Work Your Money, Not Your Life

Chapter 16You Don't Have to Do It Alone: Seeking Help from Others

I used to be really frugal during my 20s while working as a banker in New York City. Case in point: whenever summer rolled around, I would put a chilled wet towel on my neck to help me go to sleep rather than using air conditioning (until my girlfriend smacked some sense into me, that is). So as you can probably imagine, I wasn't about to shell out cash for professional advice when I was stressed about finding the right career path or managing my finances. Instead, I'd seek out the opinions of my friends and family – who weren't experts by any means, and whose advice might have actually hindered my progress.

While I was probably on the extreme side, I've seen a lot of people hesitate to work with service providers. Several of my financial planning clients have admitted that the reason they put off hiring a planner for so long was because they lacked confidence in the tangible benefit. I get where they're coming from. If you want to buy a television, you can go to the store and see exactly what you'd be getting for your money before spending a dime (plus, there's usually some sort of return policy). But when it comes to services that are less concrete, such as career or financial advice, you have no guarantee of a particular outcome.

Clearly, though, I've come around on this issue – to the point that I'm now a service provider myself! The truth is, I've learned through firsthand experience that we all need help ...