After staring at my 401K plan's website for 2 hours, I've come to the conclusion that not only do I need professional to help me wade through the data that's posted to make reasonable long-term decisions, but I also need someone that's not going to completely dismiss my gut feelings.
But who can I trust?
I have a little scenario in my mind that I want to play out.
idio comes into the meeting room where his firm's mutual fund advisor is doing personal meetings for the day. They shake and hands, sit down, and log into the site that trakcs idio's funds.
idio: Brian, I've got some long-term stability concerns. I do the math with complex rate of return, and the math tells me I'll barely be able to afford 2 years of retirement at the rate of price inflation in 40 years.
I also think the U.S. is headed for major problems concerning peak oil and the massive national debt. How am I going to safeguard my retirement money, and keep it growing if possibile?
Brian looks at idio as though idio's lost his mind.
Well, maybe that's not what would happen. The problem is that the guy I have advising me now is pretty straight-laced and terribily lacking in a personality. If I start asking him about finding mutal funds that invest in progressive companies, or about why I think world is going to go through significant troubling changes economically in the next few decades, I think he'll look at me like I'm insane.
I don't know if I need to be talked down off the ledge, but I at least need someone who's sympathetic to my concerns and be able to put me right on if I'm smoking crack, while respecting my progressive opinions.