I should have called this “whom to trust with your money” or “whom to trust for financial advice” but I just chose ‘whom to trust’

So whom should one trust while investing?

Should you trust bloggers? Very difficult to say. Lets take my blog. I have lived a very unconventional life after passing a few accounting exams. I trained as a lawyer, and enjoyed the process. I did equity research and brokerage for a living. I think I was well equipped to retire at 39, and have not really regretted the decision. Training and the equity boom of 2003-7 came as sweeteners. Are you in a similar risk taking mode? I bought Dfhl recently and I tell people ‘don’t catch a falling knife’. I have a Rolodex where I know whom to call before I buy a quantity with more than 2 zeroes. So I am different. I am not here to impress you, or confuse you. I am more in the Plato mode of asking questions. Remember you have to find the answers yourself. Most bloggers are here to sign you up for advising, selling a credit card, or at least sell you a book. (btw Retire Rich invest Rs.40 a day, NEW EDITION is available for a pre-release version..or will be available soon on amazon, flipkart, etc.). So you see there cannot be a blog without an agenda. Maybe there is no vested interest, but many of us are chased everyday to be an “Influencer” – which means take money for blogging or tweeting. Not bad, but caveat emptor.

Should you trust Guru? Well most guru advice is generic. So if I were to come on television and say “equity will give better returns than debt over say the next 10 years” WHAT IS THERE FOR YOU to take away from this? seriously this is generic and not of great practical use to you. Some of the Gurus who are currently working in one brand will tell you privately that it was work pressure. Think of fund managers who will talk about “market being a little heated up” and next week coming on the same channel, with the same people to talk about his/her NFO. What is “right” and what is “work pressure” is something that you will never find out. If I do a post saying Icici bank’s hold on technology is better than Hdfc bank AM I SAYING SELL hdfc bank shares and buy Icici bank, NO. NYET. HAHI. So understanding what the gurus are saying is different, and being able to use it is very different. Be careful. In most Guru advice it is actually an ad for calling the reader/viewer to their office so that they can sell something to you. At least a book if not a Ulip or fee based advice or an expensive seat in an expensive seminar. What more do I need to say that Robert Kiyosaki makes money by selling seats in his expensive seminars, writing books, etc. and not by doing those fancy real estate deals? go and research why he filed for bankruptcy and who took him to court. So media is out, gurus are out.

Should you trust the journalist? Well J normally peddle advice and/or influence. None of them have been trained to be a finance professional (yes there are some exceptions, and i will not name HER!) BUT generally a tv anchor is expected to look good, read fast off the teleprompter and are ALMOST ALWAYS dependent on somebody else for the script. With 8 years experience do they become experts?NO. It is easy for me to nit pick, but what I am driving at is that they have no clue on the subtleties of the subject. So most of them cannot tell why a Term insurance with return of premium is a bastardized version of Term insurance. It is like saying “French fries are veggies too’. They are right, but they don’t understand it enough to be called advise givers.

Should you trust advisers? well ‘advisers’ is not an average word. The standard deviation is very high You will have a very well qualified product pusher, so you have to be careful. You will have a very nice human being with a 28 year experience record, but he may be lacking in updating new changes. Talk to some of the advisers clients, see whether the temperament suits you. See whether it makes sense to go to an RIA who charges Rs. 78000 a year for doing a Rs. 10,000 sip. Or to have simple questions answered.

I agree, it is a tough job ahead of you. YOU ARE the only person who has YOUR best at heart. However, you have to build your competencies. You don’t go to your mother if you have a toothache. You go to a qualified dentist, right?