I was wandering through Barnes & Nobles over the weekend looking at financial books. I always like to thumb through the different money books and scan for original thought. Big surprise, there wasn't' any. Every financial principle in the world has been recycled over and over and over and well, you get my point. I understand this very concept, but when I write about money I try to make it fun and understandable. How many times can you listen to a certain female TV personality (with my same haircut) hit you with the "women need to watch their money spiel"? I agree that women need to watch their money, but why are you so militant and yelling?

Anyway, I digress, I started thumbing through a book that I had never seen before, and it went a little bit like this:

   Your adviser is cheating you. Your adviser is more concerned about his money than yours. You are smarter than most advisers. Anyone that sells you XYZ is a crook, and if you buy ABC then you are stupid.

Frankly, that makes me really mad. Yes, I am taking it personally. Yes, I make money by helping my clients with their money, but they want help. If they didn't want my help they would do it themselves. It is terrible advise to tell people to do it them self. The reason is that: do-it-yourselfers do it themselves, you don't need to tell a do-it-yourselfer to do it them self. If you tell a non-do-it-yourselfer to do it themselves, then they will almost always end up in a worse position.

The fact is, I love do-it-yourselfers. I have no problem with people that study finance and money and make their own money decisions. But, I don't like watching people with no business doing it them self, doing it them self. Yes, their are bad advisers out there. Just as there are bad doctors, bad lawyers, bad fathers, bad teachers, bad athletes, bad bloggers, and bad writers.

Many huge financial companies spend millions of dollars per year in advertising to convince you that their advisers are the best. I can tell you that those ads are dumb. It has nothing to do with the firm. It has everything to do with the adviser. There are terrible advisers that work for every firm with a commercial. I get bent out of shape when broad generalizations are made about the industry. This product is good, that product is bad. Interview an adviser and use your cognitive reasoning skills to figure out if they are trustworthy. If you have doubts, then move on. Keep moving on until you are comfortable.

I would love to hear your comments on this. I'm not looking for anyone to stroke my ego, I am just curious to hear the consumers perspective.  By the way, one last plug. Pete the Planner on WISH-TV at noon on 3-13-07. I will post the clip on the web on Wednesday. Let's hope I don't slip up and say anything inappropriate.