Doing it yourself

The basics

No one cares as much about your finances as you do. You will not realize your financial goals, and no one else – not the most skilled advisor – can help you realize your financial goals if you are not engaged. While you can delegate some of this work, you cannot wash your hands of finance completely.

There is nothing complicated about basic finance. The guiding principle is avoiding self-destructive behaviour. If any of the following apply to you, fix them before you even think about investing:

• Spending more than you make
• Not paying off your credit cards every month
• Not opening mail from your bank or broker because you don't want to know
• Failing to take every free penny that comes your way, whether it be a matching contribution to a savings plan by an employer or a tax deduction from the government, because you don't want to put some money into the kitty yourself
• Leaving your family exposed to a loss of earnings due to death or disability
• Gambling (unless you're really good at it, in which case it's not gambling)
• Buying a house or car more to impress than to use
• Paying non-deductible interest on anything other than your home mortgage (and a good case can be made that you are better to pay off the mortgage than invest, which you are not likely to hear from someone who gets paid a commission to sell you investments)