Now, I’m confident in saying I have happy clients. And proud of that fact.
Being a literalist, I cringe at calling the system broken. But I have to admit, it really is. And that’s a shame.
It’s also what drove me out of past alignments with investment firms and to where I am today. At first, I thought nothing like it existed, so I struck out on my own. Happily, that’s brought me to my work with Accurate Advisory Group. It’s made my job easier, because every resource I could possibly ask for is in-house: tax planning, estate planning, real estate investment experts… everything.
It’s no mystery that your life is unique, and an off-the-shelf wealth management plan isn’t going to work for everybody. It needs to be tailored to you and your needs. And you need that done by people who put you and your needs as their top motivator.
Too much of the current financial industry is based on selling products, not guidance. It’s why people turn their nose up when they hear the word “insurance” – it’s attained the reputation of a used car because some have hawked it with about as much care for your needs. But insurance is just a tool. And while it’s been mis-used to line some people’s pockets, it may be exactly what you need to minimize taxes, create guaranteed income streams, and ensure your family’s security. And it may not be. Because your needs are unique to you, it takes whole picture thinking, not a sales pitch, to make that decision.
You want to know that the financial advice you’re getting is really about meeting your needs, and not intended to provide a commission to the person selling it to you.
I recently found Sean Slotterback ’s LinkedIn post, “Wealth Management is Broken.” I also found his GRE scores on his profile. (Not sure why you shared them, Sean, but they are impressive!)
I don’t know Sean, but I do think he has a wonderful sense of humor in comparing financial advisors to used car salesmen. “To quickly summarize: if people can’t tell a good car from a crap car, then used car salesmen will have a financial incentive to pass off cheap cars at inflated prices driving down the average quality of cars on the market.”
His position is wealth management industry mirrors the conundrum, since the average consumer doesn’t have the capacity or information to know if one bond is a good choice, or an annuity will help or harm them, let alone, I might add, to coalesce a complicated package that moves real estate investments from one investment mechanism to another while putting their estate into a revokable or irrevocable trust. It’s complicated. We don’t expect you to know how to engineer a house just because you want to live in one that doesn’t fall down around you.
While I won’t go so far as Sean to compare investment advisors to used car salesmen, I will agree with him that, as he closed with, “it’s time for financial advisors to take off their ties, roll up their sleeves and get back to the business of working for their clients…”
But he left me with an unanswered question when he said “financial advice needs a new signal of quality.”
Agreed. But what is that signal? How will you know if your advisor is selling products or focused on meeting your needs?
Your advisor may be a wonderful human who’s very skilled at delivering when it comes to your finances. And they may have the resources of some big name firms behind them.
But if your net worth is between $1 million and $25 million, then the largest national firms really won’t offer you much. In fact, they likely will refer you out for tax and estate planning, rather than provide it to you directly. That can be a significant expense!
Very few wealth management firms offer tax and estate planning. We do.
There is no Better Housekeeping stamp of approval to put on a Financial Advisor’s shingle, and no Yelp review is going to provide the signal of trust. There is an onus on you, the consumer, to investigate how your advisor makes his or her living. What is the mechanism by which they’re paid, and does that benefit your overall wealth management plan?
We think we have a better way of doing business. All of our advisors, financial planners, estate and tax planners are in-house. We won’t farm you out to have this work done, incurring additional fees. In fact, once you’re in-house with us, we will provide unbilled estate and tax planning, updates and advice.
That’s something worth looking into. And it’s the best we’ve got in place of that seal of approval.
Planning Network Partners is dedicated to examining this and other opportunities as part of a larger picture of your whole financial health.
Contact Us for expert assistance.