Badly Timed Financial Advice

secretwealth · Post by **secretwealth** » Sun Sep 16, 2012 10:10 pm

The gap between compensation between bloggers and professional, mainstream journalists is massive, but the gap between knowledge and wisdom isn't always proportional to that gap in pay.
I found this particular gem in a personal finance book I bought used a few months ago on a whim:
"Your house, in which you are building equity, is almost certain to increase in value over the years; rent builds no equity. Even if the home you buy doesn't rise in value as rapidly as in the past or as property in more desirable areas, you'll still be better off than having paid rent. What all this means in the end is that when you retire, you'll probably be able to sell your home and use the profit to buy another one mortgage-free in a less expensive area. Not so if you have been renting.
I'm not advocating you buy a million dollar apartment. Go where you can afford to buy, even if that means al onger commute. You may even have to stretch yourself a bit financially for a few years, but that's ok because you're putting money into an appreciating asset--the very definition of good debt. A portion of your living expenses becomes part of your investment portfolio." -- Live Well on Less than You Think, Fred Brock, 2005.

chenda · Post by **chenda** » Sun Sep 16, 2012 10:43 pm

This reads like a parody; Fred really needed some English lessons as well financial.

secretwealth · Post by **secretwealth** » Sun Sep 16, 2012 11:30 pm

He's a regular contributor to the New York Times, too.
The book is horrible. I'm giving up on it.

Post by **jacob** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 2:49 am

"The gap between knowledge and wisdom isn't always proportional to that gap in pay."
Winner takes all. In a mass media world, the winner is whoever talks to the most people. To talk to the most people one has to fire straight down the middle of the mainstream. In summary, provide median advice to the most people.
This goes for any mass-product.
In that regard the publisher (the only one I sent the manuscript to) response to the ERE book was that while it was an interesting story, they didn't think it would sell.
I guess they were wrong.

secretwealth · Post by **secretwealth** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 3:01 am

Excellent but thoroughly depressing assessment.
English lit. majors (and professors) respond to this with a sense of superiority--our art is better than the unwashed masses' art. I always found that attitude snobbish and disgusting, but when it comes to finance and politics, it does seem that the quality of discourse in the mainstream is intentionally unenlightening.