DIY or financial adviser?

 discusses:


There is always this hot debate going on to whether DIY your insurance/investments yourself or seek a financial adviser whom is supposedly a professional. Now for the sake of the argument, lets assume the financial adviser to be a professional, someone who really knows his stuff well like a neurosurgeon's familiarity to a human brain. Well for those who arent an adviser, you'll never know right? ;)

I'll use an analogy of an illness to exemplify this matter.

Say you are down with a headache and a very bad one that has been pounding your head for days. This has never happen in your life before. You got more worried and decided to seek for assistance. Two ways to go about it.

1. See a doctor.

2. Go to the pharmacy to buy painkiller.

By employing 1., I can presumably say that you are seeking a professional to allay any fears you have to find a cure.You are relying on professional help by revealing your condition on the basis of trust. You trust him because you know he is a doctor. Time, convenience and money is not your utmost consideration. (Given how smart we are these days, one should realise a quack before seeking advice)

By employing 2., I presume that you think you know how to find a cure yourself. While I cannot say that you don't trust any doctors, I can safely say you think that you are on par with them. After all, it's just a headache what, how bad can it be? The reason you do so is because you save time, convenience and money. Or maybe you really don't trust any doctors at all, assuming all their education (spent in millions) they have gone through can be googled.

Two hypothetical situations can arise from no 2.

1. The doctor prescribes you medicine and it cured your headache. Happy ending.

2. After diagnosis, the doctor decided to go through a comprehensive medical check up. The tests reveal that you are suffering from stage 1 brain tumour. There is still hope. Happy ending.

Three hypothetical situations can arise from no 2.

1. The medicine cured your headache. Happy ending.

2. You thought the medicine cured your headache until few months later, the headache revisits you. This time, the medicine didn't work out and see no. 3

3. The over-the-shelf medicine you bought at pharmacy did not cure your headache. You went back to buy another and another and another, unfortunately, none worked. To make matters worse, your headache is now pounding even harder. You finally decided to seek doctor and realised you are already suffering from stage 4 brain tumour. GG.

What I'm trying to say is that we all have our ways of dealing with problems. But why DIY when you jolly well know that you aren't a professional at all. There is no such thing as self-proclaim professional. Sorry if you really think you are one, but all professionals go through proper education and experience to earn their credentials.

If you are a skeptic, why not take it from a perspective of seeking a 2nd opinion instead? When it is your finances and health we are talking about, surely you can afford some time and an open mind? On another note, Google is really made up of those self-proclaim professionals. I speak from somone who has not completely gone through education yet suffice to tell the difference. 

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