FRONTLINE: the Retirement Gamble (documentary)

[Entadus]

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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/retirement-gamble/

Definitely check this one out. I was impressed with the coverage on Mr. Bogle. This should be a lot of old news to the regulars over at http://whitecoatinvestor.com/ . No matter the money I am just glad to be in medicine as a professional whose obligation is primarily to help other people. I would go nuts trying to work alongside some of the unscrupulous members of the financial industry.

 

[QofQuimica]

It's definitely a jungle, and caveat emptor. No one should just hand over their money to someone else without knowing what that person is doing with it. WCI and Bogleheads are both good places to start for self-education. I ended up becoming interested enough in financial planning that I have been taking courses to become a CFP myself, though the only person whose finances I manage are my own. 😛

 

[Stroganoff]

I ended up becoming interested enough in financial planning that I have been taking courses to become a CFP myself, though the only person whose finances I manage are my own.

Ooo, this is appealing. Something I've entertained just for gunning for knowledge's sake (and maybe resume padding for no good reason). I suppose I could search for all this... but is it a long pathway? Is it gimmicky? Expiration period and annoying re-testing? $$$ barrier to entry?

And OP, thanks for the thread. It's a classic documentary and deserves its own thread in this forum. Well worth the watch to anyone who hasn't seen it.

 

[PlannerJeb]

The CFP isn't horribly hard to obtain but it would be a time commitment that might be tough to do as a physician.

There are three main requirements: education, which consists of 6 financial planning courses; a final exam which covers all the topics learned in the courses; and finally either a two year apprenticeship or three years of related experience.

Like I said, none of it is particularly hard. The experience portion would be the hardest part for a practicing doctor to obtain but it isn't impossible. The fees are fairly low; the CFP courses will cost around $4,000 from the College for Financial Planning and the yearly fee is $325.

In the end I just don't know if the time spent getting the experience would be worth it. The knowledge would be great though; I'd recommend taking the classes anyway if that's something that you're interested in.

 

[QofQuimica]

Agree. Since the only person whose finances I'm interested in managing at this time are my own, I have no plans to do anything more than take the courses, which are paid for by my employer and therefore cost me nothing except the time I spend learning about something that I am interested in learning about anyway. Well, and I do have to pay for my own books.