The Danger of Being Well-Informed The Financial World

Having more financial information at your fingertips should make decisions easier, but often, it does the opposite. In this episode, Taylor explores why constant access to research, opinions, and advice can leave investors overwhelmed or falsely confident. You’ll also hear how to evaluate what you’re hearing and recognize when more information is no longer helping. Are you truly informed, or has all that research made it harder to move forward? 

Here’s what we discuss in today’s show:

🔍 Research Overload: More information can create confusion

📰 Media Incentives: Clicks often matter more than clarity

🤖 Missing Context: AI may overlook personal circumstances

⚠️ Generic Advice: Someone else’s strategy may not fit

🧩 A Clear Roadmap: Personalized planning creates clearer direction

✅ False Confidence: Misinformation can feel dangerously convincing

Resources:

Website:  https://www.demarsfinancial.com/

Phone: (509) 536-9556

Schedule an introduction call with Taylor: https://bit.ly/demarspodcast

Check out Taylor's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TaylorMadeRetirement

Taylor's Newsletter: https://demars-financial-group.kit.com/827c64fe0e

Disclaimer: Since we don't know your specific situation, none of this information should be construed as tax, legal, financial, insurance, financial advice, or other advice and may be outdated or inaccurate. It is your responsibility to verify all information yourself. This content is prepared for entertainment purposes only. If you need advice, please contact a qualified CPA, attorney, insurance agent, financial advisor, or the appropriate professional for the subject you would like help with. Demars Financial Group, LLC or its members cannot be held liable for any use or misuse of this content. Advisory services offered through Demars Financial Group LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor. Demars Financial Group is not affiliated with LPL Financial.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Financial information has never been more available between TV, podcasts, YouTube, Reddit, you name it, and even AI will answer any question in brief seconds. And yet, still, some of the worst financial decisions we see come from people who did a ton of research first. So to unpack that, we're going to talk about why this happens and what good research can actually look like.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Welcome to Tailor Made Retirement, where we explore what it takes to build a retirement that works for your money and your life. With third generation certified financial planner Taylor DeMars.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Welcome in once again to Tailor Made Retirement with Taylor Demars, CFP certified financial planner at DemarsFinancial.com. That's DemarsFinancial.com. And yeah, this week we're going to talk about the dangers of being overinformed. That sounds weird. It might hit the eye or they hit the ear a little strange. Hit the eye. I don't know where that it might hit you in the eye. I don't know, maybe. But either way, right? So it to your point in the in the opener tease there, Taylor, it's everywhere. There is no shortage of information on any subject at any time in this world. And this was this was probably 10 years ago or so. I saw something that said we consume more information in a day than our grand our grandparents or great grandparents consumed in a year. Like it was crazy. Like it was crazy statistics about how much we're bombarded with. And that was like 10 years ago. Can you imagine how bad it is now? I know. You know, we're we're overloaded on a regular basis. So let's talk about that. You doing all right this week?

SPEAKER_01 1:38

I'm doing well. Thank you. We're we've we're surviving the heat wave. You know, we were just talking about uh off air here about the smoke, and I think we're past the worst of that here in the inland northwest. So hopefully our listeners are in well as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

There you go. There you go. Where do you find people are getting their information these days, Taylor? Um, still the traditionals. I mean, I know there's uh so much pushback on on mainstream news and media anymore, and if everybody everybody's got a slant, uh do you think it's all moved to online, or what are you seeing?

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, I I'd imagine the most of it is online, you know, where it's most accessible, most proflip prolific, as we talked about. And there's the there's the old school mediums, right? CNBC, Bloomberg, Kiplinger, Wall Street Journal. I hate to throw everybody people under the bus, but I feel like w less of most of it is is not as helpful as it used to be, right?

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Um, everything's got everything has got a slant, a bias. Maybe it always has, but now it's really glaringly obvious, it seems like.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

But is true. Yeah, everyone's everyone's got a hidden hidden agenda, but but those those mediums are optimized for for clicks, for views, and and that's it, right? Yeah. And and and I and I say that because you know, here on a podcast on my YouTube channel, yeah, you could say optimized for views, but I really don't, right? Because it's it's a whole different set of incentives.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

So and I think like you said, people it's that on educational piece, I think, in a in a get to know me piece versus uh, hey, click here and get my strategy guide to how to build a great retirement kind of thing, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Right, right. I think people have have wised up to having uh a larger sense of mistrust to the to the traditional media sources and and the landscape's really shifted, right? I mean, I'm I'm an example of that where I'm trying to access access people through a YouTube channel and it it's free to them and and they don't even have to watch my whole video if they think I my my haircut's funny or what I'm saying is not worth it. And uh and and but but at the same time, there are people who are much better looking and and and very convincing, and that can be a risk in of itself. Uh some call influencers these days.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

And so Yeah, how many of them got hit with like FCC fines for going out and giving all kinds of or they're I think they're even trying to come up with ways to stop that because you can be basically anybody and say, I'm gonna tell you why you should retire at 62, and they have zero no loan line, no licensing whatsoever, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:52

I wrote this down, I don't know if I should say this on air, but I felt like it's sometimes handing a gorilla a loaded gun. Um it's just the the amount the amount of authority that is perceived to some people online and TikTok and such. It's it's it's a little scary. And I and ironically, you know, being you know SEC regulated and licensed and certified financial planner, you'd think that I I I'd like to think I have the some of the more credible side of the arguments, but at the same time, I also have the most handcuffs of you know, I'm so glad you said that.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

So glad you said that. I was just doing a show the other day with somebody, and all I did was read data strict straight from the S P 500, uh, you know, on their on their statistics for the last couple of years. And their compliance, and what your tailor's talking about here is the handcuffs is sometimes the compliance people that say, well, maybe don't say that so you don't get into trouble or whatever. And it's like you can't say this. And I'm like, what, you can't cite actual data? So sometimes it's a weird thing, right? Uh and yet like this goofy stuff that we just talked about sometimes ha uh happens out there. And then I imagine the AI factor, you mentioned that only makes it worse because you know, if influencers or just really anybody can just type in some stuff, go get a bunch of information and record something. How accurate is it? Do you know? So that's kind of scary.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

It's true. Yeah. I mean, I think at the end of the day, uh a healthy gut check to disseminate more from less authoritative sources is uh is is follow the money. Yeah, right. So if you're watching uh someone online and they're they're pushing a course or they're pushing an affiliate link or they're just talking about a sponsor, right? You know, those all have different mediums of what they're incentivizing. And and as you can tell, this uh listeners can tell, there's I'm not plugging for any sort of supplements or or retirement planning software that I get affiliate links for. Like this is uh uh your sponsor is me, Taylor Demars, right? And and so I I do that because I I don't ever want you know my my my information and my angle to be tainted by other people. And and yeah, what's the catch is is I don't work for free. And but the the blessing of what I get to do is is only a fraction of the viewers on my YouTube channel, the the listeners here on the podcast, only only a fraction of them need to become clients for me to make this well worth it. Yeah and and hopefully it helps lots of other people that I may never meet otherwise.

SPEAKER_02 6:05

Uh well well said, because I think that's the thing too. It's like, look, if you're just looking for some information to help you start formulating your own questions and thoughts about your unique situation, uh, or maybe you are thinking about pulling the trigger and working with someone, an actual financial professional who is licensed and in the trenches every day, such as yourself, Taylor. These, you know, everybody's got one, right? These days, that's a way to go. Let me get to know them, let me hear their thoughts, let me hear the kind of things that they implement. Also, let me just see, do I like their voice? Do I like their face? Do I get an immediate vibe that, hey, I I can I can work with this person, right? Because our gut, to your point a second ago, our gut's pretty powerful. We should we should definitely listen to it a little bit more, I think, than we've gotten uh where we've gotten ourselves to here lately as as a society.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Sure, sure. And I think it's I think it's a huge advantage for the consumer, right? The like the listeners here today is is they can as something as silly as you know, listening to someone's voice, I uh or or just how their their mannerisms, I think that when people look to hire a professional, yes, they're looking for competency and honesty, but there's something else more subjective that I think is just as important, which is chemistry. And I'm not a fit for all people. Yeah. And and you look at my YouTube comments, there are definitely people who I apparently rub raw. But there are also people that that are also you know attracted to our our values and our way of working and such, and that's great. Um, and it's such a value to the the the viewer that they can from their living room couch, you know, and kind of in theory, in theory, interview a dozen advisors or professionals out there just by listening to their content, understanding their way of working. And uh and obviously you don't have to listen to me if they don't want to, but if they're listening up to this point, this this is either help hopefully helpful for them to implement on their own or helpful for them to make a decision on on who they want to work with. And that and that is my my selfish and honest you know take is I I do this to to be transparent and and and uh help people understand if you know it's a big decision on who to work with.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Yeah, but that's awesome though, because there is we clear clearly know humans will take whatever technology we come up with and we will run it into the sales ground like you know, cra you know crazy fast, right? I mean, even with the AI thing, right? I mean, how quickly, if you've been using any of those services, ChatGTP or Gemini or whoever, how quickly did it go from a free account with this thing to now there's ads on it, and now there's you know, do this and there's do that. And and so I want to circle back around to all of these, any of these, whether it's big news media, uh, whether it's you know, online stuff, influencers, AI, whatever the case is, context. I want to circle back to context, period, Taylor, because you can go type anything in, but it doesn't have the context to necessarily give you the most accurate answer. You can pull up a video on YouTube that says, I retired at 62 and every life is great and you should too. But you have zero context. I mean, yeah, you could go watch the video and find out if your life is similar to that person's, and maybe that helps, but I think that's the danger part. And now you tell me what you think and what you see in your daily practice, but you know, what I might need for my retirement journey and you, and then my neighbor down the street, and my cousin across town, are all probably completely different. So the answers could be taken out of context and could get you really messed up.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

It's true, it's true. And and uh and uh kind of a side joke that I've made probably before on the this podcast is how many of us would go down and in into any of our neighbors' medicine cabinets at random and start taking pills, right? Uh probably not. Hopefully not.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

This one says it's good for your elbow pain, and I got elbow pain, so let me try it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Right. Yeah, the prescriptions are literally you know designated for a specific person for a specific purpose and timeline and under certain conditions, and I feel like a lot is the same with specific financial advice, and it's hard to find as much as media wants to, that's hard to find one size fits all directives, and and you and you nailed it with context. I mean, even with context, AI struggles, right? Right, right and and so I think too many people are are lean too much into AI's credibility. Um, I think one of the most humorous things I've seen this year is they uh people were giving examples of asking AI a question where they said, you know, the car wash is a hundred feet from my house. Should I drive there or walk there to use the car wash? And and most of the time, most of the time, the the AI came back and said, Oh, it's only a short jump. You should just you know enjoy the fresh air and walk over to the car wash.

SPEAKER_02 10:26

But it's your take, yes, it's in the context. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

And it and it and it completely missed the point, right? And I think and if you do it today, if you test it today, most likely it will actually say, Oh, you should drive your car there because it's going to the car wash. I think these companies realize that the realized it and they fixed it, but but the but the principle's the same, right? AI could be so confident in what it's and so wrong about sometimes. And I've seen that myself.

SPEAKER_02 10:49

Oh yeah, you're right. I'm sorry. The the best illustration of that to me cracks me up. There's two videos. Well, one's a meme and one's a video for folks uh if they want to check it out. One is uh it's like, hey, is this type of mushroom okay to eat? Uh and then AI says, absolutely, blah, blah, blah. And then it and then the next picture is the person's tombstone. And AI goes, No, I'm sorry, you're correct. That was that one was on the list of things not to eat. It's like, it's a little too late. And the other one was a really great video talking about context. Uh, he had a sandwich, a sub-sandwich. And he says, uh, and this is the prompts, this is how you prompt it, what you ask it to do, and how it can get confused. And it he said, Um, what's the best way to cut this in half? And it told him to cut it in half the long way, like in the s down the center, right? Like the whole length. And he's like, No, no, I think you're understanding. And it kept showing pictures, illustrations. Then it would turn it on its side and cut it again the long way instead of just cutting it half. So I think that's where human, like where common sense, I guess, is where we're going here, Taylor, comes into play, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Sure. Sure. And I think, you know, coming back full circle, you know, this AI discussion just plays into just the proliferation of information and so-called advice out there. And with AI, it it becomes so cheap and easy for people to just generate content. And just because and as we all know, quantity doesn't equate quality, and uh and and and it it just it it's not it does require a sense of common sense and just uh just just uh being aware, right? To for people to be cognizant of what Isra is not a good source to to listen to when it comes to these big decisions they're trying to weigh.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

And it also add all this back together, Taylor, and it just winds up making some people just go, I can't make a flipping decision, there's too much. Right? So now if you had some confidence, your confidence is eroded. Uh and if you didn't have any, it's maybe even way further down the hole than it might have been. Uh so how do you f how do you kind of find that walk that line of finding good financial research? And then at what point do you stop? Like at what point because we'll get email questions that come in, right? And it'll be like, hey, I had this question, blah blah blah. What's the best thing I should do? And often the the true honest answer, the best thing you should do is reach out to a professional because you're you're clearly stumped and you're not sure where to turn, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Sure. Sure. And I and I gotta, you know, obviously acknowledge the the the healthy amount of bias I have of of of playing a role to help people make decisions, but when it comes to people trying to, you know, do their research and and find answers to questions big or small, I I I I I think I'll go back to how are you paying for your advice? And and and that includes our attention, right? Because if you're paying for your advice with just your time, time is money, right? And if you I there's a saying out there, if a product is free, you are the product, right? Um Facebook is selling our our data and such to these advertisers. And so if you if you look at that, I mean uh you gotta you gotta say what is what is the incentive behind it, right? I mean, starting with myself. Uh I I don't have affiliate links, I don't have sponsors, I don't sell courses, you know, I I just provide free advice in the hopes that people will resonate with it, and you know, someone might want to consider me, you know, conducting their retirement readiness roadmap. Um and that and that then that's it. But there are other players out there that may also have good intentions, but you know, they're they're they're they're selling a course or they have affiliate links. You gotta think, okay, are they trying to optimize for controversy or shock and awe or for things that will get eyeballs and views? And if so, is is is their advice maybe taken to the extreme because that's how they make their money, is is through these other means. And so, and maybe you pay for maybe you pay for a course, right? And there are good advisors out there who have made certain courses. I haven't gone through them myself, but they could be more reputable, right, for those who are trying to DIY. But at some point, you know, people I find come to me after they are exhausted with I call it YouTube University and done literally dozens and dozens of hours of trying to sort things out, all to realize that no video out there is going to tell them exactly what to do for their specific situation because they're missing that context, like you said. And so that's why we build a process that is not meant to say, hey, you have to commit to working with us long term and managing your investments from up front. But why don't we offer a limited time and scope of an engagement? It's three months, seven sessions, retirement readiness roadmap, so you get a comprehensive gut check of to know whether you're in the right spot and you know whether you should stop, you know, spinning yourself in circles with decisions and you know, already retire already, right? I don't know that yet, but but but you owe it to yourself to figure that out. And I think people look for that because they need a devil's advocate, a strategic thinking partner in the corner, so that A, their their wife doesn't point a finger at them and say, like, hey, you you you told us we could retire and now we can't, uh sustainably, and two, so that they know that you know there's the whatever pitfalls might be out there that they're missing are are addressed. And and so again, I am biased, but that that that's the reason I'm in this profession is because people generally approach retirement once, and we do it every day. And so we we know a thing or two to make sure that people can do that uh confidently.

SPEAKER_02 16:00

I like it. I you know, at the end of the day, right, being informed is a good thing, being confidently misinformed is totally different, and that's certainly we know we live in a world probably more of disinformation, sadly, than we live in one of information. It's uh or at least they may be running 50-50, but there's a lot of both. Uh, and so it's real easy to kind of get a little confused. So having a sit-down, I think, conversation. There's certain industries where I think people still want to just sit down with somebody across the desk, eye to eye, take a look, uh, and just have a chat. Yeah, you can start with the phone thing or the zoom thing and or whatever the case is, but I think a lot of times people still want to shake, you know, shake somebody's hand, look somebody in the eye, that kind of thing. And this certainly can be one of those places where you're getting your questions asked and answered. And to Taylor's point earlier, that's what the retirement readiness roadmap is all about. Find out if they're the right fit for you. You know, listening to the podcast or checking out his YouTube channel. It's not designed to turn every single person into a client, but it is designed to say, hey, here's what we're about, here's what we do. If you need some help, here's how to get started with us. So if you'd like to do that, demarsfinancial.com. That's demarsfinancial.com. Click on the could we be a fit uh button there and get started today. And as I mentioned, the YouTube channel, go check out his YouTube channel uh as well. All the links are everything is right there at the website for subscribing to the podcast, subscribing to YouTube, whatever the case might be. It's a great way to get some additional content information and a little context as about you know as who Taylor is and what he's all about. So good stuff this week, Taylor. Thanks, my friend, for breaking it down as always.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

Hey, my pleasure. Thanks for walking us through it, Mark.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Absolutely. And we'll see you next time here on a podcast. Don't forget to subscribe to us, and we'll catch you later on Taylor Made Retirement with Taylor Demars.