No matter what your financial goals may be, hiring a “Financial Life Manager” may help you achieve them. Whether you are planning for retirement, buying your first house, paying off debt or wish to invest some of your hard-earned cash, a “Financial Life Manager” may help you along every step of the way to help ensure you meet your financial goals. But not all financial advisers are created equal and hiring the wrong one could have serious consequences.
Find out what to look for and how to choose a financial adviser:
Check Their Credentials:
The first step of choosing your financial adviser is checking their credentials. A Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA), Registered Investment Consultant (RFC), or Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), are some of the credentials you may consider. In order for an adviser to obtain a CIMA, RFC or CFP certification, the adviser must go through rigorous testing, ongoing continuing education requirements, and meet certain regulations concerning many of the different aspects of financial planning.
1. Ask Friends and Family: Ask people you know if they have any recommendations for a financial adviser in your area. This way, you will get a firsthand account of what type of services the financial planner offers and whether they could provide the kind of help you’re looking for.
2. Understand How They Get Paid: Some financial advisers get paid by commission when they sell you an investment product. Other advisers operate on a fee only scale, meaning they do not get paid from commissions. You might also be able to find a group of advisers that charge per hour for small projects.
3. Read Their Code of Ethics: As the old saying goes, the devil is in the details. While it may be tedious, read through each adviser’s code of ethics, and make sure they have your best interests at heart. Look for terms like “fiduciary,” which means they strive to look after your best interests at all times. Registered representatives who are not advisers are held to a suitability standard, which is a lesser standard.
4. Consider Specialization: The conversation with multimillionaires needs to be different than a conversation with two college graduates starting to build their lives together. Make sure that the team you are considering to hire has specific experience doing what you need. Finding the right “Financial Life Manager” for your specific goals may make or break your success.
5. Make sure to do your due diligence so you may feel that you are in good hands: The right “Financial Life Manager” will assist you along every step of the way, hopefully helping to turn your financial dreams into realities.
Mr. Kelly Trevethanis a Certified Investment Management Analyst& Registered Financial Consultant. He is aManaging Director with United Capital Financial Advisers LLC, a national private wealth advisory firmwith 79 offices across the nation. He can be reached at 415-418-2101.To obtainyour free copy of the New York Times Bestselling book “The Money Code”, email him at Kelly.trevethan@unitedcp.com.
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