Now You're in Trouble

Have I mentioned before how much I love the RRSP season (Janurary to March)? I really do love all the ads/articles that show up during this time and the message they are trying to get across.

This year you might have noticed that your seeing something new in the ads. Fear is now being used to sell investment products. My personal favorite right now is the one with the old man flipping burgers with the tag line of 'Your first job shouldn't be the same as your last.' Please do I look like an idiot? Just because you can work past age 65 now doesn't mean that people are desperate enough to take a burger flipping job, when they have way more marketable skill sets to offer. Trust me when I say you likely have a better chance of getting struck by lighting than ending up there as long as you pay off your debts and have some savings built up.

Here's another great article, which gives investors praise for putting money in, but then gives them crap for not having an investment plan. I personally like to point out I even get confused with all the products out there and I read a lot on investments. If you stick a two year old in front of a table full of food they go for the first thing that they like. Investing tends to be the same. You don't have time to read about every product out there, but if you hear about one you might do some reading on it.

So if your confused by it all, don't worry. Take a deep breath and remind yourself "I am not a sheep, I can think for myself and I'm going to retire before the idiot who came up with that ad or article."

This post is now part of the 88th Carnival of Personal Finance.