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By Jacquiez (jacquiez@lycosmail.com)
March 14, 2001

At The Motley Fool, we do our best to make learning fun. During the recent Beginning Investing Online Seminar, students were asked to submit one example of an important lesson they learned. Today, the Fool cap goes to a member of the Whelp Team for this winning entry.

In 1985 when my husband and I were in our mid-thirties, we managed to save through dint of struggle and slashing our budget to the bone a princely sum of $11,000. We had small children at the time and several goals. College educations for them and retirement for us were top priorities. Rather than putting it into a passbook savings (where it would be rather small but at least we would have it still), we contacted a financial planner. He talked to us about our goals and drew up a beautiful financial plan for us. During the course of this, he was distressed that we were in too high a tax bracket. He advised us to buy limited partnerships which were at the time a great tax deduction.

Soon after this, these tax shelters were eliminated by the IRS and I am not sure if we will ever get any of our original $11,000 back. If we had invested this amount into the Vanguard 500 Index Fund, I shudder to think what it would be worth today. I have called the financial planner's company (a nationally known one) and complained about him. He is employed there still and is one of their best planners.

I have learned that professional planners are there to make themselves money and not to make money for you. After this we made our own investment decisions. Most of our money is now in the Vanguard 500 Index Fund.

Interested in learning to invest? Check out our upcoming online seminars.