One last rant about FA's

[mystang52]

Man o man I am still kicking myself to have even met with that FA about Social Security, knowing it would be a sales pitch I didn't need or want. Good thing is that prior to the meeting I came to terms with my decision regarding filing for SS.
But I still feel like an idiot to have wasted any time with that guy. Based on my experience, as well as so many others' I have read about, I think a law should be passed that forbids the job title of "Financial Adviser."
Rather, require them to be called Financial Salesman. When one goes into a car dealership, one doesn't meet with a "Transportation Adviser," one meets with a ......salesman. You know, going in, the person will try to sell you a car at a price most advantageous to the dealership and salesman.
At least if the person was required to be called a Financial Salesman, the other person knows right off the bat the "Salesman's" true objective. And maybe just maybe some of the people who can least afford it and are less savvy have a slightly better chance of resisting the sales pitch.
I promise I won't make any more posts about this, but it was sticking in my craw. Thanks for letting me vent!

 

[travelover]

........Thanks for letting me vent!

De nada.

 

[samclem]

Somewhere on the "Financial Advisor Watering Hole" forum, the FA you met is griping about devil customers who come in despite already having made up their mind and pull them away from other prospective [-]marks[/-] customers.

Glad you survived unscathed.

 

[heeyy_joe]

I vigorously disagree. No way this is the last rant.

 

[Lucantes]

I vigorously disagree. No way this is the last rant.

+1

 

[rodi]

There are a few good ones that hold the hands of panicking clients when the market takes a dip... Advising them to stay the course. But they're kind of like unicorns.... We know of them, but they are almost mythical and rarely observed.

 

[scrinch]

A financial advisor? Did you get any on you? Have to scrape any of it off the sole of your shoe?

 

[papadad111]

Your approach sounds very passive- aggressive.

If you knew it was a sales pitch going in, why would you:

1. attend in the first place

2. give personal information for follow up contact

3. avoid answering the phone when they call, wasting both their and your time and

4. then complain about it here.

You knew what you were getting into ... you need to accept the outcome.

 

[frayne]

Can't you just feel the love ?

 

[papadad111]

Seeing as how the thread title is "rant"... Yep. I can almost just feel it a little bit.

 

[travelover]

You knew what you were getting into ... you need to accept the outcome.

You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in..........

 

[mystang52]

Your approach sounds very passive- aggressive.

If you knew it was a sales pitch going in, why would you:

1. attend in the first place

2. give personal information for follow up contact

3. avoid answering the phone when they call, wasting both their and your time and

4. then complain about it here.

You knew what you were getting into ... you need to accept the outcome.

I just deleted my original long reply to this. I'll just say that I try to keep things light here. 'nuf said on this.

 

[haha]

I promise I won't make any more posts about this, but it was sticking in my craw. Thanks for letting me vent!

I don't get the idea behind complaining about this. Did the FA send highwaymen to kidnap you and bring you into his office?

How can someone live in a marketing world and not realize that people are always marketing?

Too many people have spent their entire lives far from the sales transaction. To be adult implies that others who interact with you are after something, and it is rarely just a look at your smiling face.

Ha

 

[redduck]

Man o man I am still kicking myself to have even met with that FA about Social Security, knowing it would be a sales pitch I didn't need or want. Good thing is that prior to the meeting I came to terms with my decision regarding filing for SS.
...Thanks for letting me vent!

Sure, vent away. No problem.

But, I do wonder what motivated you to have a meeting with the FA given what you stated above: 1. You knew you were heading into a sales pitch that you didn't need or want; 2. You had already decided about your SS filing prior to the meeting. You must have been hoping for something--even if were just the validation of your SS plan.

 

[redduck]

...Glad you survived unscathed.

...Man o man I am still kicking myself...
...but it was sticking in my craw.

Perhaps not quite unscathed: maybe some bruises to various parts of the body and along with throat discomfort.

 

[Happyras]

Everyone of those FA's would like to get their fair share of your earned money. OK, I sucked up the same last week (sparing my recently acquired unlimited free time) where I asked my Fidelity guy to set me up with someone with an alternative investment strategy to compliment my 50/50 VG Wellesley/Wellington allocation. I did not intend to meet with a full service FA.

Its amazing how he presented two nicely bound documents demonstrating how we are taking TOO much risk and should come to his dark side. Of course his idea of allocation is to sell all of these funds and jump into higher risk Deeds of Trust and market timing ETF's, all for a large fee.

How can these guys live with themselves? Sector rotation, momentum market timing.....really?

 

[youbet]

How can these guys live with themselves?

A bit of a naive question, perhaps you meant it tougue in cheek. They live with themselves the same way a telemarketer, a preacher, a furniture salesman or anyone trying to be a catalyst in your decision making process does. We're all salesmen and we're all being sold to all the time.

Sector rotation, momentum market timing.....really?

I've done some of that, and with some success. Sorry I didn't follow the path you're trying to sell me.

 

[hesperus]

Fidelity appears to be big on sector rotation, as I've gotten that pitch too, from my private client advisor. Probably a common strategy throughout their organization.