Taking Financial Advice from Co-Workers

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Taking Financial Advice from Co-workers 

Why Project Manager Bob shouldn’t be your financial advisor…

It’s a Monday morning, and you are driving to work. You are a little bothered this morning because you got into a huge argument with your wife about money. You’re grappling with real financial decisions that could positively or negatively affect your entire life.

You and your wife are arguing over whether or not you should purchase a home, how much money you should spend on a home, and what type of loan you should get.

Project Manager Bob

You are stressing.

Can we afford this home? I want to make her happy. My God, she is so beautiful, and she makes me happy; I’m afraid that this isn’t the right thing to do.

You march into the office walk over to your good friend Bob who has always been savvy with money and discuss it with him.

You: Bob, my wife, wants us to buy a home. She says we can make the money work, but I just don’t know what to do. What do you think?

At this very moment, I wish I could pop in on this conversation like a black Jiminy Cricket and stop the conversation before it starts.

Me: BOB!? You are asking BOB?! Project Manager Bob? The guy who doesn’t work in financial planning—that Bob? You know that Bob has no money, right!? You do realize that he is hanging on by a thread, right? His wife loves him, but he could snap at any moment because he is hanging on by a thread!  

Besides, you didn’t even give him enough information. 

Let me repeat what you said…

“Uhum…”

“Wife wants house”

“I don’t know if I want house”

“Please give me financial advice.”

Really!?  

Are you going to tell him that you are $30,000 in credit card debt with two car payments? And don’t blame your wife now…No, no, you wanted the BMW. Because BMW’s are “reliable.”

Are you going to let him know that you are not funding your 401K? 

I’m just saying, are you going to give Project Manager Bob pertinent information so that he can drop that sage financial advice on you?

Now the whole office knows…

You are probably not going to tell him all your business. By the way, Project Bob is messy, and he’s probably going to tell Greg the operations manager that you are having problems with your wife. Which in turn, is going to cause Greg to tell Susan that you can’t keep your wife happy at home. Once Susan gets the information, it’s over.

Now Dave from accounting is in your office telling you that you should buy term and invest the difference.

Me: Really?!

You: Yep, Dave Ramsey says it all the time☺

Me: Oh, Dave Ramsey, who knows everything about you? Well, La Di Frickin Da!

You know the old saying, you pay for what you get. Well, you didn’t pay Project Manager Bob anything, and more than likely even with all the information, he wasn’t going to give you great advice anyway.

Why I don’t give general advice about serious subjects…

It is challenging to give financial advice in a vacuum. This is the reason I don’t offer hard advice on this forum.

Financial advice really depends on what is going on with you and what is going on with your family. It depends on what you can afford, but to vaguely answer some of your questions:

• Buying a home isn’t always the best investment for you and your family
• Buying term and investing the rest isn’t always a good idea
• Investing in a 401K isn’t a no brainer nor is starting a Roth IRA.

Seek Professionals

Unless you plan on opening your entire financial life to Project Manager Bob, there is no way on God’s green Earth that he is going to give you sound financial advice.

Now, I know that it is natural to ask the people around you their thoughts on your situations, but you really need to get good at accessing the right people. For instance, I am a Certified Financial Planner. I often wonder why my friends and family don’t ask more questions because I know people, and maybe I can point you in the right direction at the very least.

I get that money is funny to a lot of people, and they probably don’t want to ask me the question because I won’t tell them what they want to hear.

Me: Hell no, you shouldn’t buy that house.

You: Do you have a problem with buying homes because you say no to that a lot?

Me: You are literally sitting in my house—that I bought. I don’t have a problem with it, but have you proven that you can afford the home? Have you paid off your debt? Are you investing enough to get to retirement? Do you live adequately below your means? Do you have the down payment? Have you gotten pre-qualified?

Ok, so—that’s probably why my friends don’t ask me. Never mind.

But seriously, when you are asking for advice, look at what the person does for a living and ask questions that are more pertinent to what they do or what they are passionate about.

Make cautious decisions. Let your co-workers or your friend’s advice lead you to the people who can truly help you solve your problem.

Perhaps a home isn’t what you need, maybe marriage counseling is what you need; you should seek a professional—not Project Manager Bob, he’s messy.

Get solid advice. A marriage counselor, a lawyer, or a good doctor, will take the time to get to know you a little bit; they’ll do their best to figure out the best route for you.

As a financial advisor, I believe in smart planning.

At this moment, I am not a big fan of paying cash for a car. However, if you are someone that just absolutely hates debt, then you should pay cash for the car. If you are someone whose income is flexible or unstable, maybe you should pay cash for a car.

Different opinions are fine but make cautious decisions.

It really depends on your situation, and no matter what the situation, you should always talk to someone who makes you feel comfortable.

If you haven’t already, buy The Financial Effect e-book to get more insight on how to make financial decisions for your family, also subscribe to my blog.

Photo by Thomas Drouault on Unsplash

*Investing involves risk. Depending on the types of investments, there may be varying degrees of risk. Investors should be prepared to bear a loss, including total loss of principal.