Choose a Good Financial Advisor

At some point in your life, you have probably questioned whether you need a financial advisor.

You may need help investing your money. Or coming up with a financial plan. Even a strategy to pay down debt. These are all things advisors can help with. But how do you choose the right one?

Define Your Needs

Before even meeting with a financial advisor, you need to clearly define your needs.

Advisors are not a one size fits all relationship. In order to best help you we need to know about your goals and pain points. I always tell clients the more you can tell me about you and your situation the better job I can do to help.

Set Up a Meeting – Lots of Them

After you clearly define what you are looking to accomplish start reaching out to different Financial Advisors.

I would recommend interviewing at least 3 different advisors before picking one to work with. Here is a list of questions you should ask when interviewing who you want to work with.

Once you have the opportunity to meet with a few advisors pick the one you feel you will be able to work with for many years to come.

This is a long-term relationship. You need to feel comfortable that this person will have your best interests in mind for many years to come.

Do not rush this decision. It should also be based on more than investment performance or the fee you pay. Sometimes going with the person who charges a bit more or who wants to be more conservative investing your money means more than a few extra dollars.

Establish a Plan

Every decision you make financially should be in accordance with a financial plan.

An advisor who is not willing to set up a plan, however simple it may be, is not one you want to work with.

A financial plan is how you monitor progress and make sure you are still on track to meet your goals.

Every investment recommendation needs to be based off of this plan. The plan should also be revisited annually or after big life events to make necessary changes.

Set a Meeting Cadence

One thing that clients often forget is that your advisor should meet with you at least annually.

You don’t simply write them a check and then go away until you need the money or want to invest again.

You need to set a meeting cadence with your new advisor. For new clients I try to meet with them in person at least 4 times the first year. And contact them at least 4 more times by phone or email.

As the relationship grows older, I allow the clients to tell me how often they would like to be contacted. Some clients tell me to scale back and others keep at the same pace.

There also needs to be contacts outside of these scheduled dates. Markets are fickle and can reverse quickly. You should expect a call from yours when things are not going as planned. You should also expect to hear from them occasionally with new ideas to continue to make progress on your goals outside of the schedule.

Monitor and Evaluate

The final step of this process is continuing to monitor and assess your advisor’s performance.

Are you happy with your investment results?

Are you making progress towards your goals?

Does your advisor continue to act in your best interest?

These questions are important to answer because they will allow you to have a good idea if your relationship with your advisor is still strong.

You should like hearing from them. They should help you to feel that you are making progress towards your goals. They should also make you feel that they are just as happy to meet you as the first time.

My Process

I try to follow a simple process when onboarding a prospect and eventually bringing them on as a client.

Assess Client Goals

My first priority is clearly understanding your goals. This may take place in person or over a video meeting, but I want a chance to connect with you.

I try to understand who you are as a person and what I can do to help. This sometimes takes place over multiple meetings so I can take time to reflect and verify the information you provide to me.

This is the most crucial step because without a clear understanding my recommendation will likely never be right. I take time here because it is important that I get it right the first time.

Begin Planning Process

The next step I take after these initial meetings is I begin importing all of the information into a financial plan.

A sound financial plan will tell me whether you are on pace to hit your goals and provide me with next steps to improve your chances of success.

It will also tell me things like whether you are saving enough. Or how to prioritize paying off debt. How likely you are to be able to pay for your children to go to school. And finally, how long we can reasonably expect your money to last.

Make Recommendations to Improve Outlook

My next step after analyzing where you are through a financial plan is to make recommendations to make your money last longer.

This can take many different forms and is often a combination of many different strategies.

I may make a proposal to change your investments to limit risk and deliver solid returns. I will provide you direction on how to pay down debts to save the most money possible. We will determine if you are saving the appropriate amount to hit your goals. If you are not, we will change the amount to get you back on track.

There are many other ways I can help these are just a few.

Stay on Track

The final step I take is to make sure that you stay on track.

This is what our meetings are for. Review progress towards your goals and make minor changes to ensure we are still on pace.

Between meetings your goals may have changed. This is a great opportunity to record these new goals and put them into your plan.

These touch bases are important because they never allow us to stray too far off course. It is very similar to going to the dentist every 6 months. You go to make sure you do not have any major problems with your oral health. For us, it is to make sure that you are on pace to remain financially healthy.

Work With Me

I would welcome an opportunity to meet with you, review your situation, and become your advisor. Please click here and we can set up a time to start you on your path to financial freedom.