ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I am a bit nicer, I offer to give the same level of advice that I give on the forum.
Which funds are better than others, the importance of asset allocation, and suggested books to read.
The way I figure it is if I have a question about subject which I am pretty ignorant say auto repair, or home improvement. I'll ask somebody who is knowledgeable for advice. They typically give me some pretty generic advice, mostly about things to watch out for. Sometimes a very specific advice get product A not B.
I never expect to come back and sue them if the advice isn't great, I just don't ask again.
If someone asks for help & I think I have some help, I try to help.
I'm with you guys. I'm kind of shocked at some of the responses, don't friends try to help friends? If I knew that a friend of mine had specific expertise in an area, and he refused to even talk about some problem I was having in that area, I would question that 'friendship' (although the OP referred to these as 'colleagues', so maybe they are not 'friends'?).
I understand the reluctance of giving specific advice and then being (even if irrationally) held 'accountable'. But that isn't how I handle it. Much as clifp said, you lay out the basics - it's up to them to decide. You are just providing information, resources. If people talk about a 'hot fund' or a 'hot stock', you can mention how things go in cycles, and often what is hot today is cold tomorrow, then lead into basic AA, diversification, rebalancing, etc.
Before I retired, I found that 100% of co-workers asking for financial advice wanted a stock tip that would act as a "magic bullet", allowing them to retire without making much effort. ....
Yep, that seems to be the way most people think, so problem solved!
-ERD50