Investing after we graduate has peeked some interest in this blog before. This article gives a perspective that retirement investing with an advisor, even though there is a fee, can give a certain peace of mind that many might not be able to attain on their own. What are your thoughts? Hire a financial advisor or go at it alone?
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/story?guid=d663478c-d7ad-11e3-ad17-00212803fad6
I agree that financial advisors certainly can be valuable to have, and I do plan on having one eventually. I remember reading one statistic (I forget the source unfortunately) that the market has returned about 9% over the past 30 years but individual investors without advisors have realized only 3-4% gains. This discrepancy is probably largely due to individuals being too emotional with their investments and fleeing the market when there are downturns. An advisor can help to encourage people to stay in the market because in the long term it always goes up (at least empirically that has been the case). There are behavioral issues with investing, and I think advisors can help to flesh out some of the more problematic issues.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Sanjay. Investing has an emotional component and having a financial advisor helps us take away that pressure. We pay financial advisors to take the worry away from us and to take risks for us!
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