One newspaper in Mumbai has this headlined in one of their news items. It is an article on page 3 of the paper – telling people not to self medicate. It warns people of malaria, gastro, and generally saying if you have fever please go to a doctor.

However, a few pages later there is a chemist who runs a column on whether you should buy life insurance or no! Sorry I have no clue about the author. However, in India there is no clear line between a “financial planner”, “financial adviser” a “certified financial consultant” or a financial product salesman or what have you!

So you do not know whether you are dealing with a chemist or a doctor. At least medically speaking I know I am running the risk of going to a chemist (not recommended) instead of going to a doctor (recommended)! In case of a medical emergency at least my body will throw up some symptoms which will make me revisit my decision of going to a chemist.

In case of a financial decision my choice of going to a chemist maybe a bad decision, but I may not get the signals that it is a bad decision for a long time.

Say I find out that my decision to put money in a medical insurance or a pension plan was WRONG at the age of 55 years, maybe I cannot do anything about it. That would be a tragedy.