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Free financial seminars..any good???

rico304

rico304

New member
My union is offering a free financial seminar that is put on by some financial company. They say free seminar and food. haha Many will go for the free meal. :puke1:

Just wondering if anyone has gone to one before and if they offer anything special other than extremely generic information.
 
Doc

Doc

Bottoms Up
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
The goal of the Free seminars is to give you some good information, with no obligation to you. However, they will give just enough to make you want more. They will hope to gain some customers from this free seminar. Number one they gain a list of people's names (maybe address and phone numbers) who are 'interested' in financial planning. Maybe they won't sell you that night, but they will probably have someone call you within the next 6 months as a follow up and give you another chance to sign up with them.
Chances are they will be a reputable company, but you also have to consider that they might not so reputable. If they are giving this seminar to a group of law enforcement professionals I would suspect they are a quality company. Only an idiot would try to rip off a bunch of policemen & women.

It really could be a win win situation for you if you are looking for a way to make your money work for you. But, be ready to be 'sold' something.
 
B

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Many of the ones I've been to are very good.

Is the company presenting a local place or a national firm?

All the ones I've been to have a Q&A period after their presentation. I go to these to try to get answers to very specific, pointed questions where the answer is very specific and the presenter must be very knowledgeable. For at least one of these questions, I'll already have the right answer. I pose the question for which I already have the answer first. If they provide the correct answer, I then assume they're credible and take credence to their answers for the remainder of my questions. If they get it wrong, I don't bother asking any other questions.
 
ddrane2115

ddrane2115

Charter Member
SUPER Site Supporter
Never ask a question you dont have at least some idea of the answer too. As for being sold something..........yeah, you will. MAKE POSITIVE it is not life insurance sold as an investment..........and there are many.

I use to sell securities and life insurance, same broker, different companies...........the ONLY way to do that.

Make sure they can give you on paper some idea of what the numbers look like, then do the math on your own, with someone else that is in the business, or even your banker.

NEVER sign that nite.................and they will prepared for you to do just that.
 
BigAl

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
bczoom said:
Many of the ones I've been to are very good.

Is the company presenting a local place or a national firm?

All the ones I've been to have a Q&A period after their presentation. I go to these to try to get answers to very specific, pointed questions where the answer is very specific and the presenter must be very knowledgeable. For at least one of these questions, I'll already have the right answer. I pose the question for which I already have the answer first. If they provide the correct answer, I then assume they're credible and take credence to their answers for the remainder of my questions. If they get it wrong, I don't bother asking any other questions.
Click to expand...

Geez ! Who said all those KKK meeting did not help make you smarter ?

Great advice !
 
California

California

Charter Member
Site Supporter
Here's a free financial seminar:

If you want returns comparable to the 85th percentile of individual investors, that is, only 15 people per hundred do better, then buy and hold an S&P 500 mutual fund. Continue to put a sizeable part of your income into it each month. This is as close as you can come to harnessing the earnings power of America's most profitable companies, for your personal benefit.

Vanguard's fund has the lowest fees so will compound the best over many years. I like Fidelity's since they have better customer service - not the quality of advice, but longer phone hours etc. and I have all my 'family banking' brokerage, checking, credit card, etc with them.

Or if you have the temperament for it, more money is made by active development of real estate than by passive investments. Risk is correspondingly higher.

Ask your seminar adviser what percentile their customers fit into. And ask the presenter his/her personal net worth. That's the whole point. If they aren't proud of their accomplishments why should you invest with them?

My credentials? Retired at 54 after starting with zero 25 years before. Earned an MBA along the way. Investing all boils down to finding what compounds the fastest.

Ok, school's out.
 
California

California

Charter Member
Site Supporter
rico304 said:
They say free seminar and food. haha Many will go for the free meal.
Click to expand...
Presenter's wisdom: This sounds like a joke but I believe it's a valid indicator.

Look around at the end of the seminar. See who is eating the free food like they skipped a meal anticipating it, or perhaps someone will ask if they can take home the leftovers.

That will be a valid indicator of the wealthiest person who attended. Make your sales pitch to that person, forget all the other attendees.
 
Cityboy

Cityboy

Banned
California said:
Here's a free financial seminar:

If you want returns comparable to the 85th percentile of individual investors, that is, only 15 people per hundred do better, then buy and hold an S&P 500 mutual fund. Continue to put a sizeable part of your income into it each month. This is as close as you can come to harnessing the earnings power of America's most profitable companies, for your personal benefit.

Vanguard's fund has the lowest fees so will compound the best over many years. I like Fidelity's since they have better customer service - not the quality of advice, but longer phone hours etc. and I have all my 'family banking' brokerage, checking, credit card, etc with them.

Or if you have the temperament for it, more money is made by active development of real estate than by passive investments. Risk is correspondingly higher.

Ask your seminar adviser what percentile their customers fit into. And ask the presenter his/her personal net worth. That's the whole point. If they aren't proud of their accomplishments why should you invest with them?

My credentials? Retired at 54 after starting with zero 25 years before. Earned an MBA along the way. Investing all boils down to finding what compounds the fastest.

Ok, school's out.
Click to expand...

The longer I stick around FF, the more I learn about our members. That is sage advice, California! I learned about index funds in the early 90's and have the bulk of my investments in them, with the majority in the S&P 500 index. I too invest in Fidelity and like their service, but will be investing my future Roth IRA's with Vanguard. I have had my SEP IRA in Fidelity Growth Company fund for quite some time and a traditional IRA in their 500 index fund.

As to free financial seminars, they can be good for learning about various investment opportunities. Just leave your check-book and credit cards at home. There will be a sales pitch for one investment product or another, or for a CD set of information from some investment guru. And as Danny said, watch out for the insurance salesmen who sell a life insurance policy tied to some form of investment account.

A good web site for general consumer and financial information is Clark Howard.com

They have general consumer forums, money forums, real estate forums, etc., and links to other helpful information as well.

Let us know how the seminar goes.
 
XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
I like Vanguard too. I highly recommend them. I haven't needed to use their customer service.

Also, read "The milionaire next door" it's truer than you might think.

Good advice from California and CB.
 
B

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
That's the old American Express Financial Services company.

I don't have any personal experience with them but DZ has.
See this thread

Before signing anything, do a google search. There's some sites that list a bunch of issues with them (including some class-action law suits).

I'd probably attend the seminar but don't think I'd sign with them...
 
Jim_S

Jim_S

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
Same here as DZ. only fair when it was American Express and incredibly bad as Ameriprise. When we decided we had enough and wanted to leave it took over 6 months to get all our money away from them.

Jim
 
rico304

rico304

New member
Just and update, lots of info, soaked it in (as much as I could understand!) haha Makes me realize I need to take some classes. Have invested in another company with the help of an investor. (I won't write who I went with because I don't want to feel bad now!) :pat:
Thanks for all your help!!!!!
 
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