A Lesson in Investing Brought to you by JP Morgan

If you don't understand an investment your about to make, then you are probably wise to avoid it in the first place. Apparently the folks at JP Morgan didn't learn in 2008 that "financial engineering" is risky business. Any time you hedge against risk using layers of "instruments", you are engaged in gambling. JP Morgan's bet went bad and it will be some time (if ever) that we understand what really happened.

Instead, you might be better just sticking to one of the basic tenets of investing - transparency! Understand what is under the hood of the products you invest in. If you are not going to open the hood, then it might be in your best interest to hire someone who will.

Expert Advice To The Next Big Lottery Winner:  Take Your Time

By David Madden

WAYNE, Pa. (CBS) - With the Mega Millions lottery jackpot in record territory (see related story), what should you do if you hit it?

Chip Addis is president of Addis & Hill, a financial advice firm based in Wayne, Pa. The first question is, should you take the annuity or the lump-sum cash payment (which is usually about 55 percent of that big number)?

The answer from Addis: it depends

Full story here.

Stop Using Numbers

We have been followers of Seth Godin for quite a few years now.  Godin has written thirteen books, all best sellers.  He writes about how ideas spread, marketing, and most of all, changing everything.  Needless to say, he has had a significant impact on our lives and business.

Today Seth wrote about how we make big decisions about money and how bad we are at doing so – a topic right up our alley!  Read Godin’s blog post Making Big Decisions About Money is really a good short read.

The number one reason we all mess up is that money is just a number and numbers don’t mean that much in isolation.  As financial advisors, we work hard to help people take money out of the equation – for it is there where you are fully exposed to yourself and you can face your life and dreams head on.  It helps if there is enough money, yes.  But, even if there is enough money, we find many people who make bad choices and don’t fully realize their dreams.

Why?  Maybe those numbers are what’s holding you back.  Peel back the numbers and you might be surprised in the direction life can take you.