The importance of critical thinking

Don't always believe something you are told or advice you are given. Learn to look for supporting evidence or facts.

Sometimes experts can be wrong or they can give potentially bad advice if they aren't thorough.

I won't go into specifics but in my case I paid for an expert to give advice. Turns out the advice may be wrong because the expert wasn't thorough. I've asked for them to check and they are following up because of conflicting information ( that they weren't aware of ).

Point is that the advice I am paying for can significantly affect investing outcomes. I could make bad decisions if I take the advice at face value.

Always look for and check facts.

I've also learnt that being inquisitive can be a good approach. Many people expect to be spoon fed with information they should be able find themselves. It is amazing what you can learn and the advantage it can provide if you take the time to do your own research and learn for yourself.

 

Sounds like a strange concept.
Surely it's easier to throw $10-15k at someone to do it for you?

 

Thats the thing these experts(so-called) are taking advantage of.
People are ready to throw away 10-15K at any time without critical thinking.

 

That's what they're counting on.
Some people prefer some hand holding, but just because they pay that amount doesn't mean they will get decent guidance.

 

Note - this particular task is minuscule in the scheme of things. Critical thinking is important, irrespective of value.

 

Nothing wrong with paying $$ for expert assistance. Just choose your experts carefully and make sure the service actually suits your needs.

 

Absolutely. Of course there are a lot of overpaid experts out there and the skepticism is somewhat justified. At the same time i feel there are often too many people who do not seem to the value in getting top notch, paid for advice.

We see it here on PC all the time, how many times have there been questions of a legal or accounting/tax matter where the OP simply wants a free online solution to a complex matter?

I completely get why someone would ask thr question here, in fact many simple questions can and do get answered thoroughly here but when i see someone with a complex situation that clearly no one online will be able to answer thoroughly without knowing the specifics of the situation it does make me shake my head.

 

@sanj This is an online forum. I see no problem with people asking questions here. But just remember one could be getting advice from some elementary educated bogan who has never owned an investment property in their life!

Any advice received here should be verified through further research and professional consultation.

 

lol, so true..

 

What? But I do own IPs. And stop staring at me.

 

as I said above, im referring to the hesitancy of people to pay for expert advice when clearly required.

of course this being a forum it is ok to ask questions, we all do it, myself included. it's a wonderful resource. plenty of questions of a general nature can and do get answered sufficiently here, im not talking about that.

 

Being quite new to PC , I can honestly say , I have learnt more from the people on here in the last 2 weeks than from the experts I have paid tens of thousands of dollars to over the last few years . If only I found SS or PC earlier . I bet that has never been said before .

 

been said many times before in particular SS, however don't take everything you read as gospel, you need to do your own homework,

 

glad to hear you've learnt heaps, there are some great minds on here.

btw it has been said multiple times before...

 

absolutely true and learning the correct homework to do is priceless .

 

Good to hear that you're picking up some good info.
Can you tell us who the experts were that you were with?

 

Have been down this road before and I wont repeat it.

So if you need evidence and understand the information why would you need a BA, why not do it yourself?
Unless you are time poor ?

There is so much information available today, its not that hard to source deals and then you have control of the outcome reducing your risk.

 

Some of the usual suspects I see mentioned , 21st Century Education , a broker selling H&L in Qld ,another "educator " selling apartments in outer VIC. At the end of the day it is my responsibility to educate myself and this is done by going through the process myself . Handing over my money to these people has taught me that I need to get off my a&$e and learn from others who are doing it , and not the ones who are just "teaching "it .

 

also what they are teaching you is their concept with regards to making money using property, however there are many strategies if you lock yourself down to one strategy you could actually be missing opportunities.

Best to learn from many and then work out what suits you and your risk profile, the easiest way to learn is to put in the hard yards, and research, research, research.

MTR

 

Intent of the post was a general discussion and not specifically about BAs. Whether it be an 'expert' or people we would traditionally refer to as professionals, point was that we should expect guidance to be backed up by a combination of sound reasoning and facts ( and for this to be provided at a minimum in summary form ).