In most cases, you get what you pay for. Cheap products wear out faster and often cost more in the long run. But when it comes to financial advice, that truism falls out the window. Sometimes hedge funds and highly-paid advisers deliver terrible advice (or scam you…Bernie Madoff anyone?). Other times, you can find great ideas in a library book, blog, or other free resource.
This January, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and the National Association of Personal Finance Advisers will be holding Jumpstart Your Retirement Plan Days. On these two days, January 13th and January 30th (2009), people in the US can get free retirement planning advice from a NAPFA advisor.
It won’t be a formalized in-person session; you can call in or chat online.
If you’re not sure yet how you want to invest for retirement, or if your plans have been thrown into chaos by the recession, then I suggest you give them a call.
You can get in touch by phone by calling: 1-888-919-2345 (toll free)
Or you can login to www.kiplinger.com/links/jumpstart/ and talk to an adviser online.
You can prepare ahead by finding out what funds or companies (Fidelity, Vanguard, etc) are available in your employer’s retirement plan.
Like any other advice, take it with a grain of salt. Some financial advisers are better than others, some will take more time to understand your concerns and needs. The good thing about this advice is that it’s not something you have to do. It’s not even like not taking it would strain your relationship with your financial adviser, because there’s no relationship to begin with.
So if you’ve been thinking of talking to a financial professional and put it off because of the cost, take advantage of this opportunity on January 13th and 30th.
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People should really jump on this opportunity. NAPFA advisors take an oath to do what’s best for the consumer. They will not try to sell you anything other than advice. Since it’s free on those two days, people have no excuse not to take them up on it. Make the call people!
Thanks for the good advice! When I first logged onto your site I accidently somehow clicked onto (OR it may have just appeared out of nowhere ) a “free credit report” site. I have heard that if you check your credit status, it is counted against you when you apply for credit. This sounds crazy, but the person who told me (I can’t remember who) said it happened to him. If you can understand this seemingly crazy question, do you have any comments? Thanks!
@Adam,
Indeed, these are fee-only people, so they should have no financial incentive to push things which normally give the broker a kickback.
@daddyt,
I would only use annualcreditreport.com to get my free credit report. You’re entitled to 1 free credit report a year from each bureau and it doesn’t count against you. Checking your own credit should be done as a “soft-pull” meaning it won’t count against you. Applying for credit will generate a “hard-pull,” which counts against you (idea being that if you’re applying for a lot of credit at one time, you may be more of a risk because you’re going to get into debt very soon). If the person used a group that did a hard pull against his account, then it could have happened. Or he just had bad credit and didn’t want to accept the blame.
Any free advice that you can get is worth it, as long as you don’t blindly follow it. All baby boomers can use all of the retirement planning input we can find!
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