Los Angeles
So I had my first meeting at Charles Schwab this week, to begin my future planning and investing. I have to say, that the seminar was extremely informative, and I cannot wait to start playing in the market. All this talk of stock and bonds, makes me hot just thinking about it. Not to mention I totally have this Korean fetish, and the speaker was this successful, smart, pretty, dainty Korean woman. Was easy to listen to everything she had to say... considering. 
Now, I know in society these days, sex sells. Obviously. But I wonder, if having a good looking speaker is more distracting than informative... since your mind may be elsewhere. Hmm... thoughts?
To know you read my blog I was beginning to wonder if anyone did. Actually they have multiple seminars I've been attending to learn... So yes, I actually did go this week.
the product is inferior. And that is unfortunately true with Schwab. Their fees are too high and they've had some embarrassing blow-ups in their mutual funds, including one of their supposedly "ultra-safe" funds that totally imploded.
You might want to check out Vanguard (dot com). Rock-bottom fees and generally good performance across the board. If you're locked into Schwab, through a 401(k) plan or whatever, you can still buy Vanguard funds through them. And, no, I don't work for Vanguard!
By all means, do take advantage of that. And I'm sure you have some clients in the financial services industry. You could probably get some very good advice for free when it comes time to pull the trigger on your investments.
Is it a bad time to invest in the stock market? Probably. But if your time horizon is 20 or 30 years (as opposed to 5) then you should be just fine. Unless, of course, we are headed for a total financial meltdown -- as some are predicting -- in which case, we are all screwed and the only good investment will be shotguns and ammunition, Mad Max style!