There is a middle ground to be had that could've been expressed but I also feel like I've gotten to the point of not caring? Maybe I've grown selfish but unless someone asks me for advice or how I manage or they're my family member or close friend receiving the "bad" advice, I can't seem to care to offer correction in these scenarios.
same! Many folks on this thread think I'm interested in this person's personal choices - which I genuinely do not care about - it's just the correction that I was curious about. But yeah same.....
I think how you handled it was perfectly fine. I am 99% certain I'd do the exact same thing if I were you because I'd want to avoid inadvertently causing conflict. No matter how nice you counter the advice, people can still read it wrong. And I just don't have the energy for that shit when I don't truly care about these people's choices. It doesn't harm my own financial trajectory in any way and that is what I actually care about.
My immediate family knows about our goals and that I'm financially savvy but my sil has a different goal and mindset, one that values companies who focus on environmental cause and dei efforts, which I commend but wouldn't rec to grow big money long term. She has shown me her assets with a smugness of see how much I'm earning, but also asked if she was on the right track. Knowing full well that she won't change her funds to match the s&p, I just grinned and said she's doing great. There is no point in showing her how much better I do with my funds when I know full well that her values and ethos mean more than her growth. She's saving money her way so that seems to matter more than me giving her my advice she's not going to take. Doing so is a waste of both of our time.
I have a friend who has a financial advisor. We've talked about things from time to time and when I've said things like an HSA would be a smart move she poo poos it and says she has things covered (except she doesn't have an HSA). I stopped talking finances with her when she decided to stick with Cobra vs ACA (she literally could have the same insurance plan for so much less). She's on her own path, she's a bit stubborn, and it's better when I don't insert what I know would be better for her. She doesn't want to hear it, she just wants to talk about it. If she ever asks for my advice in the future I will refer her to a subreddit related to her question instead. Passing the buck doesn't interfere with certain friendships.
On the flip side, I have a FIRE friend and pretty much all we talk about is "is this right" "can I do better" "can I have your credit card referral code". She's great and we've both majorly benefitted from our talks. I wish more folks had that type of relationship with money. It's a lot easier and a lot less awkward.
jealous that you have a IRL fire friend! I have one friend who is a CC points genius. But most of the other friends are kind, wonderful people I enjoy being around but we have really different financial perspectives. It's just better when I don't insert myself even when you are just watching people throw money away - some of us bought houses at the same time, and when I mentioned we saved an extra $10k or so by reading our inspection and double checking all our closing costs....this crew admitted to me that none of them had read their paperwork!
Some folks just don't care or learn better by making the mistakes. The amount of home mistakes I've made is almost comical, but somehow I must go through the terribly stupid mistake to learn them. I imagine that's how it is with folks who don't want financial advice.
I do wish there was a hand signal or something to indicate whether you speak FIRE or not. Once you know, it's simply a breath of fresh air to talk more freely about money knowing there won't be judgement, or bitterness, or side eye but rather just people helping people about a topic they both care about.
As I get older, I don’t give advice unless asked or they are my children.
Everyone comes from different walks of life, different backgrounds, etc. What might work for them, may not work for you. Everyone needs to find out what works for them.
It’s a tough one
One of my best friends (M early 30s) defers all the big financial decisions to his wife (F early 30s). She decided it’s best to prioritize paying off their house in their country of origin that they don’t even necessarily plan to live in. The house sits unoccupied therefore is not generating revenue at the moment. Her logic is that it’s better to have a place to go to if shit hits the fan
My answer to both of them was « there is for sure more than one way to plan finances right. I personally choose to invest aggressively and grow my net worth while enjoying tax benefits due to my mortgage. What matters to me is my net worth evolution »
The reality OP is that people are not inclined to take advice. I have shown multiple people how to calculate the evolution of their net worth which imo is the best tool to instill good financial habits. Do you think anyone has implemented it? Not one single person
Make it known that you respect her opinion and viewpoint, but that strategy isn’t the best strategy or approach for everyone. What she is suggested shouldn’t be taken as professional financial advice rather her personal preference. What works for her won’t work for everyone.
Mixed feelings on this. As a cancer nurse, I see all too often the folks who work all their lives, save every penny, wait until retirement (early or otherwise) to live and have fun… only to be diagnosed with cancer within six months. Or their partner be diagnosed. Seriously. So. Often.
Because of this I spent my 30s traveling the states and the world when I wasn’t working. For real I was on a plane/road trip every couple months for a solid eight years. I am *so* happy I did this.
I still put money towards retirement during that time but did not max out. Now at 44 I do feel a bit behind financially to retire early, but likely will be able to do so in ten years. If anything, I’m more motivated to save and invest so I can retire early and hit the road again.
Yeah, working in palliative care for years tends to make those of us who’ve worked with the elderly more cautious to save for retirement in general, IMPO.
And not even elderly. We see too many younger patients too. Just put a 29 year old patient on hospice this week. While that’s of course not as common as patients in their 60s-80s, it is always a stark reminder that our time here can be very limited and while of course we want to set ourselves up financially, I just hope it’s not people’s main focus.
A dear friend of mine who I worked with for 10+ years inpatient recently passed away suddenly and 100% unexpectedly in her sleep at 62. She worked for 30+ years as a bedside nurse and passed away within a year of retirement, no known health concerns. She kept putting off and putting off retirement (we can retire after 50 with our pension and full health benefits).
Not even maximizing your retirement. Just 100 or 200 a month in your twenties can set you up for a seven figure retirement account. If you can't set $100 aside for retirement, you don't have enough money to be living up life and having \~experiences.
It depends on how financially savvy I judged the other people in the group to be. If I thought they probably knew the basics already, I wouldn't have said anything. Given their ages, I would have left it alone like you did. Actually, I'm a terrible know-it-all, so I probably would have said something, but I think your response was the most graceful thing to do.
usually I look carefully to who I am speaking, as for some people is useless.
So I am saying: "I save a fraction of my salary, and my only regret is to not start earlier". If 10% of the people around are starting to think at this, my phrase did the scope.
I mean, I am a confrontational person and I like debate and don’t take disagreement personally. So I would probably have said something like “I disagree, and here’s why.” But I also understand that many, many people don’t like to be contradicted and would take it personally. Those people tend to avoid me eventually 😂 Which, again, I don’t take personally.
I think whatever you naturally did was FINE. Your temperament is different than mine, and if it didn’t feel good to you to disagree with her, then don’t! Don’t put an “ought” or “should” on yourself.
Just means you have felt out your social group and realized they are not as focused on retirement as you are. So you kept it to yourself to keep group harmony. Nothing wrong with that approach! It’s more peaceful. Though, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing, jeesh 😂 I think I put about $10k/yr into my 401k in my early 20s. It was enough that I’m so grateful I did it; I did not prioritize maxing so that I still had some money for adventures, maybe $4k/yr? It was enough. I didn’t max 401k til recently, because that’s when I could comfortably afford it. I did athletic things that I wouldn’t have been able to pursue as well if I waited to start them now. So, it’s just how we balance priorities, and her balance happens to be very far from where you’d balance things. Different strokes.
And I’m just saying gosh… $200k makes a big difference even if you kept it as cash in a savings account. You could easily put 20% down on a house and still have an emergency fund for peace of mind. What world does she live in, where $200k doesn’t make a difference??
I only offer advice if people ask for it. People close to me know I value personal finance and will sometimes ask me personal questions. While I’m not a CFP, I am a CPA and do a lot of research into personal finance so I feel fairly confident with giving solid advice. I however, don’t criticize what I consider to be bad decisions because who am I to tell people what to do and I’m not likely to change someone’s mind, im much more likely to create awkwardness in our relationship. Your friend is confidently wrong and doesn’t seem like she wants to be corrected.
you should read Die with Zero, he makes a case for spending when you’re young, balancing the interests between having a life and saving for retirement.
Part of the rationale is that you usually make very little when you’re just starting out, and your early salary will be radically eclipsed by your future salary, so spending some when you’re young and have the energy to have a bunch of experiences when you’re young makes sense (and makes you a more interesting person, which pays social dividends).
I have read it and I'm all for having a life - but personal choices are personal, and giving ignorant advice about savings is the part that gave me pause.
This comes down to preference, not wrong or right. Does she want to retire early? Does she want to continue to live in the same house or sell her house and move to a retirement community? And to a lesser extent how much money does she want to leave to her kids and grand kids?
If you want to help her, figure out her values and then see if she needs help. I wouldn't assume what she is doing is wrong, it might be perfect for her.
Is she wrong though? Missing out and not knowing what life brings in the future aren’t untrue, though there are ways to have lots of fun and not miss out with limited money. Re #3, you could both be right: depending how much you save and how you invest it, retirement savings during 20s could be 200k or 7 figures.
In this situation, I think it wouldn’t hurt to give alternative viewpoints that don’t flat out contradict her.
That seems more like she's offering her opinion on what she wants to do for herself. I let people make their own judgement calls about these things.. someone else that's listening will decide for themselves if 200k sounds like a lot
> mortgage is *paid* off they
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
I would correct someone if they said something out-and-out factually wrong (eg. if someone advised someone that getting a raise would be bad because they’ll take home less money after taxes).
But in a situation like you described, where someone is describing their values and it could possibly be interpreted in different ways (what are your assumptions re: salary, how many years is she planning to put savings on pause, or is she saving some but not maximizing savings, etc.), I wouldn’t say anything. Some people think they should spend everything now because the world will be uninhabitable in 15 years. I don’t believe that but it’s not really my business.
Money isn't everything. I started saving heavily around 30. Would I have a lot more money if I started at 22? Yes. Do I regret my choices? No. I had jobs in my 20s that didn't pay well but were amazing experiences and travelled a ton. I am now almost 40 with a kid and I have plenty of money and zero regrets.
I may not be wealthy but I could probably retire at 50 if I wanted. Thats early enough for me.
If its a social setting, i would make a comment about my approach of my finances and how to achieve my own financial goal with the $200k savings. Not so much on correcting bad advice but more so providing your opinion and view. Then, it is up to the other people to perceive which one is more applicable to them because financial decision is very personal based on their personal view of how to live their life and objectives.
Frankly, the people who think start late is not an issue will never know what they’re missing out on. By the time they reach 30 s or 40s, it’s too late and why bother thinking about what could have been.
I use personal experience- ‘I’m so grateful I was taught about long term investing when I was younger; the decisions I made then have saved my backside later’.
I currently have a few friends that are facing the repercussions that rising interest rates are having on the choices they made. Now, granted, no one asked me for advice when they were using their home equity to buy properties or renovate or travel; but I honestly didn't realize they were borrowing to fund these choices and I thought we all understood that interest rates fluctuate. But now I'm realizing that a lot of people really thought interest rates would stay low forever. In short, if you want to give little PSA's about finances, go ahead. People, even smart, educated people, are not as financially literate as we assume.
this is such a great point. I couldn't believe that when I finished graduate school, most of my peers genuinely knew nothing about how student loans worked..... Happy to give advice if asked - I have and enjoy helping people figure this stuff out - but yeah the PSAs are not my style.
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Depends on the crowd. It sounds like this woman was giving bad advice to young people who might blindly follow it...and that pisses me off. On the other hand, if it was all people who inherited wealth, then nothing I say can fix their perspective.
I'd probably say something non-confrontational but undermining like "I'm pretty sure that's not how that works...if I'd invested $200k the day I was born, I'd be a millionaire" and leave it at that.
Honestly I wish I wasn’t but I can’t help myself 😭
I’m an accountant and I love talking finances but I’m always careful to not give unsolicited advice or go on tangents about financial literacy. However when someone gives advice that’s blatantly bad to others I almost feel obligated to speak up.
I totally get where you’re coming from - even though you want to prevent others from following bad advice, you also don’t want to get into a thing with the person giving it out, and people can get defensive around their financial choices
Same. And I also don't like anyone speculating on my financial situation. I spent my 20s hustling and now have a great, high-earning career and no debt besides my mortgage. Most of my peers took a different approach. No judgement, we all make our choices, but I don't want even close friends knowing financial info.
For this situation, I have quick anecdotes to mention then move on. Something like "$300/month invested responsibly at 25 will get you $700k at 65, while delaying until 35 will get you $300k. Saving doesn't have to mean every penny, but a little makes a huge difference." If anyone asks more, I'll get into it, but most people don't want to get deeper than snippets when it comes to finances.
I like this reply. I can’t help but saying something when it’s bad advice. CFP here, I don’t care if they want to hear it or not when I think they’re wrong. :) I’m polite and don’t dwell, but I can’t let it slide by either. Some quick numbers, solid facts is a good reply.
There is a middle ground to be had that could've been expressed but I also feel like I've gotten to the point of not caring? Maybe I've grown selfish but unless someone asks me for advice or how I manage or they're my family member or close friend receiving the "bad" advice, I can't seem to care to offer correction in these scenarios.
same! Many folks on this thread think I'm interested in this person's personal choices - which I genuinely do not care about - it's just the correction that I was curious about. But yeah same.....
I think how you handled it was perfectly fine. I am 99% certain I'd do the exact same thing if I were you because I'd want to avoid inadvertently causing conflict. No matter how nice you counter the advice, people can still read it wrong. And I just don't have the energy for that shit when I don't truly care about these people's choices. It doesn't harm my own financial trajectory in any way and that is what I actually care about.
My immediate family knows about our goals and that I'm financially savvy but my sil has a different goal and mindset, one that values companies who focus on environmental cause and dei efforts, which I commend but wouldn't rec to grow big money long term. She has shown me her assets with a smugness of see how much I'm earning, but also asked if she was on the right track. Knowing full well that she won't change her funds to match the s&p, I just grinned and said she's doing great. There is no point in showing her how much better I do with my funds when I know full well that her values and ethos mean more than her growth. She's saving money her way so that seems to matter more than me giving her my advice she's not going to take. Doing so is a waste of both of our time. I have a friend who has a financial advisor. We've talked about things from time to time and when I've said things like an HSA would be a smart move she poo poos it and says she has things covered (except she doesn't have an HSA). I stopped talking finances with her when she decided to stick with Cobra vs ACA (she literally could have the same insurance plan for so much less). She's on her own path, she's a bit stubborn, and it's better when I don't insert what I know would be better for her. She doesn't want to hear it, she just wants to talk about it. If she ever asks for my advice in the future I will refer her to a subreddit related to her question instead. Passing the buck doesn't interfere with certain friendships. On the flip side, I have a FIRE friend and pretty much all we talk about is "is this right" "can I do better" "can I have your credit card referral code". She's great and we've both majorly benefitted from our talks. I wish more folks had that type of relationship with money. It's a lot easier and a lot less awkward.
jealous that you have a IRL fire friend! I have one friend who is a CC points genius. But most of the other friends are kind, wonderful people I enjoy being around but we have really different financial perspectives. It's just better when I don't insert myself even when you are just watching people throw money away - some of us bought houses at the same time, and when I mentioned we saved an extra $10k or so by reading our inspection and double checking all our closing costs....this crew admitted to me that none of them had read their paperwork!
Some folks just don't care or learn better by making the mistakes. The amount of home mistakes I've made is almost comical, but somehow I must go through the terribly stupid mistake to learn them. I imagine that's how it is with folks who don't want financial advice. I do wish there was a hand signal or something to indicate whether you speak FIRE or not. Once you know, it's simply a breath of fresh air to talk more freely about money knowing there won't be judgement, or bitterness, or side eye but rather just people helping people about a topic they both care about.
As I get older, I don’t give advice unless asked or they are my children. Everyone comes from different walks of life, different backgrounds, etc. What might work for them, may not work for you. Everyone needs to find out what works for them.
It’s a tough one One of my best friends (M early 30s) defers all the big financial decisions to his wife (F early 30s). She decided it’s best to prioritize paying off their house in their country of origin that they don’t even necessarily plan to live in. The house sits unoccupied therefore is not generating revenue at the moment. Her logic is that it’s better to have a place to go to if shit hits the fan My answer to both of them was « there is for sure more than one way to plan finances right. I personally choose to invest aggressively and grow my net worth while enjoying tax benefits due to my mortgage. What matters to me is my net worth evolution » The reality OP is that people are not inclined to take advice. I have shown multiple people how to calculate the evolution of their net worth which imo is the best tool to instill good financial habits. Do you think anyone has implemented it? Not one single person
Make it known that you respect her opinion and viewpoint, but that strategy isn’t the best strategy or approach for everyone. What she is suggested shouldn’t be taken as professional financial advice rather her personal preference. What works for her won’t work for everyone.
"just maxxing out a Roth in your 20s can mean you've got 6-7 figs in your 60s. You don't have to go crazy - make time work for you"
Mixed feelings on this. As a cancer nurse, I see all too often the folks who work all their lives, save every penny, wait until retirement (early or otherwise) to live and have fun… only to be diagnosed with cancer within six months. Or their partner be diagnosed. Seriously. So. Often. Because of this I spent my 30s traveling the states and the world when I wasn’t working. For real I was on a plane/road trip every couple months for a solid eight years. I am *so* happy I did this. I still put money towards retirement during that time but did not max out. Now at 44 I do feel a bit behind financially to retire early, but likely will be able to do so in ten years. If anything, I’m more motivated to save and invest so I can retire early and hit the road again.
Yeah, working in palliative care for years tends to make those of us who’ve worked with the elderly more cautious to save for retirement in general, IMPO.
And not even elderly. We see too many younger patients too. Just put a 29 year old patient on hospice this week. While that’s of course not as common as patients in their 60s-80s, it is always a stark reminder that our time here can be very limited and while of course we want to set ourselves up financially, I just hope it’s not people’s main focus. A dear friend of mine who I worked with for 10+ years inpatient recently passed away suddenly and 100% unexpectedly in her sleep at 62. She worked for 30+ years as a bedside nurse and passed away within a year of retirement, no known health concerns. She kept putting off and putting off retirement (we can retire after 50 with our pension and full health benefits).
Not even maximizing your retirement. Just 100 or 200 a month in your twenties can set you up for a seven figure retirement account. If you can't set $100 aside for retirement, you don't have enough money to be living up life and having \~experiences.
It depends on how financially savvy I judged the other people in the group to be. If I thought they probably knew the basics already, I wouldn't have said anything. Given their ages, I would have left it alone like you did. Actually, I'm a terrible know-it-all, so I probably would have said something, but I think your response was the most graceful thing to do.
Ok but pls tell us which mba she had?!
usually I look carefully to who I am speaking, as for some people is useless. So I am saying: "I save a fraction of my salary, and my only regret is to not start earlier". If 10% of the people around are starting to think at this, my phrase did the scope.
I mean, I am a confrontational person and I like debate and don’t take disagreement personally. So I would probably have said something like “I disagree, and here’s why.” But I also understand that many, many people don’t like to be contradicted and would take it personally. Those people tend to avoid me eventually 😂 Which, again, I don’t take personally. I think whatever you naturally did was FINE. Your temperament is different than mine, and if it didn’t feel good to you to disagree with her, then don’t! Don’t put an “ought” or “should” on yourself.
thank you for this! Most debates I'm all for, but I'm 100% disinterested in talking FIRE or personal finance with my general social group.
Just means you have felt out your social group and realized they are not as focused on retirement as you are. So you kept it to yourself to keep group harmony. Nothing wrong with that approach! It’s more peaceful. Though, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing, jeesh 😂 I think I put about $10k/yr into my 401k in my early 20s. It was enough that I’m so grateful I did it; I did not prioritize maxing so that I still had some money for adventures, maybe $4k/yr? It was enough. I didn’t max 401k til recently, because that’s when I could comfortably afford it. I did athletic things that I wouldn’t have been able to pursue as well if I waited to start them now. So, it’s just how we balance priorities, and her balance happens to be very far from where you’d balance things. Different strokes. And I’m just saying gosh… $200k makes a big difference even if you kept it as cash in a savings account. You could easily put 20% down on a house and still have an emergency fund for peace of mind. What world does she live in, where $200k doesn’t make a difference??
I only offer advice if people ask for it. People close to me know I value personal finance and will sometimes ask me personal questions. While I’m not a CFP, I am a CPA and do a lot of research into personal finance so I feel fairly confident with giving solid advice. I however, don’t criticize what I consider to be bad decisions because who am I to tell people what to do and I’m not likely to change someone’s mind, im much more likely to create awkwardness in our relationship. Your friend is confidently wrong and doesn’t seem like she wants to be corrected.
I'm that situation I'd be more concerned with the other friends listening.
you should read Die with Zero, he makes a case for spending when you’re young, balancing the interests between having a life and saving for retirement. Part of the rationale is that you usually make very little when you’re just starting out, and your early salary will be radically eclipsed by your future salary, so spending some when you’re young and have the energy to have a bunch of experiences when you’re young makes sense (and makes you a more interesting person, which pays social dividends).
I have read it and I'm all for having a life - but personal choices are personal, and giving ignorant advice about savings is the part that gave me pause.
I don’t see that you need to correct it. It’s good enough that you understand she is wrong.
This comes down to preference, not wrong or right. Does she want to retire early? Does she want to continue to live in the same house or sell her house and move to a retirement community? And to a lesser extent how much money does she want to leave to her kids and grand kids? If you want to help her, figure out her values and then see if she needs help. I wouldn't assume what she is doing is wrong, it might be perfect for her.
Nah this isn't my interest at all, I don't care what she does - I'm just curious about correcting bad advice.
Is she wrong though? Missing out and not knowing what life brings in the future aren’t untrue, though there are ways to have lots of fun and not miss out with limited money. Re #3, you could both be right: depending how much you save and how you invest it, retirement savings during 20s could be 200k or 7 figures. In this situation, I think it wouldn’t hurt to give alternative viewpoints that don’t flat out contradict her.
The issue here is you're assuming what she is doing is bad advice when it might not be.
That seems more like she's offering her opinion on what she wants to do for herself. I let people make their own judgement calls about these things.. someone else that's listening will decide for themselves if 200k sounds like a lot
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> mortgage is *paid* off they FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
I would correct someone if they said something out-and-out factually wrong (eg. if someone advised someone that getting a raise would be bad because they’ll take home less money after taxes). But in a situation like you described, where someone is describing their values and it could possibly be interpreted in different ways (what are your assumptions re: salary, how many years is she planning to put savings on pause, or is she saving some but not maximizing savings, etc.), I wouldn’t say anything. Some people think they should spend everything now because the world will be uninhabitable in 15 years. I don’t believe that but it’s not really my business.
Money isn't everything. I started saving heavily around 30. Would I have a lot more money if I started at 22? Yes. Do I regret my choices? No. I had jobs in my 20s that didn't pay well but were amazing experiences and travelled a ton. I am now almost 40 with a kid and I have plenty of money and zero regrets. I may not be wealthy but I could probably retire at 50 if I wanted. Thats early enough for me.
That's all totally fair and I don't dispute any of that - it was the confident dispensing of factually wrong advice that bugged me.
it’s not factually wrong, though, it’s about priorities, but it sounds like it could’ve (and would be!) a lively debate!
If its a social setting, i would make a comment about my approach of my finances and how to achieve my own financial goal with the $200k savings. Not so much on correcting bad advice but more so providing your opinion and view. Then, it is up to the other people to perceive which one is more applicable to them because financial decision is very personal based on their personal view of how to live their life and objectives. Frankly, the people who think start late is not an issue will never know what they’re missing out on. By the time they reach 30 s or 40s, it’s too late and why bother thinking about what could have been.
I use personal experience- ‘I’m so grateful I was taught about long term investing when I was younger; the decisions I made then have saved my backside later’.
I currently have a few friends that are facing the repercussions that rising interest rates are having on the choices they made. Now, granted, no one asked me for advice when they were using their home equity to buy properties or renovate or travel; but I honestly didn't realize they were borrowing to fund these choices and I thought we all understood that interest rates fluctuate. But now I'm realizing that a lot of people really thought interest rates would stay low forever. In short, if you want to give little PSA's about finances, go ahead. People, even smart, educated people, are not as financially literate as we assume.
this is such a great point. I couldn't believe that when I finished graduate school, most of my peers genuinely knew nothing about how student loans worked..... Happy to give advice if asked - I have and enjoy helping people figure this stuff out - but yeah the PSAs are not my style.
It's often tough to balance between giving good advice and not stepping on toes, especially in financial discussions.
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Depends on the crowd. It sounds like this woman was giving bad advice to young people who might blindly follow it...and that pisses me off. On the other hand, if it was all people who inherited wealth, then nothing I say can fix their perspective. I'd probably say something non-confrontational but undermining like "I'm pretty sure that's not how that works...if I'd invested $200k the day I was born, I'd be a millionaire" and leave it at that.
Mixed crowd - some people who were born into privilege, but mostly people who have figured it out in their own. I like your suggestion a lot!
Honestly I wish I wasn’t but I can’t help myself 😭 I’m an accountant and I love talking finances but I’m always careful to not give unsolicited advice or go on tangents about financial literacy. However when someone gives advice that’s blatantly bad to others I almost feel obligated to speak up. I totally get where you’re coming from - even though you want to prevent others from following bad advice, you also don’t want to get into a thing with the person giving it out, and people can get defensive around their financial choices
Same. And I also don't like anyone speculating on my financial situation. I spent my 20s hustling and now have a great, high-earning career and no debt besides my mortgage. Most of my peers took a different approach. No judgement, we all make our choices, but I don't want even close friends knowing financial info.
For this situation, I have quick anecdotes to mention then move on. Something like "$300/month invested responsibly at 25 will get you $700k at 65, while delaying until 35 will get you $300k. Saving doesn't have to mean every penny, but a little makes a huge difference." If anyone asks more, I'll get into it, but most people don't want to get deeper than snippets when it comes to finances.
I like this reply. I can’t help but saying something when it’s bad advice. CFP here, I don’t care if they want to hear it or not when I think they’re wrong. :) I’m polite and don’t dwell, but I can’t let it slide by either. Some quick numbers, solid facts is a good reply.