Many things set financial advisors apart from one another. Education, personality, and investment philosophy are just some of the ways that a potential client can evaluate the decision to pursue an advisor relationship. I have written before about whether financial advisors are needed or the difficulty in reading their disclosures, but what I haven’t talked […]
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Agency Conflict and Real Estate Agents
The principal-agent relationship is necessary for many of life’s adventures. When you purchase a house, you have an agent help you find the home of your dreams. When you own stock, you have a CEO act in your best interest to manage your company. Agency relationships are everywhere. However, while the agent provides many benefits […]
Protect Your Assets With Umbrella Insurance
You have worked hard to accumulate a retirement account and a wealth of other assets, but the fact that you have this level of success can also make you a target. Your success makes you the holder of the deep pockets that others may be wanting to raid. What is Umbrella Insurance? Car insurance protects […]
Don’t Get Screwed Series
Conflicts of interest are my thing. My dissertation was on CEO bargaining in executive compensation contracts and my first academic publication dealt with how difficult financial advisor disclosures were to read. My favorite lecture to give students is on agency conflicts. Because of this, I see traps where people are or can be taken advantage […]
You Don’t Need a Financial Advisor
The finance industry has a bad habit of making things seem more complicated than they are. Financial jargon is riddled throughout websites, and financial disclosures are difficult to read. It’s not that these terms are made difficult by accident. The harder it is to understand something, the more people are needed to decipher the true meaning. […]
Avoid the Traps When Trading in a Car
I have always been intrigued by and partially scared of the level of thought that goes into a car dealership’s sales plan. Everything from the phrases salespeople use to the layout of the showroom is all designed to promote selling. Recently I was waiting at the local dealership for my annual inspection when I started […]