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Money 101:
Personal Money Planning's Newsletter
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Howdy!
Welcome to the first week of spring! Hopefully, spring rains are giving your garden flowers as much attention as your weeds. If you are anything like us in north Texas, you are just grateful for the precipitation. This week's newsletter touches on the recent Op-Ed from the ex-Goldman Sachs executive and if it will change how people think of Wall Street. We also shared a link from the Better Business Bureau showing scams that have been circulating in the past year.
Gary Silverman, CFP®
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Gary's Soapbox
In professional circles, we often talk about a "client-first" attitude, which is shorthand for giving your clients the same quality of financial advice as you would give your mother. It's a useful shorthand way to navigate through a financial world beset by incentive payments, expensive rewards for sales production, under-the-table or soft dollar incentives, and a host of other ways that product vendors try to buy their way into your portfolios.
"Client-first" simply means that the client's financial success and well-being comes before all other considerations. It's what you would expect from a doctor or other professional, and many of us believe that you have a right to expect the same level of care from your financial advisor.
You may have heard about the New York Times opinion piece by ex-Goldman Sachs executive, Greg Smith. He essentially pulled the curtains back and showed how Wall Street really works, which, in his eyes, was far away from "client-first". Goldman Sachs, once known as one of the most respected Wall Street organizations, has wandered away from the core values of integrity, teamwork and humility that attracted Smith to the firm right out of college.
"To put the problem in the simplest terms," he writes, "the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money." If that wasn't enough, he also exposed how senior level executives talked about their clients in meetings, calling them "muppets" or discussing "ripping eyeballs out" in order to make the most money for the company, without any regard to what was best for the client.
Smith predicts that companies--and people--who care only about making money will not be able to keep the trust of their customers.
But is this true? Chances are, most people reading this eye-opening article will be hearing about these things for the first time, and may not believe it's true about THEIR broker. Millions of people routinely trust their brokers and the big firms that buy Super Bowl advertisements. They never see this messy view from the other side of the curtain. They don't realize the hidden actions are chipping their retirement dollars in to the outsized Wall Street bonus pools.
You find yourself wondering: who's going to tell those "muppets"--your hard-working friends and neighbors--that their broker is quietly, invisibly, cleverly putting their interests last?
(Read Greg Smith's opinion piece here.)
--Gary
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Gary's Latest Articles: Times Record News and Biz to Biz
Risky Business While it's nice to be "comfortable," staying that way can sometimes leave you stuck when it comes to advancing in your career or business. Read Gary's take here...
Borrowing from Your Future Self When it seems like you have no other option, you may consider borrowing from your retirement savings. But is that a good idea? Read more...
The Money Tightrope There's a constant balancing act taking place to keep inflation in check, while still aiding in economic recovery. Learn how terms from physics help us to understand this process by clicking here. |
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Money 101: Spam and Scam
 A review of the top scams of last year
Whether they are knocking on your door or finding their way into your email or Facebook accounts, scam artists are finding new ways to perpetrate old (and new) shams.
Take a look at a report from the Better Business Bureau that highlights the top scams of 2011.Read More...
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Final Thought: College and Jobs
I'm all for college--after all, I've got two degrees myself. But according to the Department of Labor, of the seven occupations expected to create the largest number of new jobs, none of them (that's right, zero) require a 4-year college degree. I'm not saying that all of these are good paying, but they are jobs.
Sincerely,
Gary Silverman
Personal Money Planning |
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©2011 Personal Money Planning . All rights reserved by Personal Money Planning and content may not be reproduced, disseminated, or transferred in any form or by any means, except with the prior written permission of Personal Money Planning unless specifically noted. (Permission is not difficult to obtain.) The one exception is for downloading and printing information from this newsletter for general education by the original recipient.
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DISCLOSURE
This newsletter is produced by Gary Silverman, dba Personal Money Planning, a registered investment advisor located in Wichita Falls, Texas.
Information in this newsletter is believed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regards to the subject matter covered. However, the accuracy, timeliness, or applicability of the information is not guaranteed and is provided with the understanding that we are not rendering legal, accounting, tax, or other professional advice or services.
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