The hiring of a qualified financial advisor is a great first step in creating a sound road map to an independent retirement. Needless to say deciding which financial advisor is the right one for you is a choice worthy of much thought, time, and research. Once that decision has been made many investors tend to relax and maintain only a minimal, passive involvement in their investments, assets, and retirement planning…
...It’s Your Future!
Stay actively involved in the day to day management of your investments! Stay in regular contact with your financial advisor! Your financial planner should consider part of his/her obligation to you to be to serve as an educator in addition to helping you handle your financial affairs. Over a period of time, as world events, changes in the market, and new financial products or theories emerge you will have an opportunity to become quite knowledgeable regarding financial planning. Take advantage of these opportunities, and use your financial advisor as a source of information and as a sounding board for any ideas or questions you have.
If your financial advisor takes exception to these types of calls, or is reluctant to explain the rationale behind his/her recommendations, or is giving you answers you don't have confidence in it may be time to consider switching to another advisor.
Other signs a change in advisors may be in order would be...
Inaccessibility!
Doesn't return calls.
Doesn't schedule regular updates or reviews of your account.
Constantly wants you to purchase expensive proprietary products
Doesn’t seem focused on your goals.
Appears to be too busy to give you the level of service you require.
Stay actively involved in learning more about all factors that relate to financial planning in general, and your investments in particular. Make sure you and your advisor have a clear understanding of each other’s goals, strategies, decisions, and the reasoning behind these items.
To the extent that it is inadvisable to be too relaxed about your investments and your advisor, it is equally true that you should not feel you need to worry about the path you're on either. You should have sufficient confidence in your financial plan to be free of worries, fretting, or losing sleep.
It's your money, and your future ...IT"S YOUR BUSINESS!
JPT090611-1383
