Two (really annoying) laws of personal finance

Like physics, the world of money seems to have its own set of immutable laws. As a consumer of financial products and services for several decades now, I would like to offer two. Perhaps other readers can add their own to the list:

1. Surprisingly few things happen on the first try. You might think that once you’ve given your bank, mutual fund, stockbroker, insurance company, or whatever an instruction it will be carried out. Don’t bet on it. In my experience these things often take a second try and sometimes a third.

It’s almost pointless to speculate on the reasons (innocent mistake? incompetence? greed? sadism?), but don’t be surprised when it happens.

What to do? Keep track of your requests and make copies of everything relevant. Mark a calendar for when you expect to see results. Try again if your first try isn’t successful. And don’t stress out. This is just the way things work. Or don’t work.

2. It’s almost always a mistake to give two instructions at once.  Chances are, only one will be carried out. Or neither. But rarely both.

So if you want a financial institution to, let’s say, change a beneficiary on an account and also note your new e-mail address, put it in two separate requests.

While these two laws particularly apply to the financial marketplace they seem to hold true in many other consumer transactions as well.

Have a law of your own to offer? Please share it, below. Or, if it has something to do with retirement, join the ongoing discussion at our retirement forum.—Greg Daugherty

Greg writes the “Retirement Guy” column each month for the Consumer Reports Money Adviser newsletter.

Comments

[Red]

This is one of those things that I've experienced often enough that I shouldn't need to be told it.

However, when I think about writing two separate requests, I follow that thought up with "It's a bank, they should be able to handle this." Oh how wrong I've been.