So, what you’re actually trying to tell me is that after fifteen years as a pro—someone who supposedly knows the market inside and out, understands all the regulations, the whole nine yards—you haven't used any of that expertise to put your own skin in the game? Like, you haven't invested a dime of your own money to prove your advice isn't just some reckless gambling with everyone else's hard-earned cash? Give me a break... that sounds completely ridiculous. Look, I know my way around an investment portfolio. Period. Because of that, my rule for listening to anyone claiming to be an expert is pretty simple: I want to see their net worth, I want to see where they've put their money, and I want to see actual, boots-on-the-ground experience using their own capital (I don't care if they had to take out a loan from Chase to do it, honestly). At the end of the day, I need to like the person and feel like they aren't a total fraud.
Spot on. I appreciate the insight. It’s an essential service, sure—but the real question is who’s actually doing the work and how they’re pulling it off.
If people didn't feel the need to hunt for advice, this whole forum would be pointless.
Bradley Bishop58, I see where you're coming from, but let's be real: how many economics professors actually make it in the business world?
Look, I’m telling you... I don't care if you're some Ivy League economics professor, a certified Wall Street wizard, or whatever other fancy title you've got slapped on your business card. What matters is what I said earlier—real-world experience and actual skin in the game. I was talking to this guy the other day—claims to be a big-shot financial expert or something—and after he started pitching me some tiny little stock from a small-cap firm over here in the States, I decided to grill him a bit. Wanted to see what he actually knew about the company. All he could do was drone on about their product being "high potential" and throw a bunch of numbers at me—who knows, math, spreadsheets, whatever. So, being an idiot, I asked him about the actual vibe inside the office—you know, how the culture is, what they pay people, if everyone is working eighty-hour weeks, all that "irrelevant" stuff. Finally, I just asked straight up: "Did you actually buy any of these shares?" His answer? A total cop-out. "Well, you see, given my current position..." blah, blah, blah. Then I asked what *he* invests in personally. And again... just more "well, you see..." nonsense. So I told him, screw you and your "expert" advice.
GoldenStateSurfer said:Prudential kept bugging me too—eventually they actually dragged me in to start pitching stuff. They’re hitting me up about mortgages, insurance, investing... all of it. I just tell them straight up that I’ve already got my own strategic financial plan laid out and showed it to them right then and there.
So, here's what's really on my mind. How do you actually build a solid, strategic financial plan all by yourself? Where do I even start? How did you dive into this whole "project," Golden?
Any good books out there on personal finance planning? It bugs me that everything I find on Amazon seems strictly tailored to the US market. Is there anything more... I don't know, universal?
Can you find a course somewhere that teaches you how to draft a formal financial plan? Or maybe even simpler—what books are those financial advisors actually reading so I can just study the same stuff?
You really have to learn how to trade the markets. It’s pretty much the baseline if you want actual prosperity, or even just enough sense to keep an eye on how everyone else is "spinning" their money. On top of that, you need to grasp the fundamentals of investing in hard assets—think real estate, land, and stuff like that—and focus on living off passive income, whether that's dividends or rental yields, rather than just chipping away at your principal.
I’m sure there are seasoned advisors out there whose insights are worth their weight in gold. But let’s be real: in this life, the best advice is usually reserved for the ultra-wealthy. An "average" person can't exactly expect high-level, expert guidance when they're working with a modest amount of cash. Why would they? There are people out there willing to pay massive premiums for that kind of expertise.
So, for the rest of us, mastering the stock market is basically the foundation for everything else.
Reading through all the posts here has actually been a huge help—it almost talked me out of going to this seminar this Saturday... so I figured I’d write down my own experience regarding Prudential and connect it to what I already know... maybe it helps someone else...
A "friend" recommended this job to me because I'm about to graduate college, acting like she was helping me get ahead in life and make some real money. She told me they were checking within the company to see if anyone knew who to talk to so they wouldn't have to post a public job opening (which is just code for Multi-level marketing; basically, a friend tells you it's amazing and you blindly believe them because you're young and haven't learned how to spot red flags yet). And of course, they make money off me, since she made sure to mention that if I knew anyone else interested, I should let her know...
She didn't even tell me what the actual job was... (and I hate it when people act like that, I'm immediately suspicious). Some guy called me and we set up a meeting; I asked him when, and then I showed up. The building looks fine, the people look professional and all that... I arrived thinking I was just grabbing a coffee to see what the deal was. Then he starts asking me questions like who the Secretary of the Treasury is or what newspapers I read... It's ridiculous because I don't read those things, nor do I care who the Secretary of the Treasury is. I don't see why anyone would pay me to know who holds certain political offices...
We go inside, and I didn't even bring a resume or anything... I intentionally switched to using "you" instead of "sir" or "Mr." right away, just to see how he'd react. I was messing around, answering him like Bora with Jess... I didn't check a box for what kind of job I wanted because I had no clue what they did, so I asked him to explain. He just kept rambling about how great they are and how they make millions and so on... Then he asks me if I actually understand what my job would be. I asked him straight up, "Am I supposed to be recruiting clients?" He said, "No, the clients come to us, you just enter data at the beginning..." I'm sitting there thinking: wait, I drive all the way there just to enter data 15 hours a week to earn $1167 (with an hourly rate of roughly $17)... That's when things started smelling really fishy to me...
Afterward, I felt like I was watching *The Office* starring Donald Trump. Such stupid questions, like how am I supposed to run a firm tomorrow (even though this isn't even my field) and what would I do if they handed it to me today... My favorite part was when I pointed out, "Hey, I have an hourly rate of $133, why would I spend an hour educating you?" I was thinking, if you have a rate of $133 (which is $20 per month), why are you sitting in such a crappy chair, and why are your business cards so cheap? (A friend of mine represents a major American firm here in the States, and I can't even begin to compare him to this guy at Prudential who supposedly earns an hourly rate of $133).
So, I walk out, and honestly, I still have no idea what my job would actually be... And that's never a good sign. When I interviewed for the job I have now, everything was crystal clear; they repeated exactly what I'd be doing, what the pay was, and they were totally upfront about everything. That's how it should be.
Then the guy calls me to say I'm hired and tells me to show up at the office this Saturday for a seminar. Now, if I use my brain for a second—okay, I acted dumb on purpose, I was joking around during the interview, being blatantly disrespectful to a stranger, showing zero responsibility, etc... And they still want me to work for them?
Either they are absolutely desperate to hire anyone (the guy mentioned there were 50 people at the interview), or this man saw something in me that he liked and thought I was "special" (which feels pretty good, I guess)...
Everything clicked into place once I looked into what people were saying online. This is the type of person they hire. It reminds me of *Big Brother*; everyone wants fast cash, everyone acts like they have 3 million bucks and drive luxury SUVs. They just feed you these lines: "If you act like you're rich, people will treat you like you are." They inflate their egos with massive numbers, all sorts of ups and downs... and they claim you can do it all if you just work hard enough and do this and that... But to me, it all sounds like those street hustlers or people in cafes trying to sell you watches; they have this whole choreographed routine on how to present themselves and their product, wearing suits because they think people associate suits with success. But when reality hits, these people are clueless. Others have filled their heads with nonsense that they follow because they've been promised all their financial dreams will come true, and they just daydream about what they'll do with all the money. It's always: "Just do this, listen to that, if you deposit this..." and it never ends.
Nowadays, people call this NLP, or neuro-linguistic programming. It’s not my first time running into this stuff, and honestly, it kind of makes sense—human psychology is complex enough that people find ways to weaponize it just to squeeze more profit out of others. Basically, some folks sat down, figured out what drives people, and realized how to exploit those triggers for their own gain. It’s a textbook example: you want fast cash? You want to work minimal hours and live like royalty? Right... It’s hilarious how almost everyone peddling this has zero actual expertise or formal training for these roles, but hey, don't worry—you can just learn everything at a weekend seminar. Who needs a university degree anyway? Right...
It’s a perfect example of how many gurus are out there selling books on this topic. And you have to wonder: why are people who are already loaded writing commercial self-help books and promoting them everywhere if they already have more money than they know what to do with? Is it just pure greed, or are they just trying to pass the torch? Righttt
In this business, "success" means climbing high enough to be the one recruiting a bunch of friends and family to make money off them, or maybe an even larger pool of strangers. To me, it feels exactly like those old Craigslist scams where someone asks you to send $83 in an envelope, only for them to tell you it doesn't exist and that you should follow their specific method instead. By the time you realize what's happening, it’s too late. All you can do is keep praising the system and spreading the word because your entire livelihood depends on it. Plus, anyone working there loses all objectivity, unless, of course, they want to show you a detailed breakdown of their earnings or scan some document showing their $133 hourly rate or $6.75. The people working purely on commission usually do it because they don't have any other options. I highly doubt anyone with a solid education or specialized training would touch this. Personally, I much prefer having a steady monthly salary plus performance bonuses for extra tasks that actually help the company turn a profit. That way, it's a win-win. Sure, you can always move up the ladder, but having a stable foundation is a lot better than relying solely on commissions. The market is absolutely saturated with this nonsense; nobody trusts anyone, there’s no liquidity, which means you aren't actually going to make massive amounts of money...
The more I see this stuff, the more I value my own skills and investing in myself, because that’s what truly pays off in the long run. If I decided to quit my job tomorrow, I know I could find another one without breaking a sweat.
ambercrane11 said:Besides Prudential, what other companies in the US offer financial advisory services—specifically when it comes to actual financial planning?
Are you looking for firms that give free advice, or are you ready to pay for professional guidance right out of the gate?
Anonymous said:Reading through all the posts here has actually been a huge help—it almost talked me out of going to this seminar this Saturday... so I figured I’d write down my own experience regarding Prudential and connect it to what I already know... maybe it helps someone else...
A "friend" recommended this job to me because I'm about to graduate college, acting like she was helping me get ahead in life and make some real money. She told me they were checking within the company to see if anyone knew who to talk to so they wouldn't have to post a public job opening (which is just code for Multi-level marketing; basically, a friend tells you it's amazing and you blindly believe them because you're young and haven't learned how to spot red flags yet). And of course, they make money off me, since she made sure to mention that if I knew anyone else interested, I should let her know...
She didn't even tell me what the actual job was... (and I hate it when people act like that, I'm immediately suspicious). Some guy called me and we set up a meeting; I asked him when, and then I showed up. The building looks fine, the people look professional and all that... I arrived thinking I was just grabbing a coffee to see what the deal was. Then he starts asking me questions like who the Secretary of the Treasury is or what newspapers I read... It's ridiculous because I don't read those things, nor do I care who the Secretary of the Treasury is. I don't see why anyone would pay me to know who holds certain political offices...
We go inside, and I didn't even bring a resume or anything... I intentionally switched to using "you" instead of "sir" or "Mr." right away, just to see how he'd react. I was messing around, answering him like Bora with Jess... I didn't check a box for what kind of job I wanted because I had no clue what they did, so I asked him to explain. He just kept rambling about how great they are and how they make millions and so on... Then he asks me if I actually understand what my job would be. I asked him straight up, "Am I supposed to be recruiting clients?" He said, "No, the clients come to us, you just enter data at the beginning..." I'm sitting there thinking: wait, I drive all the way there just to enter data 15 hours a week to earn $1167 (with an hourly rate of roughly $17)... That's when things started smelling really fishy to me...
Afterward, I felt like I was watching *The Office* starring Donald Trump. Such stupid questions, like how am I supposed to run a firm tomorrow (even though this isn't even my field) and what would I do if they handed it to me today... My favorite part was when I pointed out, "Hey, I have an hourly rate of $133, why would I spend an hour educating you?" I was thinking, if you have a rate of $133 (which is $20 per month), why are you sitting in such a crappy chair, and why are your business cards so cheap? (A friend of mine represents a major American firm here in the States, and I can't even begin to compare him to this guy at Prudential who supposedly earns an hourly rate of $133).
So, I walk out, and honestly, I still have no idea what my job would actually be... And that's never a good sign. When I interviewed for the job I have now, everything was crystal clear; they repeated exactly what I'd be doing, what the pay was, and they were totally upfront about everything. That's how it should be.
Then the guy calls me to say I'm hired and tells me to show up at the office this Saturday for a seminar. Now, if I use my brain for a second—okay, I acted dumb on purpose, I was joking around during the interview, being blatantly disrespectful to a stranger, showing zero responsibility, etc... And they still want me to work for them?
Either they are absolutely desperate to hire anyone (the guy mentioned there were 50 people at the interview), or this man saw something in me that he liked and thought I was "special" (which feels pretty good, I guess)...
Everything clicked into place once I looked into what people were saying online. This is the type of person they hire. It reminds me of *Big Brother*; everyone wants fast cash, everyone acts like they have 3 million bucks and drive luxury SUVs. They just feed you these lines: "If you act like you're rich, people will treat you like you are." They inflate their egos with massive numbers, all sorts of ups and downs... and they claim you can do it all if you just work hard enough and do this and that... But to me, it all sounds like those street hustlers or people in cafes trying to sell you watches; they have this whole choreographed routine on how to present themselves and their product, wearing suits because they think people associate suits with success. But when reality hits, these people are clueless. Others have filled their heads with nonsense that they follow because they've been promised all their financial dreams will come true, and they just daydream about what they'll do with all the money. It's always: "Just do this, listen to that, if you deposit this..." and it never ends.
Nowadays, people call this NLP, or neuro-linguistic programming. It’s not my first time running into this stuff, and honestly, it kind of makes sense—human psychology is complex enough that people find ways to weaponize it just to squeeze more profit out of others. Basically, some folks sat down, figured out what drives people, and realized how to exploit those triggers for their own gain. It’s a textbook example: you want fast cash? You want to work minimal hours and live like royalty? Right... It’s hilarious how almost everyone peddling this has zero actual expertise or formal training for these roles, but hey, don't worry—you can just learn everything at a weekend seminar. Who needs a university degree anyway? Right...
It’s a perfect example of how many gurus are out there selling books on this topic. And you have to wonder: why are people who are already loaded writing commercial self-help books and promoting them everywhere if they already have more money than they know what to do with? Is it just pure greed, or are they just trying to pass the torch? Righttt
In this business, "success" means climbing high enough to be the one recruiting a bunch of friends and family to make money off them, or maybe an even larger pool of strangers. To me, it feels exactly like those old Craigslist scams where someone asks you to send $83 in an envelope, only for them to tell you it doesn't exist and that you should follow their specific method instead. By the time you realize what's happening, it’s too late. All you can do is keep praising the system and spreading the word because your entire livelihood depends on it. Plus, anyone working there loses all objectivity, unless, of course, they want to show you a detailed breakdown of their earnings or scan some document showing their $133 hourly rate or $6.75. The people working purely on commission usually do it because they don't have any other options. I highly doubt anyone with a solid education or specialized training would touch this. Personally, I much prefer having a steady monthly salary plus performance bonuses for extra tasks that actually help the company turn a profit. That way, it's a win-win. Sure, you can always move up the ladder, but having a stable foundation is a lot better than relying solely on commissions. The market is absolutely saturated with this nonsense; nobody trusts anyone, there’s no liquidity, which means you aren't actually going to make massive amounts of money...
The more I see this stuff, the more I value my own skills and investing in myself, because that’s what truly pays off in the long run. If I decided to quit my job tomorrow, I know I could find another one without breaking a sweat.
I'm with you on that. An acquaintance of mine reached out to explain all this investment hype to me because she works for Charles Schwab. It caught me off guard, so I agreed to meet up, mostly because she's a cool person we met out in a more relaxed setting 😬. There is zero chance she's going to sell me some bullshit; I'm going purely out of curiosity, not expecting to hear anything life-changing. For me, the most important thing will be whether we actually go out that night—now *that* is something I'll definitely invest in, with the smile of a satisfied customer. 😬
silentmason15 said:I'm with you on that. An acquaintance of mine reached out to explain all this investment hype to me because she works for Charles Schwab. It caught me off guard, so I agreed to meet up, mostly because she's a cool person we met out in a more relaxed setting 😬. There is zero chance she's going to sell me some bullshit; I'm going purely out of curiosity, not expecting to hear anything life-changing. For me, the most important thing will be whether we actually go out that night—now *that* is something I'll definitely invest in, with the smile of a satisfied customer. 😬
And then you'll be stuck dealing with the fallout for months! If I were in your shoes, I would think twice about this one!
1. Look, everybody wants a heads-up on the ROI. Whether you're dropping cash or burning hours, you want to know exactly what you're getting out of the deal.
2. We seriously need to bake personal finance into the school curriculum.
I don't care how bloated the syllabus is—fifteen different subjects already fighting for space—or if it’s its own class or just a module. It doesn't matter. What matters is that kids actually learn something useful. If parents aren't financially literate, why shouldn't we at least give the kids the basics? Some old guy might blow his entire paycheck on cheap booze, but at least his kid should understand why that's a terrible move.
3. When you're dealing with low wages and a population that hasn't been taught better, there isn't much room to play around with fancy "investment strategies."
And let's be real: teachers are criminally underpaid for what they do. If they were actually compensated properly, you might actually get decent lectures instead of people just checking out or teaching nonsense.
4. If we're talking about future education—whether it's formal schooling, online courses, or whatever—it helps us make educated guesses. But at the end of the day, it's still just forecasting. We're basically just trying to map out the boundaries of what might happen.
5. Sometimes it’s just easier to take that first step when someone lays out a roadmap for you. Stick to it, stay disciplined, and you'll land somewhere above the middle class. Obviously, it's not a magic ticket to being a billionaire, but it'll buy you a much better life than the average Joe.
So, I actually went to an Allianz seminar because this girl from my college wouldn't stop raving about them. They had their big regional director there—the guy who basically runs the whole show for the US. Here’s the reality: if you want the actual truth—like how they really make money, what my actual paycheck would look like, or what the day-to-day job even entails—you have to read between the lines. They spend the whole time talking up massive commissions, rapid promotions, and constant travel, but underneath all that gloss, it’s just pure exploitation. Most people at the seminar looked completely broke. The advice they give is so incredibly shallow; honestly, I was doing better market analysis than that during my freshman year of college. Their partners are mediocre at best in every single category, which is exactly why they use a company like Allianz as a partner—just to use that polished image to lure in some clueless person. My advice to all students out there? Just don't. Unless you are absolutely desperate, stay far away. And let’s be real, those income claims are total nonsense. In all its "glory," the US branch of Allianz only has about 11 employees, and the average net salary is around $4,500. And keep in mind, we're talking about the leadership here.
So, I had this guy call me out of the blue asking, "Whose apartment is this, and is it insured?" Honestly, my first instinct was to just snap back with, "Why on earth do you need to know that?" Turns out he was calling from State Farm. Good grief... for a split second there, I genuinely considered tossing him down the stairwell!
I have to say, though, the folks over at Vanguard are a breath of fresh air compared to that. They don't go ringing your doorbell uninvited or plastering tacky flyers all over the streetlights. They actually rely on word-of-mouth and referrals, which they’re quite upfront about, too. To me, that feels much more decent and fair. 👍
So I’m just reading through this, and honestly, what a total disaster. They actually called me too, after I left my resume on Indeed—which, by the way, is basically an anti-advertisement for them at this point. On the site, everything is laid out perfectly: what field I'd be in, the minimum salary, all that good stuff. But then, out of nowhere, some recruiter from Wells Fargo calls me up and doesn't even bother mentioning what the actual job is before trying to schedule an interview. It’s pretty obvious they’re just working their way through everyone on Indeed like a checklist because Indeed can't exactly stop them, which really just highlights how unprofessional they are. But whatever, it's fine. At least now I know I won't be wasting my precious time with Wells Fargo; I can definitely find something much smarter to do with my day.
Listen, here’s some financial advice: $133 Life insurance at age 30. $67 A 5-year housing savings plan. After those 5 years, take all that cash from the housing fund and dump it into an investment fund. Then, let the dividends from the fund pay off the life insurance premiums. Can anyone actually BELIEVE this nonsense???
ambermaker13 said:Listen, here’s some financial advice: $133 Life insurance at age 30. $67 A 5-year housing savings plan. After those 5 years, take all that cash from the housing fund and dump it into an investment fund. Then, let the dividends from the fund pay off the life insurance premiums. Can anyone actually BELIEVE this nonsense???
Everything works out perfectly if you assume life insurance funds have insane returns from year five to year thirty. But honestly? It’s way more likely you'll hit a few massive market crashes during that stretch. I don't think it's smart to bet everything on funds long-term.
Check out www.investopedia.com. I was browsing through their site earlier and they have an incredible array of online calculators—you can run the numbers on just about any tax scenario (including various ways to calculate income tax), plus they’ve got all sorts of tools for savings goals and loan repayments. They even mentioned they'll be rolling out a bunch of new ones soon. I've already added them to my bookmarks; they seem like a really solid, fresh resource.
ambermaker13 said:Listen, here’s some financial advice: $133 Life insurance at age 30. $67 A 5-year housing savings plan. After those 5 years, take all that cash from the housing fund and dump it into an investment fund. Then, let the dividends from the fund pay off the life insurance premiums. Can anyone actually BELIEVE this nonsense???
