Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep. Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you do call for them? ~ Henry The Fourth, Shakespeare Some radio stations bring on “psychics” from time to time and have them respond to listener’s call-in questions. We’re not fans of psychics in general, but when they start offering advice about personal finance topics, we really get worried that someone might end up making some big mistakes. I heard one of these psychics recently on a local morning radio show. One caller asked whether the economy would be on the way up, because she owned a home and was on disability. Presumably she wanted the economy to improve so she could sell her house, but that wasn’t made clear by the caller. I’m sure the psychic knew everything she needed to know, though. That’s what they’re supposed to be good for, after all! The psychic’s answer to this caller was that she should not be looking to sell her house; in fact, she should be looking to buy more property now that prices are down. Even more, the caller should borrow as much on her current house as possible in order to do so. We won’t argue that property prices are a better value today than in years past. If you have the capacity to cover the costs and take the risks, you may find some great opportunities in a second home or rental property. But to tell someone who is on disability to max out her debt and substantially increase her financial risk? Someone who is already anxious about her current home? Now that is some ignorant and terrible advice. We can only hope that it won’t be followed. This episode brings us back to a topic we’ve covered before, which is accountability. We all get bombarded with opinions, from psychics, the media, friends, strangers, etc., on how to live our lives. But in most cases, the one offering the advice doesn’t have any accountability if it turns out to be wrong for you. They usually don’t know enough about you personally to consider why a general piece of advice may not apply. When it comes to getting help on managing your financial situation, you need both (a) someone who studies and understands the field of personal finance and (b) someone who knows your individual situation well enough to apply their knowledge to match your needs. Whenever you get advice from a casual source such as the media, you can be assured that criteria (b) is not being met and many times, criteria (a) isn’t met either (though there are certainly some good contributors out there). What you need is a professional who’s dedicated to helping you with your goals and figuring out the right steps for you to take. And you probably don’t need a psychic to guess that’s where Modus Advisors comes in.