The Online Investing AI Blog

Recently, as the stock market soars, there has been a large amount of news about how well the economy is doing. They say that the housing market has hit bottom, and that the economy is recovering. However, this article by the Associated Press is about how unemployment is rising.

Regardless of what the newspapers say, it is important to look at the fundamentals that drive the economy. The government has created massive band-aids to prevent a depression, and they seem to have worked. But it is important to understand the difference between a recovery and a temporary band-aid.

What effect will the band-aid have?

Read more…

Money, US Economy bailout, CNN, debt, deficit, dollar, economy, foreclosure, housing, media, Money, Obama, spending, unemployment, USA Today

I humbly submit to you that if anybody really understood how mutual funds work, they probably would not invest in them. The mutual fund industry has grown due to a complete lack of financial education of the American people. Not only are most Americans completely financially uneducated, but they have no education in the area of investing as well.

One of the strategies that the media and experts have used to keep their customers clueless is the use of financial doubletalk. This is the mumbo-jumbo that every financial expert on CNN or the nightly business report uses. There may be some technical meaning to the individual terms that they use, but most of what they say is pretty meaningless. The effect is that people who have not taken the time to learn what all these terms mean think that it’s too difficult for them to understand. To me, that’s not that’s just not fair.

So what’s the solution? Our solution is education. Anyone in America with a library card or a computer connected to the Internet can receive all the education they need to succeed financially. They can learn as much as they want about how to invest. And they can succeed.

Investing, Money, Success CNN, Investing, Money, mutual funds, nightly buisiness report, Success, value creation

Do you enjoy watching CNN or the Nightly Business Report? Did you ever notice how difficult it is to understand what they are saying?

A friend of my mother’s commented to me last night, “How come I can never understand what those financial guys on TV are saying? It’s like they speak a foreign language.”

I said, “The problem is not that you don’t understand. Those experts are just using financial mumbo-jumbo to confuse people and make other people believe that they’re not smart enough to understand.”

Like most Americans, she trusted experts to manage her finances because she thought its too difficult.

Unfortunately, the result is that the financial advisor sold her a bunch of mutual funds! In our society, it’s very easy to rely on experts. Financial planners are experts. Doctors are experts. Teachers are supposed to be experts.

However, I don’t believe that most of these experts really serve their customers. Why? Because they are in business to make money. They get paid regardless of how much money you make or lose. They get paid regardless of whether you live or die.

So what’s the solution? None of these people are going to care about your finances as much as you do. So each American has to take responsibility for their finances. They may not need to choose their individual investments, but they do need to get educated and evaluate the results.

Investing, Money advisers, CNN, experts, finances, financial advisors, financial experts, nightly business report