Financial Lessons Learned at FinCon

Brian and Bo made their first appearance at FinCon this year and share their experiences with you. They also discuss when it makes sense to be a tightwad versus when you should pay the extra money for professional help.

Brian and Bo start by reviewing a few tips found in Damian Davila’s article on WiseBread, “4 Times You Should Splurge and Hire a Pro.”

Moving – 12% of Americans moved from 2012 to 2013. This is an area that we consider to be worth paying the extra money for professional expertise. Movers offer a few great benefits: they save a ton of time and effort, you can add insurance, you do not have to risk injury, and if you are moving more than 50 miles for work – your moving expensive could be tax deductible.

Tax Preparation – Paying for a CPA is almost always a great idea, especially if you are a freelancer or entrepreneur. There are too many items to overlook, and too many mistakes to be made that could cost your business money. As we have always said, when dealing with your tax or legal issues it is always better to pay a little more to have someone to lean on if things were to go awry.

Cleaning for a Move or Home Sale – Cleaning stinks. Paying someone else to clean your home for you can be a huge relief. No more arguing about whom is going to do what or spending a day wearing rubber gloves. It can actually save you money if you hire someone to clean for you, because you can spend your time and effort being productive at work or networking.

Tree- Trimming and Removal – This seems like a no-brainer. There is too much to go wrong for it to makes sense to be a tightwad in this department.

The Money-Guys added an additional 4 areas that constitute hiring a professional:

Mechanic Work – If you are not an expert, you could do more harm than good. Often times the major problem you are facing is a minor or common issue for a professional.

Yard Work – Believe it or not, you can save money by having someone maintain your yard, especially if you have been trying to have that perfectly green lawn by yourself. Frequent trips to the local hardware store for fertilizer can actually cost you more than professional maintenance. The pro’s probably have better resources and methods to make your yard look better than you ever could.

Financial Advisor – We have a great podcast that is always free, titled, “Knowing When to Go Pro.” This is a topic that our podcast has been centered on for a long time. When financial moves become too significant for you to handle, hiring a pro can bring a ton of value to your financial life. We think that threshold is somewhere around the 250k mark in investable assets. Until then, it probably does not make great sense to spend money on a financial advisor, especially when target date retirement funds have become so efficient.

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