Not All Financial Planners Are Fair And Equal.

Do all financial planners have your best interest at heart?  I use to believe this at one time.  I thought they all did the same thing.  It didn’t matter which one you went to they all did the same thing.  Invest your money, set up some insurance policies.

Sound pretty simple right?

From being in financial service for the last 5 years I learned that they all aren’t the same and some don’t have your best interest at heart.  So in this post I would like to point out a few things to watch out for when hiring a financial planner.

What a financial planner is suppose to do.

A financial planners position is to listen to and review your goals and financial concerns for you.  He should take notes of your financial situation and in most case put a financial plan together for you.  His decisions should be based off of your input so he can make the right recommendation for you.

Once he recommends the right product that is specifically suited for your needs he will implement it on your consent.  Now most would believe that this would be the end of there financial planner.  This should only be the beginning.

From this point on your financial planner should be scheduling an annual review for you.  The reason behind this is because no one persons situation ever stays the same.  At the very least they should set up an annual review and if you prefer have them give you a call every 3 to 6 months to make sure things stay in order.

What To Watch Out For.

• Watch out for those that have the one solution that fixes all.  This is hardly ever the case.  For example maybe you’ve heard the term “BUY TERM AND INVEST THE DIFFERENCE.”  The only thing they can do is set up a term policy and invest your money in a mutual fund.  It don’t matter who it is it’s the same thing over and over again.  You may also see someone promote just one product all the time and that’s it.  One product will not solve everyone’s problems.
• Watch out for the fast talkers and the hard sellers.  These people have no interest in listening to you.  In fact they see a sucker coming a mile away.  They aren’t interested in educating you or helping.  They will typically just try to talk you into a certain product without letting you get a word in.  They will give you every reason to buy the product and no time to think it over.  Then once you do buy you’ll usually never see them again.
• Watch out for financial planners who make big promises.  Financial planner should never make promises bigger than they can keep.  In fact if it sounds to good to be true it probably is.  If they make any guarantees telling you’ll get 12% on your account or you’ll get that life insurance policy for sure don’t count on it.  Also if they tell you they’ll give you a gift for buying an investment or policy don’t count on it.  Finally, if they tell you that they will pay for referrals don’t count on it.  The reason I say don’t count on it because they are all illegal to do.
• Watch out for financial planners with limited licenses.   Planners without proper licenses won’t be able to give you what you may really need.  Instead you’ll get what ever they can do with there current licenses. 
• Watch out for financial planners who don’t take care of you.  These are usually harder to spot.  They may help you out but seem to enter the witness protection program once you sign on the dotted line never to be seen or heard from again. 

Does Your Financial Planner Have Your Best Interest?

Has your financial planner done some of the things I’ve pointed out above?  Have they done other things to you that I didn’t mention?  Feel free to leave me a comment about it.  I’m sure there are others so I will probably do another article on some of your comments listed.

Now that I’ve gone through all the things you should watch for check out Friday’s post were I will be discussing which financial planner you should hire and why.