What isn't your financial planner telling you?
By Jason Buckland, Sympatico / MSN Finance
If you subscribe to the philosophy of Gordon Gekko, greed is good.
Heck, it made the guy a ton of cash in Wall Street and, were it not for Charlie Sheen ratting him out, fuelled the desire that made him one of the world’s most powerful businessman. Michael Douglas even landed an Oscar for convincing us financial gluttony might've been given a bad name, after all.
But Wall Street was, of course, a movie. In real life, you don’t want any dishonesty when it comes to handling your money.
Which is why I found this article from Smartmoney.com entitled “10 Things Financial Planners Won’t Tell You” so fascinating. As it turns out – surprise! surprise! – many of the people out there tripping over themselves to manage your money may not be totally upfront about things.
You can check out the full list here, but here’s a few tidbits from the article I found interesting:
- In the early 1990s, only about 25,000 people called themselves “financial planners.” By 2006, that number had shot to 650,000 and – while there are legitimate causes for the boost, sure – part of the reason the total has risen so fast is that nearly anyone can present themselves under the blanket description of financial planner. Because often times there is no required training involved with becoming a financial planner, you run the risk of encountering “bank-employed pitchmen” who may have interests not entirely honest with your money. Smartmoney’s advice? Try hiring an advisor with a Certified Financial Planner license (a field of about 56,000) to manage your cash. An advisor with his/her CFP license means they’ve got at least three years experience on the job and have passed a comprehensive 10-hour exam on the merits and ethics of handling your money.
- More to that notion, ghost-financial planners have somehow managed to creep their way into the industry. According to Smartmoney, many financial planners – especially among big firms – meet with you one-on-one, shake your hand and conceive a plan you’re satisfied with … only to outsource finishing the job to a secondary firm or freelance planner. The advisor you’ve met with apparently doesn’t actually do much of the leg work, enabling them to spend more time wooing prospective clients. “It’s the current corruption in financial planning,” John E. Sestina, cofounder of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, says of the growing trend. While it may not sound like much, this is the exact kind of lack-of-personal-care corner-cutting that pisses regular people off when it comes to money.
Regardless, there are some eye-opening points made in the Smartmoney list and, if you’re looking for more on the issue, check out these three steps on how to pick the right financial advisor for you.
Posted by: Leticia | Jun 29, 2021 4:53:35 PM
IMPORTANT!!
Obviously there is a big hole in the financial industry. If anyone has read "10 Secrets Revenue Canada doesn’t want you to know", you'll know that 91% of Canadians are going to retire at or below the poverty level. That’s why we see elderly ppl working at places like Wal-Mart. Don't get me wrong I'm sure some do it just to keep busy, but others have no choice. So, that leaves 9% who will be ok in retirement. Now, most of those 9% have a "financial guy", but if the industry was doing in a good job wouldn't those numbers be evened out a little more( the 91% and 9%)? Well advisors chase after the wealthy 9% and leave the others behind b/c basically all they can do is put them on a budget for 30 years, and who wants that? So when they don't listen the advisor say fine, if you're not going to listen, I'm sticking with the wealthy! Terrible but true. Unfortunately b/c finances isn't taught in school there is a lack of education out there.
There is a company called World Financial Group, they’re here to change the industry. They are there for the 91%, their mission statement is “no family left behind”. They’re educating the average family on what’s out there and showing them strategies the wealthy have been doing for years. They saved my sister $1200 of money she was already paying on debt and taxes. If you ever get a chance to sit down with an advisor (no charge) I suggest you listen to what they have to say.