Essentially the Only One

I just learned that some people dear to me whose financial needs are stability and security were persuaded by their financial advisor to invest in a fund trading in futures! A high risk investment that might do very well or might just as well lose much of their stake. But not a fund for security and stability.

This is just another reason why I will never, never, never use a financial advisor to handle our finances. If there has been any lesson from the past few years' debacle in the financial markets, it's that there are no experts because the system itself, is, like the weather, inherently unpredictable in the short term. I continue to believe that, long term, stock investments are wise. But I avoid all derivatives like futures because I don't understand them, and it is clear what from what has happened that even those who are supposed to know about them don't understand them either. So I stick with very low expense mutual funds (mostly index linked) investing in stocks - i.e. real companies and not imaginary constructs. Add to that bonds and healthy cash balance in case of emergencies, no debt, and I believe we have a sound financial grounding.

OK, end of rant.