instills in people that it is okay to have debt which makes them build more of it.