Comments on: My Top 7 Disagreements With Personal Finance Experts

By: Luis Guilherme

Luis Guilherme — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 02:25:10 +0000

I don’t agree with only one thing: not having a cash savings account, especially if you’re not retired or FI yet. Huge downturns in the market are especially correlated with layoffs, so a tumble on your money at the same time of a loss of income is tough.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Thu, 28 Dec 2017 15:03:14 +0000

In reply to Superbien. Excellent way to distinguish between the two type of people - I like that! Panic mode or Hustle mode. Might have to borrow that for an upcoming post :)

By: Superbien

Superbien — Wed, 27 Dec 2017 14:21:55 +0000

In reply to Mrs. Mad Money Monster | @madmoneymonster.

Agreed, excellent article!

It’s important to distinguish between people with their financial house in order, vs those who are in panic mode. This article is for people who have their house at least somewhat in order.

So the emergency fund – someone who is barely living paycheck to paycheck needs a cushion, because being poor is ironically one of the most expensive conditions (in the US at least). It’s that simple.

But someone who has comfortable savings can then fine tune how that cushion can look – cash or cash equivalents, easily liquidated investments, etc. This article is for fine tuning.

Personally, I love to talk about personal finance. If someone asks what they should do, I ask questions to figure out if they’re in panic mode or comfortable. In panic mode, I usually recommend Dave Ramsey (even though I disagree with parts of his technical approach and the religious enmeshing) – because he is amazing at harnessing emotions to do something really hard. In my own life, I was comfortable financially then got knocked back and had to struggle back up – I knew enough not to follow his method, but relied heavily on his website and radio for motivation.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 20:32:51 +0000

In reply to Zack.

Rock on! Glad to have helped jump start the journey here for you :) Looks like you’re now in the blogging game too – welcome!

Be sure to submit it over to our Directory!

http://directory.rockstarfinance.com/submit-blog

By: Zack

Zack — Tue, 28 Nov 2017 22:19:23 +0000

Elite Edge Money is the first finance blog I started reading which started a chain reaction of finding new blogs to read. I was happy to see as I was reading through the Early Retirement Now blog that big ERN has a post on Elite Edge Money. Thanks for both of your work. I appreciate it.

FYI I agree with 100% of the article.

By: Pat

Pat — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 12:02:47 +0000

I have an issue with ERN taking such a affront to robi advisors. They are there so that we (or I) can save effiecitently, but not have my money the only thought on my mind. If i was do research all of the laws of the market and then research what to put my money into, I would better spend my time being a full time finacial person. I, however prefer to spend more of my time now following my goals sincesinceany of those are far more are dependant and retiri g early means squat when I haven’t spent the time learning other things that will gap me achieve the goals I want in retirement. It’s all well and good to say you want to retire early so you can travel, but when your reason for traveling is to rock climb in various countries, traveling when you can’t climb is pretty pointless. I think this is a good post for those who are bent set on retiring early, but doesn’t address personal choice of putting off retirement to follow an actual passion. I don’t think retiring early is a decent passion in the least. I think finances should be think about what you want to do, then think about how money can get you there instead of think about how to retire, then worry about what you want to do once you get there. I’m pretty young, but my dad just retired and he doesn’t really know what to do with his retirement after 30+ years of working his ads off to get there, so why not spend a few more years working of you can do what you love the entire time you are working?

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 01:40:37 +0000

On your point that robo advisors are a waste of money, I don’t disagree that it’s a true statement for you…. and for every “FIRE” fanatic following your blog. But… for all my friends who still have their 401K at their former employer and haven’t looked at it for years … or for people who barely have any investments at all, it’s a huge value for them to hand their assets over and have them managed efficiently (and without turning over 1-2%.)

By: J. Money

J. Money — Sun, 29 Jan 2017 20:16:14 +0000

In reply to Adrian.

Haha….

While I agree with most of that comment there, the part that matters most with any of this stuff is the *taking action* part. And my guess is that robo advisors’ target audience are mainly people who have never invested before, and thus – better to pay extra in fees to have $$$ in the market than not. So I personally still think they’re adding value out there.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Sun, 29 Jan 2017 20:11:50 +0000

In reply to Jacq.

I’m the same way with retirement accounts – once it’s in there it’s in there! Gotta find other ways to pay the bills :)

By: Adrian

Adrian — Sat, 28 Jan 2017 10:34:08 +0000

Wow did you get some comments. You made some excellent points some of which I agree others not so much.

I agree on your thoughts re robo advice. I am at a lost to understand why someone spent a portion of their limited time on earth devoted to mechanizing a process so easy to DIY. The robo algorithm merely suggests an investment portfolio as a result of establishing risk profiles. There are about 6 standard portfolios within the advice industry ranging from conservative through to high growth. This standardization of portfolio’s based on client risk has been ‘de rigueur’ for about 3,000 years (this figure may be slightly overstated), so what a robo is providing is absolutely nothing new what so ever. Robo advisers are not AI so you would be much better served to check the standard questions asked by all advisers to establish risk and check the corresponding portfolio and then do it yourself -, bingo..

And by the way, no doubt your friendly robo adviser also has their very own selection of in house products to push, which kinda makes a joke of the word ‘advice’ – it would be cheaper and far more sensible to get investment advice from a gum ball machine in a bowling alley