Most websites that review anything are prone to a bit of bias. Whether it’s clothing, video games, or service in general you should be able to pick out the best from the worst, so you make an informed consumer decision. This is extra true for people in the realm of finances. Though most people wouldn’t think so, journalism surrounding finances is both an extremely important and influential profession.
So, if someone is reviewing a new financial service, you need to know how to pick out the good stuff. Here’s a great guide for learning to do this in regard to money, using these Lear Capital reviews as a foundation for financial terminology. Don’t let yourself be put off a product because of a truly horrible review since that review could be both unique and built off of something personal. Journalists are people too, after all!
Look For Disclaimers
The number one statement you should look at in any work is where the money was in that transaction. Though, for financial services, this works a lot less than you might think. If you are saving for an IRA account, it’s hard to trust even that a commission was biasing anyone since most people have only one account for that. Accounts are built to last a lifetime and because of these reviews are hard to parse through.
Even still, if the review was given including the product for free, most companies will say that outright. This is a good thing fundamentally, it keeps them honest and lets consumers know how the site or book or other media outlet is getting funded. Server space isn’t cheap, so letting your reviewed services pay you for the publicity is quite standard though it probably implicitly affects judgment.
Organizations Even Journalists Trust
Of the things that should be on a review, possibly the most important is the rating of any financial service with a few organizations. The two most popular websites for this kind of rating are the Better Business Bureau and Google. The BBB is a popular choice for reviewers since it looks over past complaints and violations that may have been problematic as well as how the institution handled those complaints. It weights old versus new complaints, how severe it is, and the history those companies have with them.
It might seem strange to put Google up against a storied institution such as the BBB. But, of all the review services, Google has two major advantages. It’s highly public and anyone can post anything, and it’s a household name. Googling something is a synonym for researching something via a search engine, and that search engine is almost always Google. So, if you’re going to cast your net wide for client complaints, Google is the place to look.
Other sectors often have their specific website that rates how well a service performs, and most of the time these hobbyist platforms are far superior to anything anyone else can put out. For financial matters, this really isn’t as prominent though so it’s worth looking up a few sites that serve this purpose and comparing them. Research your research, it will help in the long run!
Read Between the Lines
A good article about anything financial should be specific. If there aren’t numbers anywhere on the page, be suspicious especially if they have a service they want to promote. Money comes with a certain amount of suspicion attached, so if you’re concerned that you may be getting scammed for any reason it’s worth checking out a financial advisor. Visit this website for a summary of the activities of financial advisors, because let’s be honest here even the best sites can be one-upped by the actions of a true professional.
That is one of the biggest takeaways here. Professionals do what they do best, and though a mix of perspectives is highly sought after everywhere, people who know the world of money are more likely to see the good, bad, and ugly of a service. For the most part though, of all the fields, finance has some of the clearest lines between a scam and a legitimate business. If you know what to do, they are easily spotted.
Don’t be intimidated by anything here. Journalism is an art and a job that many people do and do well. In this case, most of the truly scummy stuff tends to sink to the bottom of any legitimate search engine. Don’t be put off from setting up an IRA account, savings account, or other such financial investment. These types of future-proof accounts are safe, valuable, and essential for living in today’s world. The world may move fast, but we’re truly lucky we have the people we must try and make sense of the world of money and its associated sectors.