<prompt> Human: I have a guy I know who does investing through a pretty reputable firm in the area and he is coming over to my house today to talk about retirement savings, in particular Roth IRAs. I dont know a ton about this stuff other than what I get from Dave Ramsey and yes, my god damn car is paid for. Im 27-years-old... employed as a teacher but make very little money. Low rent... no other real expenses. Not married or even dating... no kids. Just food... phone... rent... gas. Built-in retirement in my state is pretty good for teachers but I just really dont trust it 30 years down the road. All older teachers I talk to tell me that they just used that and nothing else on the side but I figure Im single with little expenses, why not put some extra away for when Im 60?What kinds of questions should I be asking and what should I look out for? Assistant: Ask if the investment guy has a fiduciary duty to you. To be very clear, there is a 95 chance that this is a mutual fund salesman disguised as a financial advisor. He will get you to start an IRA and allocate it to expensive mutual funds that earn him a ton of commission.I would cancel the meeting and spend the afternoon reading the links on the sidebar here instead.Human: What if he works at a place that also deals with insurance and other areas like these. His initial call was about insurance but as a teacher I have amazing insurance, including life coverage so I dont need to worry about that end of things but I asked him about IRAs and investing. Do you still think he is a mutual fund salesman? Serious question. I also know it doesnt mean a whole lot but it is a guy that Ive known my whole life and trust. Great member of the community. Worked with him in the past in other areas. Always seems to be a hard worker. Oh god... I just realized I described Burnie Madoff... Shit. ;-Thanks for the feedback.  <response>: Yes, it is extremely likely he is a mutual fund salesman. And I know you trust your coworker, but many of my coworkers I generally consider very smart are still doing really stupid things with their money. A very specific thing you can ask him:1. What is the ticker symbol of the fund you are recommending? That way you can report back here and we can look into it for you!2. What is the net expense ratio of the fund you are recommending? This is how much of your money gets siphoned off to pay the managers each year. The answer for a good fund would be less than 0.25. A horrible fund would have one greater than 1.03. Are there any front end loads or back end loads for the fund you are recommending? These are simply sales charges that apply to you when you buy a fund or sell a fund. You should not invest in any funds with sales loadsBut really, this subreddit has TONS of information on this type of stuff in sidebar links, particularly IRAs 