Certified financial planner Jeff Rose of Good Financial Cents joins us to discuss money mistakes he made and how he and we can overcome them.

As a new comer to the finance world, it’s comforting to hear stories from professionals about mistakes they’ve made in the past.  It can happen to the best of us!

Jeff fell for a 401K swindle.  The program cost X but if he waited (giving him time to ask for advice or do some research) the price suddenly goes up.  So act now!  He did and not only was he out $8,000 but the 401K wasn’t even set up properly and he had to pay someone else to fix it.

Jeff got what he thought was a hot tip on a penny stock from a client.  He lost about $5,000 in that little venture.  Don’t buy stocks you don’t know anything about.

Andrew invested in Lehman Brothers which doesn’t even exist anymore.  Worse than that, he was working for them at the time so lost his shirt and his job.

Jeff is a fan of Betterment and right now Betterment is in the lead of an experiment pitting several different investment platforms against each other.  He also agrees that investing is a long term endevour.  Buy and hold.

Motif is another recommendation.  You choose a “motif,” tech for example and you buy that type of stock spread out over thirty companies. Roth IRA’s require a little more research than just shoving money into a 401K and Jeff likes that option because it forces you to do some learning which ultimately will make you a better, more informed investor.

Everyone makes money mistakes but if we can learn from them, then it wasn’t a completely wasted experience.

Show Notes

Good Financial Cents:  Jeff’s site dedicated to guiding your toward financial freedom.

Betterment:  The easy way to invest.

Money Under 30:  One of Jeff’s recommended sites.

Soldier of Finance:  Jeff’s book about taking charge of your money.