Invest in Portland

As a disclaimer, I am not an advisor or in the financial world, just an average guy who worked hard most of his life. When I was in my thirties, I got a high-paying job and suddenly had a huge amount of extra money at the end of the year. A few of my fellow coworkers recommended I go to a financial advisor that they used to help their money grow. I met with the man who explained how I could not only rapidly increase my wealth, but also tax shelter it. Within 2 years, all of the $60,000 I gave him was gone and the IRS was auditing my returns. They fined me and disallowed all deductions, costing me thousands more. I vowed to never use such a company again. Later the company disappeared along with my friend’s investments. Lesson learned.

Now fast-forward 20 years. I began investing in stocks with a small neighborhood investment group. We only placed $5000, but, after five years, still lost money. Another lesson learned. More recently, I retired from my job with a lump-sum payout, which I turned over to a trusted investment company. My advisor, Mr. C, explained that the market, with a historical rate of return over 60 years of 10.8%, was still the best place to go. We also tossed in a few bonds paying around 5% for balance.

After the first year, my capital gain taxes and transactions fees cancelled all my gains for the year. Mr. C said it was a fluke, so not to worry. But every day there was another buying or selling fee and it was getting troublesome. I finally told him to go another direction, that didn’t involve all these trades. By the way, he was getting a 1% fee on top of everything. So the next year, he moved me into an annuity without explaining the downside, which was huge. Yet again I trusted his judgment because he was so very convincing. He reassured me that everything would be great for my future and not to worry. I would be set for life in my 60′s.

But continued to watch my account go like a yo-yo as the stock market reacted to every little piece of economic news. It was driving my crazy seeing loss after loss. Finally, I read about self-directed IRA’s and decided that it was time to seize control back from Mr. C. So I asked him to liquidate everything, and he told me I could do it all myself. Anyway, he was going on vacation. So I did and discovered that the penalties for closing the annuity would wipe out everything I made that year. What a shocking revelation! But I did anyway.

Now I am can guide my own investments and make my own decisions, both good and bad. But it’s my money and that’s the point. I’m currently looking at commercial real estate trust deeds as a future investment.

As a word of wisdom to those reading this, understand a few basic concepts:

Financial advisors make money off your account, whether it goes up or down. They will always recommend stocks or bonds, regardless of what they pay. They work in a world you know little about. They are more apt to put you into an investment that pays the highest fees. There is no guarantee you won’t go broke. And if you do, they have other clients. But do you have other savings?

I would encourage you to manage your own funds. Even using CD’s or money market funds would have saved me a lot. Any type of advisor, even from the bank, will have some ulterior motive that eventually will cost you plenty. There are many other avenues besides the stock market. Look at your options and diversify. Guard you money like it was gold, which it is. And if someone has a hot stock tip, tell them where they can put it.