| Home | Free Articles for Your Site | Submit an Article | Advertise | Link to Us | Search | Contact Us |
This site is an archive of old articles

    SEARCH ARTICLES
    Custom Search


vertical line

Article Surfing Archive



Choosing The Right Financial Advisor For You - Articles Surfing


Nothing comes for nothing:

There is no such thing as free advice. Commission disclosure, consumer knowledge and increasing regulations have forced most of the rogues out of business. However, remember that if you use the services of an adviser, at some stage they must have some hope of getting paid or of selling you something that pays them a commission.

Look for an upfront declaration:

A competent honest adviser will make it clear how they are paid and happily tell you in detail how this happens. Somewhere, somehow, people need to be paid. If it is not clear to you how your adviser is paid, keep on asking. You must understand how they are paid, so you can understand their bias.

Plan for your first meeting:

At your first meeting, or over the phone, get straight to the point about your position and what you want. Professional advisers who are successful have good technical skills, but they also have strong people skills. Advice is a personal business and few advisers will be willing to offend people by saying early in a meeting that you are just not the sort of client they want to look after, so it really is up to you to be able to succinctly say, 'Hey, this is my situation, am I the sort of client you service?'

Build a relationship:

The best advisers want to give you ongoing advice and will charge you an annual fee for this. It is important to have an ongoing relationship with your adviser. You want someone who will understand your needs and help you solve your investment problems now and in the future. You don't want someone who sells you a product, takes the commission and then forgets you. Be very cautious about an adviser who only earns a commission when you buy something. They will only wish to see you on an ongoing basis if you want to buy something or they can sell you something. Frankly, if the 'advice' is always free and the adviser only makes money when you buy product, it is very hard to see how you are ever going to get unbiased advice.

Be sure they are working for you:

A good adviser should be giving you quality advice that suits your needs - not using you to help fund his or her personal deals. One of the great traps in financial advice is buying deals from the adviser when the adviser is personally involved in the deals. A professional adviser needs to keep a critical eye on your investments. This means that they should not be personally involved. If they have lots of their money tied up in the deal, this may sound like a good thing to you, but it may also cause the adviser to become too emotionally tied to the investment, leading to poor decisions on your behalf.

Know what you have got and know what you want:

Don't expect a professional adviser to waste valuable time trying to work out things that really you only know. Approaching an adviser in a logical, prepared fashion will pay big dividends. The biggest obstacle to finding a professional adviser is not being clear about what you want. So, before you find an adviser, sit down with a pencil and piece of paper somewhere quiet and pour a glass of wine if it helps. Write down all of your assets and liabilities, your income and spending habits. Think about your aspirations for your career, relationships, any dependents and estate planning. List your insurance and your long-term goals. Consider when you want to stop work, how much income you would like to have.

Submitted by:

Rod Charles

Rod Charles is the editor for http://www.myfinancereporter.com which provides access to finance news and resources for personal finance consumers.



        RELATED SITES






https://articlesurfing.org/business_and_finance/choosing_the_right_financial_advisor_for_you.html

Copyright © 1995 - Photius Coutsoukis (All Rights Reserved).










ARTICLE CATEGORIES

Aging
Arts and Crafts
Auto and Trucks
Automotive
Business
Business and Finance
Cancer Survival
Career
Classifieds
Computers and Internet
Computers and Technology
Cooking
Culture
Education
Education #2
Entertainment
Etiquette
Family
Finances
Food and Drink
Food and Drink B
Gadgets and Gizmos
Gardening
Health
Hobbies
Home Improvement
Home Management
Humor
Internet
Jobs
Kids and Teens
Learning Languages
Leadership
Legal
Legal B
Marketing
Marketing B
Medical Business
Medicines and Remedies
Music and Movies
Online Business
Opinions
Parenting
Parenting B
Pets
Pets and Animals
Poetry
Politics
Politics and Government
Real Estate
Recreation
Recreation and Sports
Science
Self Help
Self Improvement
Short Stories
Site Promotion
Society
Sports
Travel and Leisure
Travel Part B
Web Development
Wellness, Fitness and Diet
World Affairs
Writing
Writing B