WHAT: Live Web Chat on Kiplinger.com. Chat will be hosted by three advisors from the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) who will be available to take questions on  financial topics ranging from retirement planning to college planning.

WHO: NAPFA Financial Planners (NAPFA is an organziation of fee-only financial advisors. Fee-only means they do not sell insurance or investments nor do they receive commissions from the sale of any financial product.)

WHEN: Thursday May 17, 2012 from 1pm to 3pm EST (LIVE)

WHERE: Go to Jump-Start Your Financial Plan

EXTRAS: Participants may leave questions or comments any time before or during the live chat or go back afterwards to see a transcript of the chat.

Readers will also be able to ask for advice and view questions and answers through the Kiplinger and NAPFA Facebook pages or by utilizing the #JumpStartRetire hashtag on Twitter.

About Kiplinger Live Chats:
Through live Web chats, Kiplinger.com's team of experts is able to interact with readers on an individual basis, providing them with tailored, one-on-one advice. Kiplinger.com also believes its readers can benefit from other readers' questions and answers. The chat topics vary every week, with retirement and financial topics ranging from home buying to investing to social security and investing for income. Weekly live Web chats typically occur on Thursday afternoons, but times are susceptible to change.

Mistakes cost you money. All mutual funds are not alike. There is a strategy as to what type of fund to place in which account to lower your tax bill. There is research that shows which funds are likely to have the highest returns relative to their peers. Use your money more efficiently. Learn how to avoid these 5 mutual fund buying mistakes.

I got an email this past week from an attorney at the securities division of the Arizona Corporation Commission. (Each state has a securities division that oversees the sale of investments and delivery of investment advice.)

I have corresponded with this attorney before and I think Arizona is lucky to have him. Lucky because I get the impression he is the kind of guy who wants to get to the heart of a matter. Someone out there should be worried.

In this case he needed to discuss a situation in regards to a prior client of mine. I worked with this client about seven years ago.  They asked me if I did due diligence on business deals. That is not something I do. They found an advisor who did - well, they found someone who said they did.

As a matter of fact over several months, this advisor convinced them that his firm did everything and all under one roof. And when I say everything, I mean everything: taxes, legal structures for estate planning and businesses, insurance, financing, real estate deals, due diligence on private ventures.

Warning #1: You know why one firm would do everything? So that NO ONE else might ever look at what is being done and get suspicious.

The client sent me a wonderful email explaining that I had done a fabulous job but this new advisor was closer to their home and it was just a matter of convenience and simplicity, and off they went.

In 2010 I heard from them again. They wanted me to look over everything that had been done. I did. And I sent them right to an attorney.

ALL of their money was gone. Poof. That's it. Gone.

Where did it go?

Well, somehow this advisor convinced them to lend the money out on series of simple promissory notes. They were supposed to be 60-90 day loans paying 12% interest. They never got a dime back. Was it a legit deal? Was it stolen?

I know what I think happened. Hopefully the law will sort it out.

The securities attorney asked me if I'd been seeing a lot of this type of thing. I have not. He said he has.

That's scary.

And you know why he's seeing a lot of it? Because right now no one knows what to do with their money. Savings isn't paying squat, stocks just had a massive run from the 2009 bottom, traditional bonds won't fare well if/when rates rise, people are still feeling burned by real estate, and Europe is a mess.

This is when the crooks come out. In a low interest rate world, an offer of 12% interest from a well credentialed person with a well credentialed team who says they do due diligence on private business opportunities sounds, well, like just what you would be looking for, right?

I call it the hot money scam, because all too often people feel this urgent need to do something with their money, and do it quickly. They get impatient. This is bad.

I've received several calls over the last few weeks from sophisticated investors who wanted my ideas on what to do with their money right now. My bright idea right now is sit tight and be patient.

Here's the problem: when you're experiencing the hot money syndrome, you're easy prey for a good scam artist.

Folks, patience is an investment strategy, and a smart one. Before you make an investment, ask one question. Can I lose all my money? If the answer is yes, for goodness sake, do NOT put all your money into it!

Learn more:

• How to Avoid Scams
• 5 Rules to Use to Avoid Bad Investments

Inheriting money sounds great. And it is nice if you are methodical and thoughtful as to what you do with it. The key is understanding what NOT to do, learning as much as you can, making no rush decisions, and creating a plan. Learn more in Family Inheritance - Inheritance Traps and How to Avoid Them.