Expert Q&A

So much great advise, So many advisors who are willing to help at no cost to the client!

It always depends on the level of education or knowledge that someone has on the markets and investments. Some people are more of the “do it yourselfevers” and want to be more hands on, while others dont know where to begin and need the hand holding of a trained financial professional. Regardless of your knowledge though, it is good to have an unbiased point of view that can take the emotions out of investing. When working with an advisor, let them know your desired interaction and how involved you want to be with your plan and investments.

Some people should manage their own portfolios. If you enjoy and devote the time and energy and are satisfied with the results, by all means, manage your own portfolio.

Consider this. A number of studies have shown that the large majority of professional money managers (mutual funds, separately managed accounts) do worse than their benchmark over the longer-term.

Dalbar does an annual survey looking at individual mutual fund investors, all with and without a financial advisor. For the 20 year time period from 1988-2007 the average investor in equity mutual funds would have seen an initial investment of $100,000 grow to $240,000. However, had that investor just achieved market returns, the $100,000 would have grown to $932,000.

It is not just a question of managing your own money or turning it over to someone to manage. It is also a question of finding the right financial advisor.

You should use a financial advisor if you don’t have the time, willingness or capability of managing your own money.

For some people, they’d rather spend time with their family or pursuing other passions than being responsible for managing their family’s financial well-being, but for others I’ve met, they both enjoy and feel capable that they can manage things themselves.

It’s not as simple as the idea that an advisor can do things better than you can . . . it really depends on whether there are other things you’d rather do with your time.

A financial advisor can provide insight and details about various types of financial topics and investments that you may not be aware of. The guidance that a qualified financial advisor can provide will save you time and possibly money by helping you find answers to your important and critical financial concerns.

An advisor can provide a sounding board for our financial decisions that need to be contemplated. Advisor’s that are unbiased can pay for themselves over and over by the advice they provide. This can come in the form of lower internal expenses, tax efficient investment, rebalancing investments with a discipline approach, not paying to much to refinance a house, making sure wealth transfer plans are well thought out and the documents are in order, etc.

Financial Advisors have the education, time and experience it takes to manage assets on a
full time basis. After all, that is what we do for a living and the last thing most folks do when
they get home from their job is manage money. Rather they want to enjoy their family or do
the things they enjoy when not working.

Managing your portfolio is a full-time job and requires time. Let a professional handle it.