Take the personal finance quiz

[jackely]

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2012/ ... Loan-rates

For the record, I got a perfect score. My bet is most PPer's will score very high.

[l82start]

"what does IPO stand for?"
It’s Probably Overpriced

lmao

[Pointedstick]

Not sure what my actual score was, but my rating was FINANCIAL WHIZ. I also suspect that most PP'ers will get similar results. My experience has been that joining this forum and setting up a PP has been like grabbing hold of a moving train to financial-experience-ville. I've learned more in two months than I did in two years of college econ courses and three years of private study and personal money management.

[Alanw]

Not sure what my actual score was, but my rating was FINANCIAL WHIZ. I also suspect that most PP'ers will get similar results. My experience has been that joining this forum and setting up a PP has been like grabbing hold of a moving train to financial-experience-ville. I've learned more in two months than I did in two years of college econ courses and three years of private study and personal money management.

I have also learned more on this site and Craig's Crawling Road site than I have in my entire investment life.  Several years ago I even believed that my financial planner had my best interest at heart.  He would invite me to investment seminars sponsered by GE, Met Life, etc.  I understood very little of what they were talking about.  I just trusted him to put me in the best investments.  After the market downturn of 2008 and when I started a self education program, I realized that this was not always the case.  It seems that my investments were in programs that carried a high commision.  At that point I fired him and have since managed my own investments.  After struggling to find my way, I finally discovered these sites a couple of years ago and have since moved most of my investments into the PP.

The PP has been a great find for my investment portfolio but the most important thing is the peace of mind and complacency it has given me towards the markets and my investment life.

[Tortoise]

Several years ago I even believed that my financial planner had my best interest at heart.  He would invite me to investment seminars sponsered by GE, Met Life, etc.  I understood very little of what they were talking about.  I just trusted him to put me in the best investments.  After the market downturn of 2008 and when I started a self education program, I realized that this was not always the case.  It seems that my investments were in programs that carried a high commision.  At that point I fired him and have since managed my own investments.

Isn't it disturbing how so many financial planners and high-expense funds seem to prey on financially illiterate people?

Before she married me, my wife had a financial planner managing her IRA investments. When I reviewed her investments, I discovered that the guy had put her money exclusively in ridiculously high-expense funds. I think the stock fund had an expense ratio above 2.5%. Unbelievable.

[jackely]

Isn't it disturbing how so many financial planners and high-expense funds seem to prey on financially illiterate people?

Before she married me, my wife had a financial planner managing her IRA investments. When I reviewed her investments, I discovered that the guy had put her money exclusively in ridiculously high-expense funds. I think the stock fund had an expense ratio above 2.5%. Unbelievable.

It could have been worse. The first mutual funds I was advised to buy by a financial adviser (Smith Barney) were funds from Putnam that you had to pay to get into and pay to get out of - not to even mention the yearly expense fees. By the time I finally learned what the terms "load" and "no-load" meant she was long gone and I had to cut my losses to get out of those funds.

Never again, I said.