DIY Investing

I heard a great analogy the other day. It has to do with oil changes in your car. If you wanted to, you could figure out how to do an oil change and save yourself some money. However, you might get oil dripped on your face, like what happened to my husband the first time he tried to change our Jeep’s oil many years ago. So, it might be messy, and mistakes might be made, and it might not turn out how you expect.

This same concept applies to investing.  There is a lot of investment information on the Internet, and if you have the time, interest, and patience, you could figure your way through investing and managing your finances. After all, this could save you some money, right? Saving money is good, right?

I recently learned about kit cars. Did you know that you can build your own car for much less than it would cost to buy a car from a dealership? I am not talking about building a model car; I am talking about a legit full-sized automobile, for a fraction of what you’d pay otherwise. Sounds great right? Low-cost is the name of the game. However…

• There may be over 30,000 parts
• You may spend anywhere from 100-1,500 hours building it
• You may need to pass an inspection before you can legally drive it

I love saving money, but I know almost nothing about cars, and I know literally nothing about building one. I can not even imagine where to start. Therefore, I choose to spend more money to buy a ready-made car, because I would just get into trouble with a kit car, and I am pretty sure it would not go anywhere.   A good investment at the beginning, that ends in significant loss of time and money.

Where am I going with this? Well, I am not trying to draw you some parallels between building a DIY car and DIY investing.

Obviously, it is not for everyone. Many people need and prefer interaction with a human financial advisor. Who is going to talk you off the ledge when the market is tanking, and you feel like selling everything and going to cash?  Human advisors do a lot of client coaching and help you avoid making costly mistakes.  Advisors also provide guidance and consulting on many other financially oriented decisions, like making a career change, purchasing a home, etc., and not just investments.

For example, in our firm, we focus on your goals of Wealth Navigation (what kinds of cash flow goals do you have?), Wealth Defense (how to protect yourself from blind spots such as taxes, liability, risk management), Wealth Transfer (who will inherit your wealth) and Investment Management, and many other things that we do daily for our clients.

Each year, financial advisors also take a significant amount of continuing education classes, attend industry conferences with experts in the field, and more. It is our job to put in all those hours staying on the cutting edge of best practices and industry standards.

If you have questions or would like to learn more about how a financial advisor can help, do not be afraid to send me a message.

 

Any opinions are those of Jill Carr and not necessarily those of RJFS or Raymond James. The information has been obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but we do not guarantee that the foregoing material is accurate or complete.