About Finance Gourmet

The Finance Gourmet was a real life financial planner with real life clients. Why is this such a big deal? Because virtually no one else you are reading can say that. Those articles in the newspaper? Professional journalists. Those other websites? Professional writers and web designers. Those books? Professional speakers mostly.

Here at Finance Gourmet you are getting a real life insider's perspective from someone who works with people just like you every day.

Why Am I Doing This?

Every day, I walk people through actual real world financial details. I'm explain that they earn too much or too little income to take advantage of what sounded like a good idea. I point out what is too risky or too safe based on their risk tolerance. I help keep people from switching strategies every month based on the latest magazine.

So, here we are. When you read the Finance Gourmet you won't get short breezy articles. You'll get details, details, and more details. My goal is that when you are done reading a Finance Gourmet posting you can take action, and not just have a general understanding.

What's the name about?

The name Finance Gourmet serves two purposes. One is that it gives you a feeling for how this website works. A gourmet is more than someone who appreciates a good recipe. A gourmet is someone who understands the complete process of a fine meal from wine selection to the proper menu selection, to the finest ingredients. No detail is over looked. The Finance Gourmet works similarly. This is not a scratch-the-surface website. We don't believe in K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid), and we don't care how long or in depth or articles have to be to completely explain a topic. You won't find any useless Rules of Thumb here. Most importantly, we won't dumb it down. The truth is that finance is often complex and frequently it involves more than one viable strategy.

The second purpose, quite honestly, is that it was available as a domain name..

What is this website all about?

The short answer is that virtually every website, book, newspaper column, radio show, or television show that you see gives you glossy quick information that barely skims the surface of the issue at hand.

Have you ever noticed that the column in your Sunday paper business section each week always takes up the same amount of space? Do you really believe that all the financial issues out there take exactly the same amount of explanation? Are capital gains taxes and mutual fund expenses both completely understandable in the same number of words?

If the book that famous (or not so famous) author wrote is so complete, then why are there still enough questions to fill a half-hour (or more) call in show every week?

Simple sells.

Complete financial volumes with all the information you need have been around for a long time. They are dense and technical and filled with complex math and financial jargon, and they never ever crack the top ten best sellers list.

The more complicated something is the more likely people are to have a professional do it instead of doing it themselves. If you and your spouse each work one job, you have one home, and one child, then do it yourself tax programs or books are probably just fine for you. (They work just fine for me.)

On the other hand, if you derive your income from out-of-state trusts and land-use royalties, you have three children from two marriages, you own four houses (you use two, the other two are in your name but used by your parents), and you run a small business which carries inventory both manufactured by you and imported from overseas, it would be financial suicide to just use TurboTax for filing your taxes.

Since books, websites, magazines, and newsletters are all do-it-yourself aids, it is in their best interest to make whatever they cover seem just complicated enough that you need them, but simple enough that you do not need a professional.

After all, how many copies of Turbo Tax will you buy after you find a CPA you like and trust? How many investors guides will you buy after you work with a financial advisor who sets up a long term plan that involves a virtually turnover free mutual fund portfolio?

There also tends to be too much "This is the Only Smart Way" advice out there.  It leaves out other thoughts or viewpoints. Many financial theories have counter-theories.  Some formerly conventional wisdom concepts are considered junk ideas today. 

We'll give you both sides of the story and the details about WHY that will allow you to make smart decisions that won't change every time you read a well written article supporting a different side.

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The Finance Gourmet is produced by ArcticLlama, LLC. ArcticLlama is a premier freelance writing and content generation firm.