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Forget about 401(k)s and IRAs There’s a thought out there that boring, long-established wealth-building strategies, such as funding retirement accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs, are outdated. “This is all so faulty and so bad I don’t know where to start,” says Tiffany Kent, a CFP and portfolio manager at Wealth Engagement LLC in Atlanta. Kent says that to stand out on social media, someone can’t just talk about typical retirement accounts over and over again, no matter how proven they are. Boring doesn’t inspire viewers to smash that “like” button. Instead, they talk up new, complicated — and at times confusing — products, simply to stand out from the crowd. Sometimes the ideas are a bit contrarian, other times they’re outright outlandish. But this approach, Kent says, is absolutely the wrong way to get financial advice. “If it’s boring, it’s good,” Kent says. Precious metals are the best long-term play Gene McManus, a CFP, certified public accountant and managing partner at AP Wealth Management in Augusta, Georgia, said by email that he’s seen claims that precious metals IRAs (which invest in gold and silver instead of stocks and bonds) are a better choice than typical IRAs. He said acolytes of the strategy argue that precious metals IRAs better protect your money from things like inflation, global supply shortages or a collapse of the financial markets. But McManus disagrees. “The long-term history and performance of gold and silver do not indicate that they are a rewarding asset class,” he said. “There are short-term periods that they might outperform the S&P 500, but over the long term, they don’t make sense to own, especially exclusively or overweight in a portfolio.” Hundreds of thousands of people can’t be wrong It’s true that there’s power in numbers. However, it’s equally fair to say that mob mentality, echo chambers and hype can get in the way of rational decision making. Anthony Trias, a CFP and principal at Stonebridge Financial Group in San Rafael, California, says he’s worked with clients who are investing in stocks they’ve heard mentioned on social media — no matter how staggering the claims of future potential — because of how many people were talking them up. “There are going to be 300,000 people on social media saying one thing,” Trias says. “But prudent investors block out the noise, do their due diligence and look at who they’re actually listening to.”
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