Building your team: How to find a trusted financial advisor

The difficult landscape

Navigating the financial landscape is tough. There are many unknowns, plans change and you need to be able to adapt. Life throws difficult challenges your way and having a trusted advisor along your journey can be a great asset. Many believe they can beat the market, however few do it. It takes a lot of research, a sound strategy, discipline, patience and the ability to remove emotions from the equation. We all know someone who bought high and sold low. A financial advisor can build a financial plan and overcome the emotional roller coaster.

Benefits of an advisor

• An advisor brings experience of investing which is well needed to help establish a sound financial plan and to adapt that plan.
• The financial industry can change quickly and having someone who deals with it everyday day can help find opportunities and reducing risk.
• When times get tough the advisors help keep you on track and not to make any irrational decisions.
• Advisors and their teams research and filter through all the information out there to give you what you need to know.
• An advisor understands your specific situation and can speak to you so you’ll understand exactly what you are investing in.

How to find an advisor that works for you

There are many advisors out there; they work for banks, financial investment institutions and online. They offer all sorts of products and services, some have been in business for many years, others just a few months. It can be tough to find the right financial advisor for you, but it’s harder to navigate the financial world on your own. So here’s how to find the one that works for you.

• Shop around: there are many advisors and you don’t have to deal with the first one you talk to. If you are not absolutely comfortable dealing with the person, then leave
• Think about your goals; where you want to be in five years and further. Think about your risk tolerance. Once you have these assembled, find an advisor that understands your goals and is interested in helping you achieve them.
• How transparent and consistent their investment philosophy and past track record? The last thing you want is an advisor that is not giving you the full picture and telling you one thing while doing the opposite.
• Find a professionally certified or designated advisor. The term financial advisor and financial planner are not regulated in use. You can be misled into believing someone using these titles has more education and training than they actually have. Look for advisors with the CFP, CFA or even the CPA designations as these people have gone through rigorous education and testing requirements, obtained sufficient on the job training and carry high ethical standards.
• Determine the frequency and type of communication you want to have with the advisor. Do you need to meet once or twice a year or would you prefer to meet more often. Determine how you’d like to discuss changes to your financial plan; do you need to meet face to face every time, or will a phone call suffice?
• Determine how they are paid and whether they align with your investment plan. There are many ways advisor’s get paid, from salary to 100% commission based. You need to be fully aware of how they are paid and make sure you are comfortable with it. In the end it comes down to their ability to help you execute the investment strategy.
• Find out about their five to ten year plan and how long they have been in business. Do you want to trust someone who took the job because they have a passion for helping people with their finances and is planning on being in this career for many years?

Ask for references from people you know and trust. Remember advisors are trying to get your business not the other way around. It’s your money and life! Speaking to trusted family and friends may lead to a referral of a great advisor.

Remember it’s your money and your life. If you do not feel 100% comfortable with a potential advisor, don’t do business there. Find someone you trust, that understands your life goals and can guide you to achieve them.

Simple Money Living Wrap Up

Our Simple Money Living journey has taken a number of months and more than the ten promised articles. We began by introducing where money and debt got their start and how to protect yourself on rainy days. We ventured through compound interest and how we should live debt free as long and as much as possible and took a look at what SMART debt is. An in-depth analysis was taken to see how we can save on our mortgages and how to budget for the future.

Taking a step back, we looked to how we can review our budgets and make them work better for us. With better understanding we learned the basics of financial literacy. Despite it being tough, we took a good hard look at our behaviours, identified those we needed to change, and make a plan to change them to our financial benefit. We began using our debt elimination tools to putting our plan to action to eliminate debt, so we can later save for the short-term and invest for the long-term. Finally, we sought to find a financial advisor to help guide us along our journey; someone to be impartial and to keep our focus where it is needed.

Our journey has been great, and it has only begun.

Thank you for joining me along this journey, I truly hope you were able to take away something from each of the articles and have been able to put these strategies into action. Like all good things in life, it takes time. Keep believing in yourself, your plan and your support team (family and friends).

Thank you,

Jayson