Personal Financial Gurus are Dangerous!

[boy_bye]

This article is kind of complainypants but it raises some good points. It's an interview with the author of a book called Pound Foolish, which examines the rise of the financial self-help industry, and looks at the problems with it.

http://prospect.org/article/suze-ormans-advice-dangerous

The author argues that financial self-help contributes to people's problems, because it puts all of the responsibility on the individual to navigate and make choices, rather than putting any responsibility on the financial services industry to offer honest, non-BS products or on the government to regulate the financial services industry.

I think she has a point. But it's a little simplistic. It's interesting to me how one group of folks always wants to say "How a person's life turns out is 100% up to them!" and another group wants to say "The corporations are screwing everybody!"

Somehow, very few people seem to realize that both statements are equally true. I think we need financial literacy and education, and we also need reforms and rules to keep the banks in check. It's not either/or -- both are required. This author seems to believe that a smartphone is a requirement rather than a luxury.

To me, the most intriguing part of this Q&A is the end:

What would it look like if the self-help ethos of the personal-finance industry were well balanced with a smart systemic understanding of the economy?

Instead of perpetuating the language of blame and shame, I like to think we would be asking for more changes to help all of us. Personal finance would become about “we” instead of “me.” So instead of blaming people for their excessive health care bills, our personal-finance gurus would be questioning why those bills were so high in the first place and how we got to a place where they have the ability to wipe out decades of savings in a matter of weeks. Instead of chewing (out) low-wage workers who cannot live within their not-particularly substantial means, personal-finance gurus would ask why so many jobs are not paying a living wage.

What are your thoughts?

[sol]

If everyone was rich, nobody would be rich.

American capitalism only works through the deliberate exploitation and suffering of others.  My cheap cell phone is subsidized by apple fanboys who pay stupid markups.  Brussel sprouts are cheap because people only want to eat a McCrap burger with superfries. My car costs less than your TV because you lease a new SUV every 18 months.  Walmart's super low prices are made possible by slave labor in unregulated free trade zones.

And most significantly, my dividend checks continue to roll in because consumerist suckers keep buying disposable crap they don't need to replace the disposable crap they no longer want.

So, no, I don't want everyone to get savvy all at once.  I'm rich because you're poor, and changing that system too quickly isn't good for anybody.

[Donovan]

I remember that book from another forum post on here in the Wall of Shame section:
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/antimustachian-wall-of-shame-and-comedy/don't-cut-back-on-spending-just-'pick-a-cause'/

The article discussed there is by the author of that book, and is quite complainypants.  She seems to have a very cynical view of the finances overall.

As for the quote you mentioned, I'm curious how she decided that 'personal finance gurus' should be dealing with issues of mass policy.  Right there in the name it suggests that they advise on your personal finances.  Does wage inequality need to be discussed? Yes. But if people are looking for advice on how to control their current financial situation, then a book that instead goes off on tangents about how it's all the government and corporations fault is not going to be of much use.

I think she makes a good (poorly worded) point about 'financial literacy' being a mess of misinformation at times because the information comes from people who would profit from your bad decisions (like banks and real-estate agents trying to tie you to a certain type of house based on your income, not based off of what you actually need space-wise. Or the country-wide obsession with new cars.).  However, there are also plenty of legitimate sources to get extremely sound financial coaching...perhaps even for free on a fantastic blog or two?