FinanceDude
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2006
- Messages
- 12,483
In observing the philosophy of this and other forums, I have come to a conclusion. The main reason folks don't use advisors that I hear drumbeated over and over again is "he charges me a fee/load and can't even beat my Vanguard Funds"!!!
As an advisor, I was told day one that if I "sold on performance" I'd have a really short career. I don't recall EVER promising a client I can "beat the S&P 500 or any such nonsense. You can count the number of guys on ONE HAND that consistently do that: Bill Miller, Peter Lynch, and maybe Buffett.
The biggest question I ask myself everyday is:
Do I provide value to my client, and can I make a positive difference in their financial life?
If we base an advisor's value on PERFORMANCE, which is easy and requires little thought, then the fact is none of us are worth it. I try to motivate/push/encourage/provide reality checks to folks who need it. Granted, this board is a motivated FIRE type of crowd, but defintely the EXCEPTION NOT THE RULE.
Getting the number of folks who can retire comfortably from 5% to15% of the American public would be the larger goal. And this is the area where I think advisors can help. After all, if we leave it up to personal motivation, the US will be at 5% of all Americans FIRE'd in 50 years, 100 years, etc.
The biggest beef clients have is the cost they incur to pay an advisor. I am sure folks on here and elsewhere think salaried advisors are the only way to go. However, the reality is, a number of FAs get in the business to make money, and the $35-$40K a year they pay the Vanguard and Fidelity reps doesn't make many of us that motivated to work for them.
First, the financial magazines took shots at FA's because they charged too high a commission, accused all brokers or churning their books, too many loads, etc. Now that I and a lot of the industry have moved to fixed fees, the mags don't like that either.
I guess there is no answer. I'll be hopefully getting my CFP by this time next year, but I doubt that will result in a flood of folks dying to pay me an hourly rate.....................
As an advisor, I was told day one that if I "sold on performance" I'd have a really short career. I don't recall EVER promising a client I can "beat the S&P 500 or any such nonsense. You can count the number of guys on ONE HAND that consistently do that: Bill Miller, Peter Lynch, and maybe Buffett.
The biggest question I ask myself everyday is:
Do I provide value to my client, and can I make a positive difference in their financial life?
If we base an advisor's value on PERFORMANCE, which is easy and requires little thought, then the fact is none of us are worth it. I try to motivate/push/encourage/provide reality checks to folks who need it. Granted, this board is a motivated FIRE type of crowd, but defintely the EXCEPTION NOT THE RULE.
Getting the number of folks who can retire comfortably from 5% to15% of the American public would be the larger goal. And this is the area where I think advisors can help. After all, if we leave it up to personal motivation, the US will be at 5% of all Americans FIRE'd in 50 years, 100 years, etc.
The biggest beef clients have is the cost they incur to pay an advisor. I am sure folks on here and elsewhere think salaried advisors are the only way to go. However, the reality is, a number of FAs get in the business to make money, and the $35-$40K a year they pay the Vanguard and Fidelity reps doesn't make many of us that motivated to work for them.
First, the financial magazines took shots at FA's because they charged too high a commission, accused all brokers or churning their books, too many loads, etc. Now that I and a lot of the industry have moved to fixed fees, the mags don't like that either.
I guess there is no answer. I'll be hopefully getting my CFP by this time next year, but I doubt that will result in a flood of folks dying to pay me an hourly rate.....................