This is Part 7 of the Financial Health Accelerator Series on “Money and Investing.”
In this private conference call, we cover five questions you can use when interviewing a prospective Financial Advisor to make sure you only get A-players on your financial team.
Why this matters…
If you are hiring someone for your business, you hold an interview, right?
You ask questions. Evaluate the answers.
Why?
Not just to make sure you get the right person…
But to also make sure you don’t get the wrong person.
Because one bad employee can cost you more than just money. There’s also the lost productivity, negative energy, lost time finding a replacement, and the feeling of frustration that one bad hire could cost so much.
Finding a great financial advisor is like a “key hire” for your personal finances…
Having the wrong financial advisor can also cost you more than just money.
It can add stress to your life, create uncertainty about your finances, and leave you feeling frustrated by the lack of control you have.
In this short conference call, we give you five questions you can use to “interview” a prospective financial advisor or to evaluate your existing one.
These questions help you identify someone who takes into account your individual needs and builds a comprehensive and customized plan to protect, secure and grow your wealth.
That’s key because too many financial advisors are “one-trick ponies” who are really just retirement planners and only want to sell you a specific retirement fund.
On the call, we explain why that can lead to disaster.
The 5 key questions
Here are the 5 questions to ask a prospective Financial Advisor:
1. What kind of financial products or investments will you advise me on? (5:25 in the recording)
If they only can advise you on a specific fund or set of funds, they might just a product peddler.
Another question to ask in this regard is, “how do you get paid?” If they only get paid by commission, you want to be careful. It doesn’t mean you can’t use them, it just means that their advice may be skewed.
For example, if you ask a butcher what you should have for dinner, you’ll probably come home with some meat, right? If you ask a nutritionist, you will probably get a more balanced menu.
2. Are you a fiduciary? (8:00 in the recording)
A fiduciary has a higher level of ethical and legal responsibility to the customer. Essentially, a fiduciary is required to act in the customer’s best interests and cannot put his or her own compensation ahead of that goal.
Most financial planners are not fiduciaries.
3. What’s your view of diversification for managing risk? (10:10 in the recording)
Managing risk is one of the keys to proper money management.
“Diversification” is a buzzword many financial planners use. But most of their diversification is still paper assets (stocks and bonds). And we’ve found that most “diversification” plans actually rob you of your wealth-building potential.
We also touch on Mutual Funds — and an eye-opening story about how Mutual Fund managers can be prevented by law from protecting your money.
4. What are the best educational resources you produce to empower me to become a better investor?
The point of this question is to see if the financial advisor is active in educating their clients to take more control of their financial success.
A great financial advisor will offer to educate you and often has great resources to give you.
Many “product peddlers” prefer to keep you in the dark with hard-to-understand financial jargon that makes them sound smart.
And anyone who tells you “you’re in it for the long haul” likely just wants to keep you invested in their fund so they can keep earning a commission.
5. Are you willing to work with the rest of my financial team and adjust your investment advice for my unique plan based on their input?
Many financial planners are tied to a product or company, so they won’t be a great team player.
A great financial advisor will want you to get your Foundation and Security set up first before advising you to invest a single dollar.
In fact, a great financial advisor may advise you to stay in cash, sit on the sidelines, or invest in your business. They will also coordinate with the rest of your team to make sure all your investments and assets are working toward your short and long-term goals.
Teamwork is Critical…
Most people don’t have a real financial plan.
They simply put a portion of their money into an IRA, or other qualified retirement fund and hope it grows big enough by the time they want to retire.
At Wealth Factory, we believe people deserve better than that. And we know from experience you can build wealth and enjoy your money along the way. In fact, we’ve found most people can reach economic independence in about 3-7 years with proper planning.
To get there, we’ve found that it pays off to step back and re-assess everything about your finances. So first our Financial Architects help you figure out what is handled and what has fallen through the cracks.
Then our Wealth Architects help you identify and build a custom Financial Blueprint.
The blueprint gives you a clear and simple framework that protects and secures what you already have. It’s like digging a protective moat around your finances.
The blueprint then gives you new mechanisms to grow your wealth inside that protective moat, all customized to leverage your own personal Investor DNA.
The result is clarity, peace of mind and oftentimes, massive growth. Plus, you can enjoy your success now.
After all, if you are confident that your money is safe from economic downturns, devaluation or financial predators, that’s going to free up your energy so you can devote yourself to make even more…
…and gives you the luxury of enjoying your new-found wealth along the way without the fear of “running out.”
It’s all about having the right team.
Access to Wealth Factory’s Team
Many people ask how they can work with our team of financial experts in The Accredited Network. Some people just want to hire our CPA or Estate Attorney or Registered Investment Advisor.
We don’t offer individual services with these experts. We believe building your wealth is a “team sport” — and we’d rather work with a small group of qualified individuals who understand that philosophy. It’s how we’re able to offer stellar results.
The financial experts love working with our members because we have provided them with great financial education and they know they have a holistic plan with team support.
And our members love having the ongoing support and guidance — and results — that only a coordinated financial team can provide.
So if having Wealth Factory’s financial team on your side sounds like something you’d like for yourself…
Click here to see if our Wealth Team is right for you
Other Calls in This Series…
Here are the other conference calls in this continuing series:
- The Winning Framework for Long-term Investing
- How to Reduce Risk, Avoid Losses, and Boost Returns by Tapping into Your Own Investor DNA
- Maximize Your Investment Performance by Focusing on Cash Flow
- Live Wealthy NOW Without Jeopardizing Your Future Security & Prosperity
- How to Fund Your Kid’s College… Without Breaking the Bank
- How to Pick a World-Class Tax Professional (or Rate Your Existing CPA)
