Lux Investing - Should I invest money through a money manager like Beacon Capital Management or manage it myself?

Should I invest money through a money manager like Beacon Capital Management or manage it myself?

I recently heard that maybe it's OK for me to handle my own investing instead of going through a money manager. problem is...my friend is the manager. 1. Will this insult my friend? 2. Is it actually more valuable to invest with someone like Beacon Capital Management as oppossed to investing on my own? 3. How do I break ties while maintaining my investments?

Public Comments

Absolutely invest on your own, assuming you learn some simple investing principles. Read this: http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/BoomerBucks/20061206_investment_advice_a1.asp What your friend is doing is 'working his natural market'. He has to get clients, so his friends and family are the easiest targets. Do not do this. People that use these brokers are often paying 2, 3 or even 4% in fees. Look at what that does to your money: http://www.retireearlyhomepage.com/advise.html If your friend is really a friend, saying no will not insult him. Be prepared though, for sales talk. He has been taught how to manipulate people into using him. Don't fall for it. Just learn how to invest properly. Don't play with stocks, time the market, chase past returns. Set yourself up with a low-cost (my costs are under 0.2%) portfolio diversified according to your risk tolerance and stay the course. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/yourmoney/sns-yourmoney-1217risk,1,3908410.story
Manage it yourself if you have or acquire some knowledge. If you're truly a novice you may be wiser to use the gudance of a professional. Pros and cons in a nutshell: Pro: You will get professional advice and guidance with your investment money Con: You will pay for that advice in the form of fees and commissions which erodes your ROI (return on investment) Pro: You will keep your friendship intact Con: You will be allowing your decisions to be based on people pleasing traits, seen in all of us, more in some than others. Can get in the way of reaching your goals in the big game of life. Pros: You have a pretty good chance your money will get a decent rate of return Con: you will lose the opportunity to learn something about investing by not doing yourself. Remember, knowledge is power. And your return will likely be modest, as fund managers tend to be conservative with your money, but this closed the opportunity for greater reward with a little more risk. The problems with using money managers and stock brokers are several. First they are expensive. The commissions and fees they charge will eat away at any returns they can make for you, assuming their "wisdom" makes you any money in the first place. Second, they are not unbiased even if they are your friends. They get higher commissions by pushing certain investment vehicles and mutual funds. This is an industry fact. Third, some firms are more limited in the selection of mutual funds (if that's one of your investment choices)-they often pick from their family of funds or a fanily of funds their company has an interest in or association with. The advantages of using a money manager. A good idea if you have no experience with investing and don't intend to learn any. You have access (for a fee mind you-it's there whether you see it or not) to professional advice. You will have more time to focus on things other than investing. But, (see above) you will not learn anything new about investing-something everyone should do. Recommend reading: The Wall Street Journal Complete Money & Investing Guidebook, and Kiplinger's Guide to Investing Success. Also, check out websites like wsj.com, fool.com-of motley fool fame, investopedia.com, yahoo.com finance, msn investing and msn money sites. And definitely get an online acoount with a brokerage. I recommend Scottrade (low flat transaction, fee, no minumum or inactivity fee, great website, free research, powerful customizable charts, valuline mutual fund ratings-like morningstar, etc.) If you're good friends you should be able to just tell him you're interested in learning about investing and want to manage things yourself. I don;t see that you have to "break ties" if you make the decision to do some investing on your own. Here's a novel approach. Tell your friend you want to invest 1/2 of your $ on your own and let him manage the other 1/2 and see who does better over time. The proof will be in the pudding. You will keep your friendship status quo, learn about and have fun with investing, while letting him know you value his advice and friendship-personally and professionally, it will be a fun little contest-have a small side wager even, and hopefully you will make money as you go!
if you have the expertise, invest yourself. you are on your own destiny. besides you can save on the management fees as well. but if you don't master it as yet, better give it to your friend. it is better to pay something for greater return than losing everything.
I would manage it myself in a currency hedge fund. The reason that some predict that Mark Vincellete will be on the cover of Time magazine is simply because of his brilliant strategy he developed for the currency market. He is revolutionizing investing for the average investor. Making huge amounts of money and retiring young is not just for hedge fund managers. Investors who follow this program have been making unheard of returns. Due to compliance issues I cannot reveal the returns on investment but when you demo the program you will see for yourself. Once you see the power of the program you will tell everyone you know about it. That is why the company is growing 40% a month. This is a currency hedge strategy and anyone can do it because of its simplicity. It takes about 10-20 minutes a week if that. You can follow the strategy with play money until you see how it works and are comfortable with investing. Don’t take me word for it though. Try it out for yourself. Watch the video presentation on the site below. It will explain everything through the video. www.demofreedomrocks.com. Take care 5000 @ 12% a month = 1.6 million in 4 years. 19 million in 6 years. 12% a month???? Its possible. Thats all I can say without getting into compliance issues.
At this point you don't know if you can do better than your friend. Tell him you want to try some things on your own and open an online brokerage account with a little bit of $$. If you fail, you've kept the valuable relationship and won't need to come back with the tail between your legs. If you succeed, you can pull the rest of the money and offer your your friend to manage HIS money.