Be careful who you talk finances with!

[Drake3287]

More of an unattended story then anything else. I retired early with one of those better off public employee retirements we always hear about plus we have an extremely large savings and investment portfolio including our home being paid off. We also live in a subdivision of nicer homes.

Well, like many of us I'm always bombarded by financial advisors and bank reps telling me how they can "help" me with my financial future and always offer to sit down and talk about what they can do for me. For the most part I'm always polite and simply refuse, never mentioning anything about our finances. I don't even talk to our family and especially our friends about it.


Well.....sure enough we had another financial advisor going door to door looking for new clients and I figured just this one time I'd shut him down quickly before he had the chance to go on and on. He started off with his well rehearsed opening line and before he could go on I politely told him about our generous financial situation in some detail including our home being paid off. Well, he was of course blown away not expecting any of it and simply thanked me for my time and walked off.

Not an hour later we get a text message from our close friends telling us how we had met their new son in-law. Not knowing what they meant they finally explained that the guy at our door earlier was him.

Needless to say, now it's a little embarrassing.

 

[cooch96]

Yikes! This is a very good reminder to keep such matters private.

I’m occasionally tempted to speak of FIRE plans with family and coworkers. But I’m confident this would alienate some of them and certainly alienate me.

 

[Sunset]

Good thing he wasn't a thief checking to see if anyone was home.

 

[deserat]

Well.....sure enough we had another financial advisor going door to door looking for new clients ....

That's what peepholes are for - if I don't know them, I don't answer

Comment - must be rough for him to go door-to-door to sell financial advising services....I get people selling cookies, books, magazines.....

But, if he can sell door-to-door and maintain his personal integrity, dignity and confidence, he will go very far in life.

 

[Spock]

We have this hung on our door:

 

[Bestwifeever]

...
Not an hour later we get a text message from our close friends telling us how we had met their new son in-law. Not knowing what they meant they finally explained that the guy at our door earlier was him.

Needless to say, now it's a little embarrassing.

Embarrassing for them--they couldn't tell him to ask you if it was okay for him to come over? Is he going to all their friends' homes unannounced (and not immediately identifying himself as the SIL of close friends)? I'd be peeved that they gave him my address etc.

 

[Scuba]

We have this hung on our door:

Love this! [emoji23]

 

[24601NoMore]

We have this hung on our door:

OMG, that's classic! Did you make it or can we buy this somewhere?

Want one.

 

[Walt34]

We have this hung on our door:

OMG, that's classic! Did you make it or can we buy this somewhere?

Want one.

Me too!

 

[FI_RElater]

 

[OldShooter]

... Comment - must be rough for him to go door-to-door to sell financial advising services....I get people selling cookies, books, magazines.....

But, if he can sell door-to-door and maintain his personal integrity, dignity and confidence, he will go very far in life.

I have read that new Eddie Jones reps are encouraged or even required to do this. So it probably doesn't imply anything at all about the individual except that his book of business is thin to nonexistent.

 

[HadEnuff]

I just read an old Sue Grafton novel, and in it the narrator describes explaining to Jehovah's Witnesses on her doorstep that she'd be happy to have a conversation, but she wanted their home address so she could knock on their door when it was convenient for her, and try to convince them that her religious beliefs were more valid than theirs.

I thought that was pretty good.

 

[marko]

What the hell kind of financial advisor goes door to door looking for business??

 

[NW-Bound]

What the hell kind of financial advisor goes door to door looking for business??

The young ones who just started out, and are still hungry?

 

[brett]

Me, DW, our investment advisor, and NO ONE else.

 

[marko]

The young ones who just started out, and are still hungry?

Exactly. Just the type I'd want to hand over a few mil to in my living room.

 

[Ready]

Me too!

I must have this sign! Where can I buy one?

 

[jazz4cash]

Don’t worry. I’m sure he’s highly ethical and wouldn’t disclose any details of your conversation.

 

[Bir48die]

The young ones who just started out, and are still hungry?

In the old days you were expected to look at the "social" pages in your local paper and cold call. One of the reasons I opted out of stock brokerage early out of college

 

[omni550]

For anyone who is looking for a similar "No soliciting" sign, an Etsy shop has this one.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/243512710/no-soliciting-front-porch-sign-front?ref=sold_out-34

omni

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

I am a military-retiree, I worked in a career that offered a 20-year pension, not a large pension, but just enough. If you buy and pay-off your home, and have a bit of investment income on the side, anyone from my career field can do pretty well retiring 'early'.

So you would think that it would be safe to talk about finances among my former co-workers, right?

No, 99% of them failed to pay off their homes, and they failed to have any investments. So their pensions are not anywhere enough to support them.

 

[jollystomper]

I have a couple of ex-BILs who run in circles, that, if they had any inkling that we were FIREd, would likely direct violence towards us if they thought it could get them our money. So DW does not talk finances at all with the sister who had been married to them.

 

[Spock]

I don't remember were we bought our sign but its on amazon. There are several derivatives if you look around.


It's really dropped the number of people who knock. There are some that can't read.



https://www.amazon.com/Collins-CS-6230-No-Soliciting-Sign/dp/B00E9UBYVQ?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_9

 

[athena53]

What the hell kind of financial advisor goes door to door looking for business??

As OldShooter says, it's a requirement at Edward Jones.

I don't think I'd do anything to convince a cold-caller I was well off; it would just encourage them. Decades ago I'd get cold calls on my office phone, mostly from boiler-room types who may have gotten hold of a directory of actuaries. (My last name is very early in the alphabetic listing, too.) I'd just tell them that I couldn't save much because I was the sole support of the family, which was true during the last 5 years of my marriage and after my divorce. My savings were actually pretty healthy but they didn't need to know that.

 

[marko]

What the hell kind of financial advisor goes door to door looking for business??

As OldShooter says, it's a requirement at Edward Jones.

Then allow me to rephrase my question:
Who the hell would use Edward Jones as an advisor