Sunday, August 9, 2015

Finance and Learning

I'm not very smart about money management, but I am capable of learning. I have been frustrated with Merrill Lynch as I try to "help" my dad with his investments. Now his accounts are being changed to Merrill Edge and I don't really understand why . . . he was already upset when we had to deal with Amy instead of Veronica last year after my mom died.

So I go online to read everything I can about Merrill Edge (only not on the Merrill site or the Bank of America site - of course they're going to blather about how wonderful it is). Although I still don't understand a lot of financial "stuff" - brokerage, managers, advisers, bonds, stocks, indexed funds, etc. - I do understand people's reviews and experiences. This site http://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/merrill.html made me think it's time to get all his money away from ML and move it somewhere else! I realize that consumer affairs sites often draw the comments of people who are unhappy, but I'm not finding much balance in terms of satisfied customers.

But at the same time, what do I know about a better option? How much time and energy do I want to spend on this issue? If my dad is okay, why should I care what he does with his money? Sigh. Time to read and research some more.