Financial Advisors under the microscope
I recently finished reading Dan Solin's The Smartest Portfolio You'll Ever Own (2011), half of which is a damning indictment of most financial advisers. Solin makes a convincing case that those brokers who claim that they can pick stocks or time the market are selling unadulterated snake oil. In fact, avoid all of the following: Buying individual stocks or bonds. Actively managed mutual funds Alternative investments Variable annuities Equity indexed annuities Private equity deals Principal-protected notes Currency trading, and Commodities trading. Instead, Solin recommends the slow and steady historically documented growth associated with passively managed broad market index funds including many of the low-fee passively managed funds offered by Vanguard. Solin has ample shocking facts and figures to back up his claims and indictments, and he continues the attack on false claims and hidden fees here.