What can you expect from a financial adviser?

I went to my bank because I want to start a portfolio. An appointment was made with an adviser but I have found him to be quite disappointing. He claims to return calls in a 24 hour time frame.

Doesn't happen. He made an appointment with me only to call me when I was waiting for him there to say he couldn't make it. When we finally connected and I turned in preliminary paper work, again he said he'd contact me in 24 hours.

Didn't happen. It's been over 2 weeks. I have decided not to use him because he obviously thinks my time is not as important as his.

Any thoughts or advice? Asked by zenden 28 months ago Similar questions: expect financial adviser Business > Financial Planning.

A lot more than what you received from the bank advisor. If you are looking for a financial advisor, look for one with a CFP designation. This is person trained in the area of retirement planning, tax planning, investment planning, insurance planning, and estate planning.

Almost all financial advisors will meet with you for the first hour free of charge. In this hour you can determine if your personalities are compatible, look at how he is paid, receive a form ADV, (this shows who he is affiliated with, his fee schedule, etc. ) He should be able to give you the name of a few clients you can talk to see if they were satisfied with his work.It is better to use an advisor that charges a flat fee, not hourly, because this way you know exactly what the cost is and what you get for your money. Most bank advisors and not fully trained.

They are either just a broker selling stock and mutual funds, or other bank products. They usually have to bring in someone else to do the financial planning. As a Certified Financial Planner, I have had my experiences with bank advisors.

My guess is your wanting to start a portfolio was too much work for him and the starting amount of money was probably not large enough. They usually want $100,000 minimum, some even set $250,000 as the minimum. Most bank advisors can’t make enough money on smaller amounts.

Here is what you should expect from a financial advisor.At your first meeting, he should talk about you first and what you want to accomplish. If you are married, he should ask that both of you be present for the next meeting,(if you both are not there for the first. ) Financial Planning affects the couple, not just the individual.It is too difficult for one person to go back and explain financial planning to the other spouse.

Then he should tell you about his practice, years in the business, number of clients and how he can help you. Look around at his office. A messy desk means he is not organized.

Does not mean he is not a good planner, but my experience shows these types to be slower getting the work done. He should communicate with you in your communication style. People have a dominant way of understanding information.

Some are visual, they like to see things. He should use words like how do you see yourself now? What have you seen in the financial market you like?

Some are auditory. He should use words, like what have you heard about financial planning? Some are touch, feel.

He should use words like, how do you feel about where you are now? You may not even be aware of your receptive style, but just analyze the words you use. Look, see, hear, feel.

This is very important, especially with couples. One may be visual while the other is auditory. He needs to understand how you both communicate in order to get the information across.

At no time should he mention long term goal setting. Long term goal setting is a nice term, but it does not work anymore. There are to many variables in setting long term goals.

Stock market fluctuations, interest rate changes, unpredictable inflation, mortality (how long you will live,) planned obsolescence, technological change, (25 years ago could you have predicted cell phones, laptops, internet connections, cable television, and the expense associated with them. ) How long will you live? How much money do you need in the future?

There is no way for you to know. He instead should be talking about trying to accumulate as much money as possible. This way you don't have to become frustrated when you have a problem reaching your goal.

He should talk to you about being your macro manager. You should already have some micro managers. Banker, lawyer, accountant, insurance professional, casualty agent, stockbroker, etc. These people specialize in a particular area, but very rarely ever speak to each other.

This can create a problem if, for example, your accountant has one opinion and your lawyer another. Then you have trouble deciding who is right and who is wrong. If you both decide to do a financial plan, he should talk about a living plan, (one that can be adjusted easily.

For example, you are laid off for a few months and can't put money away.) Printed financial plans are static, a snapshot in time. For example, let's say you completed your plan on 12/2007. During 2008 the market started its nose dive.

Because of this event, all the numbers in your plan are wrong and need to be redone. With a living plan, just a new estimated market performance number needs to be inserted and everything automatically updates with having to print the plan all over again. (This is where accumulating as much money as possible works better than goal setting.

The change in market performance would have ruined your goal and caused you to have to start all over again. ) He should charge just one fee for the plan. Stay away from planner that charge large fees.

For example $5,000 is way too much for a plan for the average client. If you have a large estate, with lots of rental properties, multiple trust requirements, etc. Then a $5,000 fee would be reasonable. Any time during the year, if you need him for anything, he should not charge you again unless, for example you win the lottery or inherit a large sum of money, then the plan needs to be changed.

And he should charge a small retainer ($100 -$200) a year to renew the affiliation. He should not try to sell you any products. He may offer you the option to get the products from him or one of you micro managers, your decision.

If you do decide to get a product from him, he should show you how much he makes on the product and if you are comfortable with that. He should not use any mountain charts, (bar graphs that look like mountains to show project performance of certain stocks or mutual funds. These charts are worthless.

They do not take into account taxes, inflation, administrative charges or fees. They are pretty pictures,but prove nothing. He should not use any historical performance statistics to project future performance of any savings or investment vehicle.

Past history is no guarantee of future performance. He should understand the flow of money. He should use cost recovery strategies.

Seek more accessibility to money. Use tax recapture strategies. Improve protection management.

Show you how to conserve and enjoy assets and have the flexibility to make changes. He should not tell you to put the maximum in a 401(k). Qualified retirement plans are good to have in your portfolio, but you should only be putting away 7% of annual income.

Too many people try to put the maximum into the plan, and then when they have a money emergency, the only place to turn is the retirement plan. It is very difficult trying to get money out of a qualified plan. He should know all the rules of these plans and how they fit in your situation.

Sometimes a good way to find a financial advisor is to attend one of those free dinners where the advisor talks about retirement, or investment strategies. You are under no obligation here, but it gives you a chance to see how he interacts with his audience, how many show up, does he try to sell anything, is he pressing hard for appointments. This a way to see an advisor in action and decide if you he might be compatible.

It needs to be someone you are comfortable with now and would continue to feel comfortable with into the future.

They They probably got a look at your numbers and saw that they could not pump you for much. You see tese folks have a variety of things they can put you in. Some are low-risk, low return.

Some are higher-risk, possibly higher return. Some are front-loaded, where the advisor gets a lump sum just for signing you up. These tend to be the riskier and lower return kinds of instruments.

Guess which ones they push real hard? Maybe they saw you had not much to invest or seemed kinda smart. In either case they probably computer the probable rate of reutn from you and decided it was not worthwhile to invest much time in you.

The only person who is going to really look out for your best interests is *you*. Spend a little time researching where you can put you money. The choices are not that wide.

First invest in yourself-- health and education. You can't go wrong with those. Then have enough insurance for your dependents to live on for a year or three.

Then put as much as you can in a 401k or similar plan. That is just free money with no real downside. Then keep four months income in easily liquiditable assets, like a bank certificate of deposit.

For the rest, invest it in something simple with low to medium risk. That's about all a financial advisor can tell you.

What you can expect is that he will suggest, propose, and promote programs that make him money. And if you profit also, great. My in-laws had Smith-Barney and they sat on a stock market invested portfolio while it lost $200,000-$300,000 of value, with the real estate market in this area increasing.

If they'd cared, they'd have reinvested that in a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) instead of losing my in-law's money. Obviously, "your" banker is not he way to go. I favor mutual funds exactly because the ones running it make their income off of its profitability, giving them the proper motivation to look to investments and monitor them.

Unfortunately, I can only tell you what to avoid, not what to do instead. But I will go with Lex Luther's advice in Superman Returns: humans will always need land and food.

Yes. A lot of the people whom banks refer to as "financial advisors" are not. They are simply bank employees with a little more experience in financial matters.

Get yourself a financial advisor who does only that - out of a private office.

2 Look for a "fee only" financial advisor; one who works for you, not the investment companies.

Look for a "fee only" financial advisor; one who works for you, not the investment companies.

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Is there an advantage to doing your financial planning at a bank like harris or is it better to go with edward jones or.

I am thinking of securing the services of a fee-only financial planner. What should I expect to pay?

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