i've only recently (one year ago) begun doing actual investing, starting with contributing for two year's worth to a roth ira last year. so that's essentially the last i heard until sometime last week when my advisor guy called to attempt to set up an appointment. mind you, this is a new investment guy, as my first investment guy went to some other company shortly after i signed up.

let me tell you, there is nothing more uncomfortable than seeing relatively large (to me anyway) numbers on the paper and to know that those numbers belong to me and to know that, while this guy is theoretically telling me what he thinks is best for me, he's basically just a salesman. however, he's a salesman dealing in far larger numbers than say somebody who sells me a shirt or something, and it's a bit scary. so he's mentioning things like 'diversifying' and moving percentages of my money into 'growth funds' and then he's showing me these highly-fascinating and yet ultra-confusing charts that show how my money is spread and where, according to his 'investment pyramid, it should be. so then he's talking about moving it around and he's talking about when my next contribution is coming and i'm saying things like 'is it normal for an investor to nod a lot and have no real idea what's going on?' and he says, slickly, 'i drive a car everyday, but i couldn't tell you how it works.' which is completely reassuring, or not.

so i talk to my dad tonight, and his statement is 'MAKE SURE THESE ARE NO FEE FUNDS.' and, of course, i don't know whether these are no-fee funds. but my instinct is they're probably not. so i'll call in the morning and i'll hope that, between 330 this afternoon (when he left) and 9 am tuesday (when i get to the office and call his office), none of my money's been stolen. hmmm.

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i've never done it, but i'm going to try to do one bracket in which i read team capsules, surmise the matchups, and do in-depth analysis. this will be for the annual horwitz pool. for the flax pool, i'll follow my gut, which is generally good enough to finish slightly out of the money. for the office pool, i don't know what the method will be. (the weighted 'pull out of a hat' method was a miserable failure a few years ago.)