Good Idea Gone Wrong

The headline read “95 Percent of Financial Advisers Deserve to Lose Their Jobs”[i] but the author then apologizes and says his headline is way off, “The correct number should read 99 percent of advisers deserve to lose their jobs!!”[ii]

Recently we took my wife’s Rolex to the jeweler to have the crystal replaced after it fell off somehow, unbeknownst to her.  This called for a cleaning as well because of the dust and dirt that got into the workings of the watch itself.  The repairs were made, and she was happy to have her watch back after a couple weeks.  The problem is the watch now won’t keep time.  It can lose 2, 3 or even 12 hours in a 24-hour period of time.  And that is simply NOT acceptable, even for a Rolex.

This jeweler, unless he can explain himself thoroughly as to why there is such a discrepancy between what he charged us to repair the watch and the performance of my wife’s watch now as compared to before he worked it over, needs to lose his job.

The same is true of most financial advisers.  They sell too many high-priced products, provide very poor money management services and then charge unnecessary fees. They deserve to lose their jobs.

Simply because you have money to save and invest, doesn’t mean you need to be ripped off or charged unnecessarily.

It’s past time for the public to be made aware of these facts.

Fortunately, more and more information is becoming available for those who want to be more involved in the  management of their own money.  Still, many products and services are sold yet today that will absolutely put you in a worse financial picture than if you hadn’t purchased them at all.  Ironically, some of the worst of these products and services seem to be sold to friends and family members of the financial advisers.  Here’s how to protect yourself from getting taken advantage of.

1. Ask and make sure that you understand what the product and service(s) will accomplish for you guaranteed, NOT what the projected and speculated results might be.
2. Ask to see what products and services the financial adviser has in their own portfolio, if they don’t own it, why are they selling it?
3. Ask what costs, fees and penalties are associated with the product and service(s) you are thinking of purchasing. Get a real dollar amount from them not some legalese that protects them and the company against your misunderstanding of what those fees and penalties really will cost you.
4. Ask what is guaranteed about the product or service.
5. Ask what the benefits to you are compared to what it would look like if you did nothing.
6. Ask if you can talk to others who have purchased the same products and services.
7. Ask yourself if you are comfortable and can afford to purchase this product or service.

Asking these questions will automatically cause 99% of financial advisers, and even more, to lose their job because you will find that you can be a better money manager of your own financial resources than anybody else possibly can be.  You may need a mentor to come along and assist you as you get started. But that’s no surprise. In fact, it’s common to have a mentor in many areas of life where you are learning a new task, skill or sport. Learning how to manage your own money will better serve you than taking a “good idea” from a financial adviser and paying the cost of their good idea gone wrong.

[i] Newsmax.com Newsmaxfinance March 29, 2017

[ii] ibid