Do you have any idea of how many companies have been destroyed or totally transformed by the Internet? A term often used to describe what the Internet has done is disintermediation, which is usually defined as the elimination of an intermediary in a transaction between two parties.
Disintermediation in personal finance advice
Where disintermediation has occurred in personal finance advice is that you can now get personal finance advice over the Internet without having to sit down with an advisor. There are numerous websites available where you can get personal finance advice. For example, the website CNN Money offers personal finance information on taxes, college saving, retirement planning, mortgages, autos, real estate, investing and more.
Another excellent site for personal finance advice
Kiplinger.com is an offshoot of one of the country’s most trusted publications, The Kiplinger Letter. If you go to this site, you will find information on everything from investing to insurance and from family finances to retirement.
The website SavingAdvice.com offers good financial advice about saving money. When I last was there I found articles on How to Save Money on Fireworks (assuming you can do fireworks), Prepare for Disaster and Things You Own that You May Not Really Need.
Advice your can trust
Myfinancialadvice.com offers “expert advice you can trust.” You can get an initial consultation free but will then have to choose a certified financial planner and start paying. You can choose your advisor by a category such as financial planning, investing, taxes, mortgage and debt and taxes.
If you need personal personal finance advice
Sometimes you just might not be able to find the personal finance information you need or maybe you just feel better working with an actual person. In this case there is a website, Learnvest.com where you can arrange to talk with a Certified Financial Planner. This will cost from $69 to $244, depending on how much help you want. (Spoiler alert: Learnvest is definitely aimed at women but there’s no reason why a man couldn’t also profit from using it.
Your bank
Your bank might also be a place to go for personal finance advice. However, advice you get from a bank is generally geared towards investing. For that matter, if what you are looking for is advice about investing, you can buy an hour’s worth of time from an investment expert at Charles Schwab and Company for a mere $4,000.
Finally, you can go to the site www.cfp.net where you will probably find a certified financial planner in your area with whom you can sit down and talk with. Of course, you will have to pay for his or her advice – and it won’t come cheap. `