Today, gurus are everywhere. They’re on television, the Internet, and most forms of media. It’s hard to turn on the radio and not hear some self-acclaimed financial expert tout the joys of everything from debt reduction to using paid advisors who pay him to push their services on his audience. But please remember one thing about gurus:

Gurus are really just salespeople

When the blond with the short hair goes on Oprah and talks tough about money, she’s there to do one thing: sell her books. When the guy on the radio calls you stupid and dumb for getting into debt, he believes it but really just wants to sell his “university” course on achieving peace of mind financially.

What gurus sell is a dream

It may be a dream to be debt free and scream it to millions of people over your telephone. It may be to start your own successful company because your dad was the “poor one” doomed to life as an employee for 45 years. It may be a dream to create a multi-million dollar portfolio by simply refusing a frou-frou coffee drink and investing that $4 per day instead. But one thing you can be assured of: gurus didn’t get rich by cutting up their credit cards, foregoing the lattes, pinching their pennies, buying distressed properties, or purchasing discounted mortgages. They got rich by selling a dream that reverberated with the average person cruising through a bookstore, listening to AM radio, watching late night TV or watching Oprah at 3:00 in the afternoon.

Some guru information IS good

The guy on the radio that fancies himself a financial expert because he did “dumb” things a long time ago does know how to help people reduce their debt: it all boils down to motivation and a “dream” of financial freedom. He’s great at it, using words like “KOO-EWL”, and “YOU PAID OFF TEN BAZILLION DOLLARS IN 2 YEARS? THAT’S FREAKIN’ AWESOME!”

The blond on CNBC who was prominently featured on Oprah (you know the one who always seems to wear a trench coat?) also gives out some decent information, especially on her television show where people present their financial situation and ask if she thinks they can afford a six month ’round the world cruise while deep in debt and earning only $16,000 per year (duh — NO). I guess her Bachelor’s degree in social work helped her figure that one out.

Some guru information is used poorly, impossible to do, or just plain wrong

The guy with the poor father also relies on motivation, but uses a lot of jealousy and invented stories about his childhood to motivate people to start businesses. That guy cracks me up when he claims that if he were starting over today he would be in multi-level marketing. As if he would be selling vitamins or soap or jungle-juice door to door and drawing circles on a white board in some trailer park every night … especially when we all know he would be the one at the top yelling, “Go Diamond!”

Some of the most egregious information I’ve heard from these gurus:

• Count on a 12% to 15% return in the stock market over the next 25 years
  • Six to eight percent is a more realistic number
• Invest 100% of your portfolio in stock mutual funds
  • No, diversify and spread your risk over multiple asset classes
• Mutual fund fees aren’t anything you need to worry about
  • Fees can erode your returns rapidly
• Figure on an 8% withdrawal rate in retirement
  • The standard is four percent but three is even safer
• All college education is a waste of time and money
  • College graduates consistently make more money than those without that education
• Use these commission-based advisors (who’ve paid me to endorse and push them)
  • Do I really need to explain how this is a MASSIVE conflict of interest?
• Only use Roth IRAs (never a traditional IRA or employer-sponsored plans)
  • Different accounts are best for different people at different times in their different lives
• Don’t even concern yourself with tax brackets
  • Taxes are the only thing that can erode your returns faster than fees
• If you work for someone else, you’re a worthless pawn
  • No you’re not, you’re earning a living and providing for your family
• Ignore all ETFs, fixed annuities, bonds, CDs, and REITs. There is NO time those are ever okay to invest in
  • Wrong, wrong, wrong. These have their place in a diversified portfolio
• Cut back drastically on every aspect of your lifestyle and you’ll be able to retire rich sooner than you think
  • Cutting your spending is smart, it just needs to be balanced with earning more
• And, though not a bad idea, just incredibly hard to implement – save 8 months of income in an emergency fund
  • Umm, yeah … how long would this take? The recession would be over by the time most people could save that much in their emergency fund.

Where is the best source to get good financial information and counseling?

Professionals. People who’ve been trained and know what they’re talking about. People who aren’t out just to sell you a course, a book, or a set of CD’s or DVD’s that explain how they got rich.

One fantastic source to find these professionals is WiserAdviser, a site that matches you to a financial advisor, tax accountant, or other financial professional that can help you sort out your finances. I highly recommend this site.

An alternate source to get your initial financial information is the Internet and blogs. Don’t discount the hours of research that goes into a blog post but don’t rely exclusively on it either. Use financial blogs as a springboard to further educate yourself on the ins-and-outs of whatever financial topic you need help understanding.

Here are some great blog posts from the past few weeks:

• Why You Should Get a Seasonal Job
• Eliminate Taxes With a Roth IRA
• I’m Afraid of a Bond Bubble
• Five Totally Weird Ways To Invest Your Money
• Don’t listen to the business media for investment direction.
• The Payday Loan Trap
• Consumers May Have Won This Round, But The Bank Fee War Is Far From Over
• Save Money When Making a Big-Ticket Purchase
• Important Money Skills to Teach Your Children
• Five Reasons To Be Optimistic About Student Loan Debt
• The Average Family Has Over $100,000 in Loans
• How To Buy a Foreclosure
• Maintenance and Preparation for Winter

Links to products or services may be affiliate links. See my disclosure policy on the site or on my About page.

I recently received this email from one of those serial email friends:

There recently was an article in the St. Petersburg , Florida Times. The Business Section asked readers for ideas on: “How Would You Fix the Economy?” I think this guy nailed it!

Dear Mr. President,

Please find below my suggestion for fixing America ’s economy. Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, spend a measly $40 billion using the following plan.

You can call it the “Patriotic Retirement Plan”:
There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force. Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings – Unemployment fixed.
2) They MUST buy a new AMERICAN Car. Forty million cars ordered – Auto Industry fixed.
3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage – Housing Crisis fixed.

It can’t get any easier than that!!
P.S. If more money is needed, have all members in Congress pay their taxes..
Mr. President, while you’re at it, make Congress retire on Social Security and Medicare. I’ll bet both programs would be fixed pronto!

Wow. Funny how something can look good at first glance but then math and logic catches up. Perhaps my friend’s enthusiasm was due to his being over 50?

My first thought: 40,000,000 x $1,000,000 is $40 TRILLION dollars, not $40 billion. With the US in debt to the tune of $14 trillion already, where is this money supposed to come from? Congress couldn’t generate enough taxes if we took ALL of their income.

Oh, we can just print the cash … right? No, not really. With a sudden influx of $40 trillion dollars (read How Much Is A Trillion, the amount of inflation that would instantly hit the economy would be devastating, crippling, and shattering. NO ONE would continue to sell anything for the same price when so many people had so much cash available to them. Inflation is technically an increase in the money supply – rising prices is only the result of that money supply increase but that’s what people see. If we injected $40 trillion into the economy, we would experience and immense swing in prices up, followed by a devastating crash back to earth after all that cash was spent … and no one needed a new car or new home for several years.

My second thought is … FORCED retirement on people over the age of 50? FORCED? What kind of “free country” is THAT? Also, is there any reason to believe that ALL 40 million people over 50 are employed and that there are 40 million more (young) people readily trained and willing to take their positions? I’m guessing the author was under 30 … or less. His logic sounds like he’s about 8 years old.

Thirdly, they MUST buy an American car? What about Honda, Hyundai, or Mercedes (all made in Alabama). What about BMW (made in Spartanburg, SC)? What about all the other “foreign” car companies that employ thousands of Americans in plants on US soil? Do we have to buy the Ford, GMC, or Chrysler products that have the majority of their parts made in Mexico or Canada? And didn’t we learn anything at all from the failure of the Cash for Clunkers program?

Next, they MUST buy a home or pay off their mortgage? What if they don’t want to move and have already paid off their home? Do they have to pay off their neighbor’s home? And retire? And buy an “American” made car? With only ONE million dollars? Hahaha!

Obviously the loony-toon guy that thought this up was occupying something and I’m thinking it was a crack house.

If you want some REALLY good advice that makes sense, check out this week’s links from my friends in the Personal Finance Blogosphere:

• How Warren Buffet’s Tax Rate Is Lower Than His Secretary’s
• How to Use Dollar Cost Averaging to Max Out Your Roth IRA Contributions
• How To Create A Personal Budget
• 2012 Roth IRA Rules Changes
• What Is Your Tipping Policy?
• 4 Crucial Tips To Help You Save For Your Next Car Purchase
• ETF vs. Index Funds (revisited)
• If You Don’t Establish Credit Now You’ll Hate Yourself Later
• Changes To The Federal Student Loan Income Based Repayment Plan
• Long Distance Voice Plan vs Skype With Roaming Data Plan
• How Do You Measure Up Financially?
• Why IKEA Is Killing My Finances
• Why Reverse Mortgages Are Not A Retirement Option
• Credit Karma: Free Credit Score No Credit Card Required
• Sallie Mae 2% Cash Bank & $100 Sign Up Bonus
• How To Save Money At Costco

Links to products or services may be affiliate links. See my disclosure policy on the site or on my About page.

There are always some surprising tidbits when you start doing any market research. See if you can guess which age from Here are some highlights about the growing usage of online media of this age group:

• The 2010 US Census counted 40 million of this group in the US; 13% of the total population.
• According to eMarketer, this portion of the population will reach an estimated total of 72 million, nearly 20% of the projected total population by 2030.
• Online media is quickly increasing its reach and will soon surpass traditional media habits of this age group, reaching 56.0% by 2015.
• Social networking sites are mainly used for connecting with friends and family. In the last 3 years, social networking increased from 4.7% to 28% amongst this group. eMarketer forecasts a rise to 36% by 2013.
• 56% of internet users in this age group 64 to 72 purchase products online.

If you guessed the over 50 age demographic, you’re right. Surprised? One day, and it will be before you know it, you’ll be in this age group!

Here are some of this week’s super links to take a look at:

• Europe Digs An Even DEEPER Debt Hole
• Estate Planning: Protect Your Assets
• A Practical Way To Estimate And Budget For Home Maintenance Costs
• Having Trouble with Your Student Loans? 3 Options to Help You
• How to Order Wine At a Restaurant Without Embarrassing Yourself
• Income Statement Basics
• Should You Automatically Reinvest Your Dividends?
• TD Ameritrade Online Stock Trading Review
• Where to Open a Roth IRA Account

Links to products or services may be affiliate links. See my disclosure policy on the site or on my About page.

Have you ever considered what is needed to effectively accomplish a task? I’ve been turning this over in my head for the past few days as I meditated on several things that I needed to happen at one of my stores. Here is what I came up with:

1. Tools – having the proper tools is critical
2. Knowledge – tools are worthless if you don’t know how to use them
3. Training – book knowledge is great, training is better
4. Willingness – nothing happens unless someone is willing to make it happen
5. Experience – many tasks are much better performed by experienced people
6. Enthusiasm – working with enthusiasm is the difference between getting something done and getting it done efficiently
7. Commitment - a commitment to excellence and doing it right

Doing something, and doing it well, requires all seven components. Is there anything else I should consider adding to the list? Leave me a comment!

Here are some great posts that were all done well!

• Anyone Else Tired of Hearing the Rich Whining About Taxes?
• Sick of Wellness Programs: The End of Group Health Insurance?
• 7 Ways to Become a More Frugal Family
• How to Talk About Wine
• How To Erase Your Debts The Hard Way
• 7 Money Tips for Savvy Travelers
• How I Almost Got Tricked into Buying Flood Insurance I Didn’t Need
• What You CAN’T Hold in an IRA
• Is This Proof That Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme?
• Disappearing Middle Class [An Analysis]
• How To Sell An ETF Or Stock Using A Canadian Discount Brokerage
• 10 Places You Might Not Expect to Find a Job
• Financial Advice for Pro Athletes
• A Cup of Coffee Isn’t Just a Cup of Coffee 
• The High Stakes of Penny Auctions: Good Deals or Big Risk?
• Preparing for Emergencies- Hurricane Irene in North Carolina
• Why Investing Isn’t Such a Hot Idea
• What Are Real Return Bonds?
• How To Invest Money For Your Kids
• Withdrawal Rates and Early Retirement

Links to products or services may be affiliate links. See my disclosure policy on the site or on my About page.

No matter the circumstances, there’s probably a legal document for it and a lawyer waiting to charge you. But like so many other things, many legal documents are now available online … and many of them are free! We run into the need for legal documents more often than we think and most of them are available online.

What are the top 5 downloaded legal documents?

Power Of Attorney

A Power of Attorney allows a person to give legal permission to another person or organization to act on his or her behalf in a variety of legal and financial situations. Why is this an important document? By setting up a power of attorney you allow your designee to act for you in situations where you may not be able. A Power of Attorney can be General (granting broad powers) or Special (granting powers over specified situations only, such as in medical situations). In addition, it may be made into a Durable Power of Attorney, which means that it would remain in effect even if you became legally incompetent.

Get a Power of Attorney form.

Bill Of Sale

A bill of sale is used to transfer personal property to a buyer, in most cases a vehicle. It includes a detailed description of the property and a warranty statement.

Get a Bill of Sale form.

Residential Lease

This is the standard form Lease agreement between a landlord and a tenant and it explains the rights and obligations of each party regarding the rental of property that will be used as a residence.

Get a Residential Lease form.

Divorce Settlement Agreement

A Divorce Settlement Agreement is a legal document prepared by spouses seeking a divorce who have reached an agreement regarding how their property, assets, debts and other marital issues will be divided or handled. I hope you don’t need one, but if you do, I’d HIGHLY recommend using an attorney.

Get a Divorce Settlement Agreement.

Quick Claim Deed

A Quit Claim Deed is a legal document in which a property owner (the grantor) transfers all the rights in a piece of property to another person or persons (the grantee).

Get your Quit Claim Deed.

This weeks great links!

• Camping With Young Kids – Frugal Folly?
• What’s My Cost Basis for Inherited Property?
• Time To Revisit Your Employer Sponsored Pension Plan
• Rule 72(t) – You’re Not the Only One Who Hasn’t Heard of It
• Are You Staying with Netflix?
• Should You Buy A Dividend ETF?
• The High Price of Professional Degrees on Your Finances
• From Billionaire To Broke: One Wealthy Heiress And Her Slide Into Bankruptcy
• How to Pay Estimated Quarterly Taxes
• How To Go Without Cell Phones
• Should You Buy or Rent a Home in Your 20s?
• How to make money with your blog.
• Chapter 7 vs Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
• RESP contribution rules for 15, 16 and 17 year olds.

Links to products or services may be affiliate links. See my disclosure policy on the site or on my About page.