The theme this week on the One Minute Retirement Tip podcast is: the problem with financial experts.

Today, I am talking about the question you should always ask yourself whenever you are going to listen to someone in the media - TV, print, YouTube, etc. Whenever you are going to take advice from someone who doesn’t know you, it’s critical that you’re not a passive absorber and consumer of the information. Many in the media are very adept at stirring up your emotions, especially fear, and getting you to react. 

Remember: someone is always trying to get you to buy something. Even if it’s just buying your time by getting you to watch their program tomorrow night and the night after that. I stopped watching TV financial news years ago, because the writers and hosts are very talented, and I found myself getting dragged down into fear, anger, and paranoia. And I wasn’t even watching political news. This was standard financial markets stuff. 

So you’ll want to always be alert, especially when watching TV. Frankly, I would avoid TV as much as possible, because it’s so much easier to just take what you hear as gospel, not questioning it. On the other hand, when you read something, you are taking a more active role. 

But regardless of the form of media where someone is disseminating financial advice, you should always be a little skeptical and always ask: what is this person trying to sell me? If I take their advice, how will it benefit them? The more connected they are to the benefit of you taking their advice (i.e. buying an annuity that they’re offering with their newsletter subscription or free report), the more skeptical you’ll want to be about their motives for providing the best advice, especially when they don’t know you. 

That’s it for today! Thanks for listening. My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip. 

----------

>>> Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

>>> Subscribe on Amazon Alexa: https://amzn.to/2xRKrCs

>>> Visit the podcast page: https://truenorthra.com/podcast/ 

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance