Many of us have financial advisors – but are you benefitting from the best advice from an experienced advisor? Do you need a new financial advisor?
Working with a financial advisor is an intimate experience – you’re trusting the firm or individual with access to your finances, as well as the road to your financial future. The positive impact of a great financial advisor can be wonderful, but the negative impacts of someone who doesn’t meet your needs may be worse than you think.
Finding a Great Fit
- Who do you work with directly at your financial advisory practice? Is it a senior leader, who you were impressed with when the relationship began, but now you’ve been assigned to an entry-level advisor without the experience you depend on? Is there a team of experienced professionals working on your account? How often are you sought out by the senior leader? A quality financial advisory firm will prioritize senior leadership time for clients.
- How deep is the advisory team? Do you have a team of professionals with a variety of applicable credentials monitoring and managing your account, or is it one person? If it’s one person, it may not be the best fit as they may not have developed a variety of specialties at a deeper level to meet your needs, such as financial, estate, charitable, tax planning, and investment decisions. Knowing there’s a team of experts handling your finances can give you peace of mind.
- How much combined experience does your advisory firm have? Are most of the staff senior leaders, or are most of the staff early in their careers? If senior leadership is stretched too thin to thoroughly oversee entry-level staff, you may not be best served as a client. The firm may be prioritizing the interests of owners over client service.
- Has your financial advisor reviewed your financial plan with you more than once? A financial plan is an important roadmap that needs to be regularly reviewed and updated – not a shelf-filler. The market changes, tax laws change, and your finances themselves may change. Periodic adjustments to your plan will be key to the success of reaching your financial goals.
- Do you have access to CPAs with tax expertise through your financial advisor? The tax consequences related to your investment portfolio and financial plan can have a significant impact. Working with a team who can better manage minimizing tax impacts will help you on your way to your financial goals. A more experienced tax planning CPA, working in tandem with a tax-focused financial advisor should provide you with more tax benefits.
- Do you have limited access to your investments, accounts, and portfolio? Timely and relevant access to everything from your portfolio performance to your allocations to the variety of your accounts and their balances will help you have the best picture of your financial situation. Does your financial advisor provide a custom client portal so you have everything at your fingertips whenever you need it, including investment performance?
- Are meetings with your advisor focused on investment reviews or focused on you? A well-rounded meeting should include time to review your portfolio, discuss the state of the economy, and re-examine your financial goals to make sure your financial decisions are still aligned based on what you want to achieve. Your advisor should make time to listen to your cash needs, charitable giving thoughts, and income tax situation, reviewing techniques to help you maximize your impact. A thorough meeting will benefit you and keep you on track!
The right fit is of utmost importance as you focus on your financial future. If you’re questioning the attentiveness and depth of your financial advisor, we encourage you to seek a second opinion or consider connecting with others who may provide you more benefits and insights, and maybe find a new financial advisor. At Domani Wealth, we’re always available to have a conversation! Get in touch with us at [email protected] or by calling 855-855-5455 today!
