Investor conference

Every time my advisor calls me to attend a conference he arranges I go,"Um! Ah! I have school, you know. Let me ask Chethan (that's my hubby)." I stall forever and then the advisor goes,"Anyways Roopali try your best." Relieved that I do not have to re-schedule my meeting I say,"Thank God!"
However this time the advisor called Chethan who ranted out,"Sure why not I will be at work but wifey will make it since she has spring break." Ever seen two trains collide head on? Well that's what happened with us. The moment he opened the door I yelled from inside,"I ain't going." No response. Again I yelled,"I said I am not going." For that Chethan stopped, turned and yelled back,"Then rot in hell." Silence followed the entire evening. Dinner happened in graveyard silence followed by my banging of the bedroom door and going to deep sleep. I woke up in the night to pee and found Chethan missing. I knew our other bedroom was getting used. It always does whenever he snores or we fight. Anyways the next day I found myself sitting in the conference and waiting for food. Chethan joined me soon enough and we were busy profiling people sitting around us. We saw all sorts of people. Couples in their mid sixties, young couples in their 40's, single men and women, and then there was us. Since our advisor is an Indian majority of the audience was obviously Indian. The conference was in a Chinese restaurant and smell of the food was killing me. Worms in my tummy demanded food so I approached the advisor and asked him if I could get any? The advisor ordered the waiter to send some food onto my table. Suddenly everyone was hungry and the subject moved from introductions to eating food. It is then that the advisor realized it was time to get everyone's attention and started the conference.
The speaker was a representative from Riversource which is a subsidiary of Ameriprise. He was selling a new fund of Riversource which invested in emerging markets but mainly European developed country bonds. He did a good job of explaining about the fund, the current state of economy, and how it would be wise to invest in such funds that will help an investor's money grow. All through the time I listened passively and actively stuffed my mouth with Chinese food. I loved every morsel I ate. The main reason I did not pay much attention is because my MBA is in that particular field and most of the stuff that the advisor spoke about, I already knew. And the ones I did not know my brain soaked it in like a sponge.

In addition to the speech itself there were a bunch of men who amused me along with Chethan. Their questions were just out of the world. There is this tendency I have seen among some Indian men to flaunt   that they know everything and better that happens among all audience is that each one asks the same questions every few minutes. There was this situation where the  speaker was talking about bonds and DESI #1 (that's what I would like to address the gentlemen who asked the question) asked,"What is the risk of buying a California State Bond?" The speaker answered that there is no California state bond. The regions generally issue bonds." The follow up question then was,"Since CA is bankrupt if I buy bonds will I get money back?" The speaker answered a state can never go bankrupt they have to pay money at all times. Generally if there is no money the state issues, "I owe You's" and forgoes interest at times and pays the bond back at face value.
I understand that  DESI #1 did not understand the concept and kudos to him for asking but then he kept asking the same question in active as well as passive voice. Once he was finished asking a few more gentlemen asked the same question again after every fifteen minutes. This frustrated me and maybe the speaker but the speaker never expressed his emotions since he is a marketer and has the patience for it but I do not. That's when I wanted to stop munching and ask the guy to "shut-up." Of course I never did.

 Then there was this other DESI #2 who asked,"What is the best way of getting information about best funds and investing." The speaker goes,"Find an advisor." The DESI #2 goes,"That I will do. But what are the other ways,like, so is there a software, magagine...(no its not a typo, that's how he pronounced it). It was outright cheap since the speaker said," Yes, there are ways but we are not here to suggest that? Are we?" In spite of the clear sarcasm DESI#2 went on and on. Finally the best instance was when a self proclaimed I know-it DESI #3 went,"I understand all that but how does dollar affect all this?" Speaker goes,"All what? Why will dollar affect all that?" "And what is that?" DESI #3 goes,"You know all that, bonds and real estates.." I read in this book, that author, what not.....Blah....blah... My question to DESI #3,"If you know it all why are you here?" You probably did something technical in life leave finance to the guys who know it. Or if you know all then go get a life... Why waste other's time.. Very few people in there came with the intention to hire the services of an advisor. Most of them were there to get something for free, discounts or understand real estate. It pains me to see that the speaker mentioned later to the advisor that most people there were free riding. I have no problem with that. Hiring services of an advisor is a matter of prudent choice. It involves a lot of thinking and weighing pros and cons. But when in a conference asking questions that make sense or nonsense is perfectly valid. Not everyone knows everything. I personally feel no question is stupid. But there is a limit to everything. Listening, speaking, behaving, everything. It can get overwhelming for a speaker to just hear the same question every ten minutes, get squeezed as much as possible for free information, in addition to that get attitude from people who think they know it all but actually don't.
It is easy for a speaker to use the opportunity to make fool of the person who thinks he knows it all and use him as an example. But the speaker does not. No sane person would. Of course it would not help the speaker to waste energy on such listeners who attend conferences only to prove they know it all. What should a speaker do in such situations? In the conference I attended the speaker showed utmost patience. I bet by the time he retires he would end up with high blood pressure. But that's what he signed up for and  I guess there will always be people who will annoy speakers and become fodder to people who sit among them and use them to amuse themselves. The way Chethan and I did.
Honestly the conference was good with a few people asking some real good questions. This is what I guess kept the speaker going. For the rest who were there for the sake of being there did provide good entertainment but ultimately the question they have to ask themselves is,"Do I make sense to myself?" "If I know it all then why am I still doing the same thing I started doing ten years ago." Things are there for a reason, people are there for a reason. If every one knew it all then ignorance would be bliss and knowledge worthless. Annoyance is best understood when practiced on oneself. I guess that's why I joined Toastmaster's to understand what I was and how it feels to be bombarded with questions that make absolutely no sense.
At the end there will always be people. Some who make sense and some who do not. I can't avoid them or conferences that Chethan signs us up for. The best I can do is use such individuals to entertain myself and blog about and the best would be to not be like them. A lesson totally valuable.