slightly OT: worst gardening advice you've ever seen
davidrt28 (zone 7)
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
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nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agodavidrt28 (zone 7) thanked nicholsworth Z6 IndianapolisRelated Discussions
Slightly OT: Image usage/stolen images
Comments (14)this is from the GardenWeb terms of service. Basically if you upload to their servers your content is fair game. "By submitting content, which shall include your member name, to any "public area" of the GardenWeb Network, including, but not limited to, the forums and your personal website, exchange page and journal, you grant iVillage a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right (including any moral rights) and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, sublicense, assign, derive revenue or other remuneration from, communicate to the public, perform and display the content (in whole or in part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed, for the full term of any Rights that may exist in such content. If you are not the creator of such content, you also warrant that the holder of any Rights, including moral rights in such content, has completely and effectively waived all such rights and validly and irrevocably granted to you the right to grant the license stated above. You also permit any visitor or member to access, display, view, store and reproduce such content solely for personal, noncommercial use" from photobuckets TOS "When you make your Content public, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to copy, distribute, stream, post publicly display (e.g. post it elsewhere), reproduce and create derivative works from it (meaning things based on it), anywhere, whether in print or any kind of electronic version that exists now or is later developed, for any purpose, including a commercial purpose." Most other website that allow uploading of content have the same TOS. Now if you own the Server and the website then you have a bit more "rights" When i share a photo I realize that now it is public and could be taken and used elsewhere. That is why I would suggest everyone watermark you photos. mike...See MoreBest financial advice you've received? why?
Comments (47)"As I've said in other postings, any advisor that won't give you the names of at least 3 long-time clients to call and talk to, isn't worth considering." The problems are 1) he cherry picks clients and 2) clients have no clue what they are paying or how they are really doing. They just know they 'like' they advisor and he 'seems' to be doing great. The people I have helped all thought initially that their advisor was their dear friend that was doing wonderful things with their money. They would have given glowing recommendations. I think EF Moody said it well: "And that's the same critical problem with referrals as well- and the reason that they are so effectively used in the business. Literally every salesperson is told/taught to get referrals to friends, neighbors, relatives, co-workers, Martians, whoever, since that is a great lead in. Unfortunately, the person getting the referral believes- or wants to believe- that the agent has already been critically and thoroughly analyzed and must be of the highest caliber and competency. Invariably they do NOTHING themselves to check out whether such knowledge or ability exists- and nothing was done before. Then this happens to the next person and the next, ad infinitum, as the referrals continue. It ends up that no one did any checking on anyone at all and then they later wonder how it all went wrong. They end up buying the wrong product at the wrong risk level at the wrong time- and certainly from the wrong person. They get little or ineffectual service, etc. Now referrals may work with physicians and certain other professionals (sometimes with CPA's or attorneys- but not all the time) since they at least have a degree and other background and training. Even here, people are finally recognizing there are problems. But referrals to agents who have essentially nil background (read further) is illogical. It is for these many reasons that I feel that referrals to brokers, insurance agents, financial planners, attorneys and most other entities is a waste of time unless a comprehensive review of the individual is commenced before any product is purchased or any fee paid. And such review is NOT calling the SEC/NASD or your State offices to see if any formal arbitrations or law suits have been instituted. Only an infinitesimal number of agents have ever been sued. That still says NOTHING about competency. You need to do a LOT more to assure yourself of some reasonable competency." "That seems to set you off in a very strident manner." Because I know what a scam these people are probably in for. Unless they find an honest, knowledgable, hourly fee-ONLY planner. I would totally love to see ignorant investors finding good, honest, low-cost advice. I could then turn my attentions to all my hobbies. The fact is, these people need advisors because they are ignorant and have no confidence. Salesmen will snap them up and manipulate them and hurt them. I see this over and over and over. "But any good CFP who has been in business for 10+ years should be able to show a track record of at least 6-8% after expenses." Should, but they don't. Numbers don't lie. "Yes, it is hard to track all expenses (whether you use an advisor or not), but a rough total can be managed by diligent clients and figuring out the ROI is easy after that." First, why should a client have to hunt down elusive fees? Shouldn't a financial ADVISOR (!!!!) be telling the clients all about the fees? This alone is very telling. And I can't even track down all the fees! Fund turnover is not in the prospectus let alone the expense ratio. Take a look at this: "Mercer Bullard, president, Fund Democracy and assistant professor of law at the University of Mississippi, added: "This study demonstrates conclusively what consumer groups have argued for years: fund expense ratios are misleading. Expense ratios exclude portfolio transaction costs that on average equal 43 percent of the total expense ratio. In some cases, hidden portfolio transaction costs are five or six times the total expense ratio. Congress should act promptly to ensure that America's investors are provided with full disclosure about funds' portfolio transaction costs." Even if you find the turnover, figuring out the cost from there is a bear. Can't you see what a problem this is? "People also need to consider that many CFPs offer their clients purchases at NAV and reduced management fees on funds." From the BCT study: "Do advisors help clients find funds that are lower cost (excluding distribution costs)? After analyzing several trillion dollars worth of transactions, the answer is no." "He changed all his clients over to a fee basis " Yes, the new and improved way to get big fees from clients. This is usually more expensive than loads for the client in the long run. Fee basis means he can get commissions (probably from 12b-1 fees) and a percent of the client's assets. That percent of assets gets subtracted from the client's investments year after year after year after year. Never to compound. And for what? "But I don't make the mistake of thinking that everyone enjoys doing this type of thing;" They don't have to. They can buy a target retirement date fund (very low expense ratio, no load, no percent of asset fee, no 12b-1 fee, index funds, automatically rebalanced) or have a salaried Vanguard planner do it (often at no cost) or hire a fee-ONLY planner by the hour to set up a simple portfolio. I am saving amazing amounts of money and spend less that 8 hours a year on my investments. Had I been better able to dig through the industry BS when I first started, I would have been able to set up a great portfolio in a weekend. "In the end, all we are doing here is trading opinions. " Hard numbers are not opinions. This is not an opinion: "the BCT study found that the raw returns of equally weighted mutual funds (net of all expenses) for 1996 to 2002 were 6.626% for the investors working on their own and were 2.924% for funds provided by advisors." I know that I'm passionate about this. It's because I have looked at enough evidence over the years to reach certainty. And, I have seen so many people that have lost years of retirement to fees they were never told about by their trusted financial ADVISOR. Maybe it's just my opinion, but I think that if someone pays for a service he should get a value from that service - not badly hurt. And the worst is that all those clients initially defended their broker like crazy. It was only after I took them out to Morningstar and showed them reality that they started realizing what was being done to them....See MoreThe House Blues (slightly OT)
Comments (17)Totally understand, went though something very similar. A house across the street, which was the same model as mine before we increased the size of our kitchen - was totally destroyed. When it originally sold a few years ago it was gorgeous, it had been well loved. A multi-generational family bought it and lost it to foreclosure on a private loan a few months back. I saw the home after the foreclosure, it was horrible I could not even believe these people could live like this. It looked like they threw stuff on the carpet, spots within spots. Grimy walls, broken doors, broken tile and holes in the walls. You could tell that the damage had been there awhile. I came home from viewing the house feeling sick to my stomach. It was hard to imagine what seemed to be normal family lived like this. Their cars were always kept nice, the yard was presentable and they dressed well, so unbelievable. A short time after the foreclosure the house was purchased by investors as a flip, one of the investors let me have a look at it before they fixed it up. I toured it again about 3 weeks ago and they did good job on the fix-up, it is a bit of a cookie cutter flip for me but many buyers love the look. Crossing my fingers that the home will be bought by people who will care for it....See MorePrettiest hybrid teas you've ever had?
Comments (48)So many beautiful roses. Every time I see one that really grabs me, I'm looking it up to see how it does in my zone. If it does well here, I start looking to see who has it in stock. All this is just for fun. I have no business ordering, but when I find it, sometimes I just can't help myself:) This thread has WAY too many that "grab" me. Seeing Abbaye, Caramel, Marilyn, Susan Elizabeth, Agusta Louise has about undone my resolve. SO tempting. I love the pic of Bolero. I have it and it's one of my very favorites. I hope it does well for you, msdorkgirl. It lasts so long in the vase and smells wonderful. I can't find Caramel Antique for sale anywhere. I told myself that if someplace had both C Antique and Augusta Louise or Abbaye de Cluny, I would order, but no such luck. Where did you find C Antique and Augusta L, Diane? By the way, Jim I'm not usually a big fan of "red red" but your pic of Mr Lincoln has even ME tempted. Thanks for the show everyone...See Moredavidrt28 (zone 7)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agodavidrt28 (zone 7)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agodeanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
6 years agodavidrt28 (zone 7) thanked deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5bgardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agodavidrt28 (zone 7) thanked gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)davidrt28 (zone 7)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agonicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
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6 years agoLaLennoxa 6a/b Hamilton ON
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6 years agodeanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
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