I wanted to provide a link to a great article from Christine Benz at Morningstar. The article is good in and of itself. There is a great deal of information about ETFs contained therein. The juicier part of the story is the comments below. Christine participates in the ongoing thread of comments. You will note that there is a “pesky” individual with the username: wmosconi. Well, that is me. I kind of started to egg the discussion on so to speak. There were many Financial Advisors who wrote in to defend the full-service industry and the value they provide. Now you do pay fees for their services. Again, I will admit that there is definitely a place for Financial Advisors. You just need to know what you are paying for in order to be an informed investor (really a consumer). My comments relate to many of my past postings. Additionally, the Financial Advisors bring up their opinions and debate the same topics. I just wanted to give you a link that frames these issues in a unique way at a website that I have no vested interest in, or more aptly am not influencing in any manner.
http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=604475#cpage=0
In terms of full disclosure, I do not work for Morningstar nor do I subscribe to any of their newsletters or research. Morningstar is a service that caters to individual investors and provides advice on mutual funds, ETFs, closed-end funds, and individual stocks. You may want to add them to your favorites list because the information is usually good and objective. It is free just to register, and you definitely will learn a lot if you take a look from time to time.
Excellent information for the younger worker to consider and plan ahead for their retirement. Often times workers don’t start seriously thinking about retirement and plans until their early 50’s which is really too late an age in my opinion.
Schools also need to incorporate financial literacy for all students from K through 12 as part of the basic curriculum – it is just as critical as the basic subjects of reading, writing, and mathematics.
MaryeLLEN
Thanks for the comment. Although thinking about your investments later in life may be “too late” due to the power of compounding and lack of income stream, it makes sense to start. You can save money on fees while in retirement if you learn about investments. True that the earlier the better.
I agree with the financial literacy component. There are some firms like Ernst & Young that sponsor such seminars and learning about personal finances. I find it sad that most high school graduates do not know how to balance a checkbook. I actually encountered people in my MBA program that were pursuing a finance specialization like me that did not know how to invest in a 401(k). It is just something that people put off or think that the financial markets are too complex. The media and financial services industry is not really doing anything to help the situation.
Cheers,
Will