Sometimes, experts are anything but

I knew a guy once way back when I was in my 30s that offered to advise me on all things financial. He was not a financial advisor or anything like that, just a guy who said he could help manage my money and advise me on how to make more. I wasn't looking for an advisor or anything else along those lines at the time. I was doing just fine on my own and had always thought no one could better handle my affairs than I. I did get a kick out of the whole thing. Looking up and down at this guy's credentials (he had none) and then at his personal situation (loaded in debt), I had a good laugh. He financed his new Lexus, wore the latest and greatest clothes, had one of those perfect, Realtor-like haircuts and a fancy rented apartment. He walked the walk and talked the talked, but frankly, financially, didn't have a pot to p**s in. It's a fact of life, and sometimes an unfortunate one, that those that claim to be experts in something are the furthest thing from it. I once knew a life coach whom I offered to be on my radio show years back. After several weeks of trying to schedule her, I gave up. I could never pin her down on a date, she seldom responded to my messages and phone calls and frankly was herself a personal mess. Some life coach. There are many experts we may believe know of what they speak. We may put our trust in such persons, believing their credentials are real, their résumés are honest and their claims to fame are valid. But exhibiting such blind trust in someone could not only be hazardous to one's financial health, but it could also be downright dangerous, or even fatal. Take the recent Maldives cave-diving accident that took the lives of six people last month. Five recreational divers and one would-be rescue diver lost their lives while cave diving. The rescuer died while trying to help the first five divers who disappeared into the abyss of a cave and never returned. The five recreational divers descended 150 feet or so to explore a cave, apparently got lost and ran out of air. Three of the five were so-called diving experts with thousands of dives and one was a diving instructor. How they died is unimportant. The investigation is ongoing. But apparently, they violated not one but many of the basic rules and precautions when it comes to cave diving and did this despite three of the five divers being so-called experts. Tragically, two of the divers were young people, on vacation and just out for a recreational dive in paradise. They trusted the others to bring them back alive. Unfortunately, it appears multiple mistakes may have been made by the experts, and they all ended up dying. Even a rescue diver, who was another expert, ran out of air and perished. Roll back a few more months and we have the Castle Peak avalanche incident which killed nine people near Lake Tahoe. Six clients and three mountain guides died when an avalanche buried their party of 15 during a ski trip. The guiding company was reputed to be one of the leading experts on avalanche risk prevention. The company even posted a social media video the day before the accident on the dangers of the snowpack in the area of the occurrence. Again, apparently the guides, the so-called experts, may have ignored warnings and violated common safety procedures they themselves advocated in the past. Between the diving accident and the avalanche disaster, now 15 people are dead. In conclusion, like the term "buyer beware" when procuring goods, the same term applies when buying services, but in a more serious vein. Especially when the result of failing to carefully use your own head, doing a bit more research on your own and using some of your plain old common sense could bankrupt your finances. Or worse, even kill you. This article expresses the opinion of Marc Cuniberti and is not meant as investment advice, or a recommendation to buy or sell any securities, nor represents the opinion of any bank, investment firm or RIA, nor this media outlet, its staff, members or underwriters. Mr. Cuniberti holds a B.A. in Economics with honors, 1979, and California Insurance License #0L34249 His insurance agency is BAP INC. insurance services. Email: news@moneymanagementradio.com.