5 Things You Do Not Know About Financial Advisors
Eric Hahn
Investors should hold their financial advisors in
high esteem, the same way people hold their doctors in high esteem. One is
responsible for financial well-being, the other for physical well-being.
However, financial advisors are not held in high
esteem. In fact, the people who depend on them for competent, ethical advice
hold them in extraordinarily low esteem. They rank near the bottom of the scale
along with insurance agents and car salesmen.
Guess what? Financial advisors and Wall Street
executives could care less what you think of them and their firms. They are
laughing all the way to the bank.
One: Salesmen
One of the primary reasons why investors hold
advisors in such low esteem is many of them are not really advisors. 75% are
salesmen who masquerade as advisors to reduce sales resistance and sell more
investment products. This deception undermines the industry’s reputation for
advice that investors can trust.
Two: Job Titles
Job titles mean absolutely nothing in the financial
services industry. Anyone can claim to be a Financial Planner Northbrook Il or
financial advisor, whether they have the requisite knowledge or not. There are
no regulations that prevent this deceptive sales practice. Wall Street
representatives pick the titles that help them sell more investment and
insurance products.
Three: Ethical Standards
You may believe advisors are supposed to do what is
best for you. This is also not true. 75% of advisors are held to a low ethical
standard called “suitability.” They are supposed to make suitable
recommendations based on their knowledge of you and your situation. Suitability
is a deliberately vague standard that varies by investor and is very difficult
to enforce.
Four: Mandatory Disclosure
You may believe advisors are supposed to provide all
of the facts (credentials, ethics, expenses) you need to make the right
decisions. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is up to you to ask the
right questions and know good answers (benefit you) from bad ones (create
hidden risks). The information advisors do provide you is verbal (sales
pitches, undocumented sales claims) so you have no written record of what they
said. It is your word against the advisors if there is a future dispute.
Five: Brand Names
You may believe you are safer if you select a
financial advisor who is licensed or employed by a brand name firm. However,
this is a myth that is perpetuated by the brand names. The fact of the matter
is, Wall Street firms have paid billions of dollars of fines for cheating
investors. Why cheat investors? Brand name executives make millions when they
put their firms’ interests ahead of yours.
At NS Capital, we are fiduciary financial advisors,
which means we are legally obligated to put your interests first. We have
fiduciary financial advisors at all three offices Stamford, CT, Northbook, IL;
and Greenville, SC.
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