Why you should interview a financial adviser

This morning let’s consider why you might enjoy meeting a good financial adviser. Specialization is everywhere today. If you want your car repaired, you look for a repair shop that specializes in your ride. If you want the best Italian food in Lodi, Pietro’s. Best sandwich, Fiori’s. If you have kids, you know the neighborhoods with the schools you want.

Much the same in all things financial. As we go through our lives and progress a bit, things happen. We get married, well mostly anyway. We have kids, we get promotions, take on more responsibility, start earning more; maybe it’s time to begin forming a personal financial team.

Are you ready for an accountant, a good attorney, and a professional financial adviser? Maybe you have changed jobs and want to have your own IRA where you can make more choices. Maybe you have sold a business or some land and want ideas on growing the proceeds. Maybe a family member or friend did very well saving and investing over the years and left you some stocks or cash.

When the time is right, you’ll ask around and go meet someone a friend says you can trust or maybe it will be someone you’ve met in town. What is the first conversation like?

Most of our financial advisers these days start by asking what brought you in? That’s an easy way of asking, “What do you want to accomplish?” Most use your responses in a financial planning process to create a list of your goals.

Every part of the financial planning steps your adviser will walk through evolves from you and your most significant longer term goals. It’s very common for nothing more than conversation to occur in the first meeting or two, as you work together to think through all you might want to explore.

Next, an inventory needs to be created of all things financial that can influence your goals. Most of us have multiple priorities beyond just owning good investments.

Maybe our above average, close to brilliant kids will need to get a great education. The way things are going, we might need to help our mom one day. We may want to make sure we have our affairs structured correctly, wills, trusts, and such.

Maybe we want to make sure what we have done is coordinated with what we want and where we are in life. Maybe one spouse is doing most of the financial stuff and a second opinion from someone active in the field would be reassuring.

Yes, retirement at 62 is ideal, we’ve been wanting to know the likelihood that we will be able to achieve it.

Assessment of risk and volatility tolerance will be discussed. What experiences have you had with investments, what has the outcome been?

The software that your adviser will use to prepare a personalized written report is both simple and complex. It works best when you take the time to really identify what you want. Then, you will get back the answers to your “can we?” questions and more ideas of how to more efficiently do what you have identified as most important to you.

One very significant tool is the display of it all in a report that quantifies the targets, resources, and potential areas of improvement.

Advisers like to be aggressively conservative with the process to allow you to receive both a roadmap and a series of future steps in the progression towards your success.

I’ve had many people ask what is needed to get started. The most important ingredient is the drive to achieve your financial goals. Clearly, achievement is easier to accomplish the earlier you start, but at any point along the path, some ideas for improvement may prove helpful.

Yes, investing can start with small capital and big dreams. Many mutual funds have very low minimums. Many people get the urge to explore investments when they notice that savings aren’t earning much. Especially, when they have $10,000 or more.

Of course, many investors have attained substantial holdings. Our clients have told us trust is a key part of the selection process. We work very hard to remain a leader in client satisfaction.

Much of what I have discussed is more fully explained at the website of the financial adviser or firm you might like to consider.

Having worked in the industry for over 40 years, I am extremely proud of the way our firm has progressed, the structure that is in place to serve our clients, and the number of individuals we have come to know so well.

Cheers until next time.