I’ve been meeting with a financial coach who was endorsed by Financial Peace University - Dave Ramsey. I’ve been paying $250 per hour meeting for advice that seems pretty obvious. Most of her advice I had already put into practice. I was looking for an accountability partner since my spouse has no interest in creating and managing our budget. Not to mention there’s no interest in retirement planning either. At the second meeting, she started hinting at wanting to tell me about a tax-deferred retirement account. Interested, I said, “Sure!” At the next meeting, she started describing an investment/life insurance account that piqued my interest but as she pulled up figures and seemed to be to the website quickly I realized she might be trying to get me to buy into something that would benefit her. I took notes and told her I would think about it and took note of her other recommendations. I began researching on my own I came to realize that she was trying to sell me an Indexed Universal Life (IUL) policy. Many folks on this and other subreddits advise against it. I knew I was feeling hesitant for a reason! I haven’t scheduled another session. I don’t feel like she has offered me any “great” advice. And honestly, it’s a sacrifice to pay that for every month. What should I do? Should I continue or stop my sessions? Any advice is welcomed. Thanks!
Great advice. Thanks! I've found the subreddits more helpful, honestly!
This sub (wiki, sidebar, and just following interesting posts) have contributed more to my financial literacy than anything else.
I have lots to be thankful to this sub for!
I feel like financial planners and advisors are helpful mostly/only to those who are not willing or able to teach themselves. I’ve used financial subreddits and google as great places to learn and find resources. People active in communities like this aren’t gonna see the same benefits as someone who doesn’t know what an online forum is and refuses to read or research
And even better, she paid $250 for the person to try to sell her a product for which her "coach" likely makes a commission. Awesome.
The title "financial coach" is (for the most part) unregulated.
Anyone can market themselves as a "financial coach" (and charge $250/hr).
Drop this leech.
You sound like you can handle things on your own.
For everything else, use the Prime Directive in the PF Wiki.
Here's a link to the PF Wiki for helpful guides and information.
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Cool! I didn't know that the title was unregulated. I assumed there was at least some sort of certifying body.
$250 an hour? Nope
I was looking for an accountability partner since my spouse has no interest in creating and managing our budget. Not to mention there’s no interest in retirement planning either.
A counselor to help facilitate discussions with your spouse would be a better investment for you.
Ramsey is not for people like you.
You can learn all you need to know here and other financial subs. Give bogleheads a shot, too, (but enjoy life as well before going 100% full ordained Bogle because sometimes it’s smarter to get your traveling done early, etc).
$250 an hour? Lose them fast.
+1 on Bogleheads.
Drop this "financial advisor" immediately and check out the personal finance wiki here.
Also, maybe you want to take a look at the following book:
https://www.amazon.com/Money-Harmony-Olivia-Mellan/dp/0802774563
Dave Ramsey, oh boy.
$250 an hour, oh boy.
The type of person who needs Dave Ramsey's advice doesn't have $250 to spend. This "advisor" person is a leech.
On top of charging $250, she's trying to scam OP with an IUL.
The first question you always ask is, “Are you a fiduciary?”. This person doesn’t seem to be. I’ve been investing for many years and handle my own. That said, it’s never a bad idea to get a check up from a fee only fiduciary financial planner.
And be careful; they’ll all say “we work in a fiduciary capacity for our clients,” which is not the same as actually being a fiduciary.
Thanks for flagging this!
What is the difference?
Being a fiduciary is a legally-protected term, whereas to simply say you’re acting in a similar manner creates a loophole that is used to deliberately mislead clients into believing that you have the same responsibility to their financial best interests.
It’s like the difference between a dietician and a nutritionist - a dietician is a scientist with at least one advanced degree in their field, whereas anyone can claim to be a nutritionist without any need for qualifications. It’s also overwhelmingly the “nutritionists” who are trying to sell you their proprietary products.
Exactly. And to clarify just a bit more, a fiduciary is legally bound to act in a client’s best interest. Not that they can’t make a mistake but if they advise you to make a move, they believe that it is in your best interest.
I respect the desire to be better/more responsible… but at 250$ an hour, that is crazy….take that amount that you were going to pay that coach, and instead do a TIMED HOUR where you research and literally write/take notes from youtube videos of personal finance coaches (they are free), and just pay yourself back the 250$ for doing the work yourself.
You should keep going, because this woman is brilliant. She is a conwoman who has figured out how to get her marks to pay her to let her make her pitch!
I think they pay Ramsey to be a part of the program and generate leads for them.
Starting to think I'm in the wrong career...
Run.
I’ve got degrees in accounting and finance, and I’m telling you to run. Dave Ramsey’s advice is great for beginners. Suze Orman is even better. But you’re past that. You can learn so much more on your own, and you will become accustomed to spotting folks trying to sell you things that make them money.
Read. Watch YouTube. Check out forums like this. Keep a notebook of things that interest you so you can research them yourself and get multiple viewpoints, pros and cons. I can tell from your post you are educated enough to know how to learn. You can teach yourself and save soooo much of that money. I can guarantee you the $1,000 you spend on four sessions with her is better off in your own hands, put to work by you, on an investment you researched yourself.
And don’t worry about your spouse. Mine has a lot of anxiety around money, and likes to avoid it too. But slowly, as I talk to him about what I’m doing and how I’m budgeting, he’s getting more and more interested. I just try to make those conversations very relaxed, non demanding of him, and let him see my enthusiasm. He comes to conclusions on his own. I don’t say you need to stop eating out immediately and start grocery shopping and planning meals! I say we spent $1,340 last month on dining out. That’s it. Full stop. He can take it from there and tell ME how HE wants to handle it. It’s empowering to make finances a judgement free zone in your marriage.
RUN. That's the ongoing reply! I guess I'm going to run. 🙃
But, I wanted to say.…
Your reply is so encouraging! Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post and for sending this thoughtful and kind response. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day!
I’m so glad it helped. ❤️
She scams you out of $250 an hour and is still trying to sell you something for her benefit
Exactly!
You know how spam email is intentionally misspelled because then only the truly gullible or stupid would respond?
You pay $250/hr for someone to read the internet to you, of course they are going to sell you expensive insurance. After that she’ll introduce you to her time share boyfriend and his crypto bro.
You usually you get a free dinner from people pushing bad financial products, not pay them $250 per hour.
my financial coach is r/personalfinance. I only have to pay for internet to access it, but I have unlimited access.
I got started elsewhere, but this sub has definitely helped me in many ways to progress down the right path. All OP needs to do is post her breakdown and ask what she can do to improve and she'll get a lot of good responses.
Wow, she’s charging YOU $250 an hour to sell you bad products. Stop your sessions!
Wow yeah this sucks, not only are they bilking you for $250 an hour they are trying to scam you into whole life. Good thing you figured it out! I suggest never going back.
No personal finance expert on the intricacies and high end trading....a million miles away. Yet the kind souls of reddit would give you better advice then this woman.
On spiritual laws and workings of life im an expert.
You'd be better off giving 50 bucks to feeding starving people every month than giving this woman 250 small an hour.
Stick the other 200 on proofs of god by end of 2025.
Thank me later.
I'll be your Financial Accountabilibuddy! I watched a Dave Ramsey YouTube video once and I'll do it for only $240!
I always found it ironic that DR hawks products like his books and sessions to people who can least afford them...as do these "coaches". Most of this info is freely available and (once it "clicks") pretty common sense stuff.
It sounds more advantageous to the coach’s finances than yours.
Run! $250/hour for obvious advice and potential sales pitches is a bad investment
Put your money in VOO and VTI. set it and forget it. max your 401k if there is a match. Then do Roth IRA if you qualify. Then go have dinner and forget it. Add to it every paycheck. Retire well off. It really is that simple.Show me anybody that has beat the S&P 500 over the last century (excess of 10% a year, on average). You won't.
The only life insurance Ramsey supports is Term life. Run from this advisor. Let the Financial Peace people know they are trying to sell you that garbage. They won’t be recommended anymore after that.
The Financial Peace people are rip off artists in the first place.
The ones who teach the baby steps? How are they a ripoff?
Their entire purpose is to get you set up with their overpriced high fee mutual funds sold through their “smartvestors”. Then Dave will tell you that you can safely withdraw 8 percent from your retirement funds and you’ll die broke.
I’ll coach you for $250!
Anyway no just leave them alone
OP the John Oliver 2016 video on Retirement Plans (no link not sure if ok to link but very easy to find the vid on YT) is a classic and contains relevant advice on fiduciaries. Billy Eichner also does a hilarious bit at the end. It’s only about 20 mins and u should watch.
I'd drop her. I got caught by a coworker (we're nurses) when talking about retirement planning with a different coworker. This person who overheard my conversation told me she was a certified financial planner and that she would like to meet up and help me with my planning. Turned out she worked for some company that sells stuff and also tries to sign up folks they meet (like me) to become a (supposed) certified financial planner too. I didn't know this yet. But at least she didn't charge me.
While we were meeting, besides some normal-sounding questions and some unwarranted compliments ("You're so informed already. You would be good at this!"), she began to try to sell me some life insurance and I began to smell a rat. My phone alerted me that I was also beginning to get a lot of emails from her and her company- maybe 6 or 8 or so during that one hour we met. After she left I saw that the the emails were because she was signing me up for classes and sending ads for stuff they sell.
The person you are meeting with does not sound like they are a legitimate financial planner but someone more like the person I ran into. In hindsight, I should have realized that if my sales person was also a coworker, then she probably weren't a real financial planner since most people don't work two professional jobs.
Anyone endorsed by Dave Ramsey is probably selling you something you could've just read in one of his books.
I'm pretty savvy at money management, at least for people making low six figures or less. I'll give you advice for free! 250 an hour feels outrageous. I love retirement number crunching, what are you trying to learn about?
Definitely cancel! The next time you hire a financial advisor, seek out someone who will act as a fiduciary (actually ask them and use that word). This means that they will put your best interests first. Typically when someone is selling financial products for which they receive a commission, that's how they are getting paid, but this person was also charging you an upfront fee -- very sketchy!
You may want to report this coach to the Dave Ramsey organization as they will want to know which affiliates uphold their standards and which are trying to do other things, like what you’re documenting. In general, if you’re just looking for info you can find that here or elsewhere online; if you want a specific accountability partner or in-person advisor you might want to set early ground rules that you won’t buy any products from them, ever.
Basically just get the Dave Ramsey highlights off Facebook or tik tok. He preaches about the same 7 things over and over for free and that's pretty much all there is to it.
Ramsey is against iul's so that she suggested it means she shouldn't be on that recommendation list. IULs are a type of whole life products.
Yeah, she’s more interested in selling you this thing than actually giving you advice
I knew a guy who consulted for a book, the title of which was “the power of $5”. I’m like, how much is the book? The friends of the author were not amused when they admitted $5 couldn’t even buy the book.
Run. & report this to Dave Ramsey's organization.
I'm not a fan of Ramsey's investment advice. However, one thing he gets right is to recommend term life insurance. IUL is whole-life insurance masquerading as an investment (it usually does neither job well). This coach should lose her endorsement from Ramsey
Report her to FPU. They/Dave don’t support these types of insurance policies either and may kick her from the program.
Drop the advisor and report them to Ramsey solution. That isn’t the kind of person they want to be suggesting!
Ramsey Solutions is literally in the business of hooking you up with overpriced mutual funds through their “smartvestors”. Don’t be a sucker.
Everything I have done with Ramsey solutions has been free. 🤷♀️ I even got free advice from a pretty good advisor. They went through a financial contract with me and explained it all. Dave constantly points out how to get some of the stuff for free. I only used the stuff as a start up then moved on to my own things. I never had any issues.
You can find all of the personal finance advice you need on YouTube for free…or just ask here.
What makes your financial situation so complex that you decided to find a financial advisor?
Wanted someone to review my financial position. Offer advice, etc. But I’m realizing folks on the financial subreddits offer great advice for free! 😉
most of this advice can be found on the internet and youtube for free.
You are being conned.
"wanting to tell me about a tax-deferred retirement account."
Any time it's a Product, not an account, it's a sale. Your IRA already is tax sheltered. You should report her to Ramsey Solutions.
Put that $250 session per month into your retirement accounts. Serious tax benefits to those accounts, you want to max that out before any other retirement savings imo.
Generally if you are young and anticipate to make more later in your career I would recommend going full Roth for now. If you have a pension with your work and anticipate other sources of income during retirement aside from this tax advantage retirement account then it may make sense to go almost full Roth for all your working years. You need to think about what you make now, what you anticipate making in retirement and if you think your income tax burden will increase or decrease (ie moving to a state with less, more, no tax on pension, social security; federal tax rates, potential having fewer deductions if you have a home paid off and you are now taking standard deduction opposed to itemizing).
I've met with financial planners when making changes to accounts or when I had questions. It's not something that you need to spend money on every month Plus you can find most of your answers here and places from other suggestions in this thread.
Oh hale no. She is trying to sell you a crap insurance policy with an investment angle. Nope, nope, nope. Never mix insurance with investments. And do not go back to her ever again. Done.
As a financial coach myself. This is exactly why I didn’t get into life insurance. There’s definitely cheaper coaching that aren’t trying to see you things you don’t need.
It sounds like a waste of time and money. You said yourself she hasn't offered great advice.
If you want an accountability partner, post in the PF weekly win thread. You don't need to pay someone $250 for it.