Do you share investment tips?

[sv2007]

Do you give out specific investment tips to friends/family/co-workers/strangers when asked? E.g., put your money into this index fund; Buy this hot XYZ stock; Sell that right now; Buy a house.

One thing I never do is give any specific investment tips. The only exception is wife since our money is together.

[disneysteve]

I've mentioned specific funds at this site numerous times, so I voted "Sure". I can't think of any time I've done it with friends or family but I'm sure it must have come up at least a couple of times.

[creditcardfree]

I said yes, because I do like to help people! It's one of the reasons I'm here. My main investment advise is save early, and save often. I also tell people about Index Funds since I don't think too many people could go wrong with those. There's more I share, but I will say it if the topic is appropriate.

[97guns]

sometimes its not a good idea to advise with investments or make recommendations on anything. in the past ive recommended contractors that worked out great for me but burned the guy i recommended him to. when i bought into RE in 2009 i urged a close friend to buy a couple of 2 bedroom 1 bath homes for $35k each and today the fetch $200k each, his mortgage would have been around $250, 6 years later he is still renting for $1000/mo

[Gailete]

I don't give investment advice to anyone other than my son. We discuss investments. Let's just say that is very special to me to be able to talk about things like this with my autistic son that when he was young I wasn't sure he would ever be able to live on his own, much less invest!

For those that don't have much to invest, I would recommend using Capital One 360/Sharebuilders as a way to be able to build up money without paying big fees. Currently my account is up ~25% which is one of the reason I don't want to cash out them during the current cash drought that we are having.

[sv2007]

sometimes its not a good idea to advise with investments or make recommendations on anything.

Here's what I tell my wife (who sometimes thinks I'm rude when replying to investment advice seekers because I never say anything specific). I tell her that if they make money , they forget me; if they lose money they'd blame me.

That's the reason why I never give specific future advice. I do give lots of general advice to people who ask for me, and I'm happy to talk about past experiences. So a contractor who did well, I'd say so.

Now, if I'm in the adviser business,that'd be different. But I'm not : )

[sv2007]

I should also add that my wife thinks differently than me on in this area.

She not only gave specific advice but she's also managed her parents money for a while (fortunately only for a short time). They were happy that it had so much gain during the pre-2000 tech boom, then when things crashed they were very sad. The trouble is they didn't think of their principal but the highest value wife told them about. So I told my wife to make them whole (pay them the highest value of their investment) and end her management venture.

For a while she was rehabed, but I guess it's in her nature to help people.

[TexasHusker]

When it comes to funds, my answer is always "do not".

[msomnipotent]

I like to help people, especially my family, but now I am very careful about what I say. I have learned that they only half listen to what I say and expect to be reimbursed when they make a mistake. I now only give general advice, like opening a college fund or starting an IRA.

[rennigade]

Giving financial advice is like giving relationship advice. In one ear and out the other. Its just a waste of time. There are exceptions to the rule but in general...yeah...save your breath.

[phantom]

I voted "no" without thinking because I generally don't think I know enough about investing to help anyone.

But, then I remembered that I did help my sister set up her IRA when my mom asked me to. I shared with her my basic understanding of investing, stressing the importance of not worrying about short-term ups and downs. Then we automated something simple for her. It's been a few years since then. She trusts me and hasn't touched a thing since I set it up, so she's been doing pretty well. I try to remember to ask her about the IRA every few months.

Thinking back farther, I also gave advice when my husband used to dabble in single stocks and liked to ask my opinion on moves he made. I was mostly just a sounding board. But, I'll never let him live down the time he ignored me after asking what I thought of his purchase of Blockbuster. I told him that Blockbuster didn't seem to be keeping up with modern trends and I thought it was a dumb idea. He rode that one all the way down to zero.

[Gailete]

When it comes to funds, my answer is always "do not".

Not sure I really understand what you are saying here. Care to elaborate?

[kork13]

I'm happy to give people generalized advice about saving & investing in conceptual contexts to help them learn. But beyond the basics of "invest using low-cost, broad-market index funds" or "but and hold for the long term", I typically won't give specific investment advice. I figure if they really want to get specific information, they'll either research it themselves, or ask very specific questions about specific investments that they've already done some research about. I'll answer specific questions with specific opinions, but always qualify them as opinions... I don't want to give people a false sense of expertise that I don't really possess.

[TexasHusker]

Not sure I really understand what you are saying here. Care to elaborate?

Pond scum is among the lowest forms of life, yet it is still life.

Funds are among the lowest forms of legitimate investments, yet they are still investments.

[greenskeeper]

Yes. Particularly pumpkin futures. I figure they will peak right around January.