Financial Advisors, Wealth Coaches, etc what aren't they FI ?

[Hudson]

I have been reading upon financial advisors, wealth coaches etc and it suddenly struck me…..how many of these people are FI ?How many are working for th dove of what they do?

I get the impression a lot aren't FI. This is itself would make me uneasy about approaching these people.

What expericenes have you had with wealth coaches? financial planners, advisors ?

[clarkfan1979]

I think the trick is to find a financial advisor that is a good fit for you. My employer 401K is with TIAA-CREF. I have found the advisors to be knowledgeable and supportive of my financial goals. They do not claim to have any hot stock tips. They advise you to put your money in different areas (buckets) based on your goals.

[scottish]

I had a financial adviser when I first got out of school.   He was a jerk and convinced me to buy high MER mutual funds when I didn't know any better.

My learning from this is that your financial adviser is not your friend.   YMMV.

[2ndTimer]

My CPA just retired early, damn it.  He was wonderful and I miss him.  I should have known it was going to happen when I saw his 25 yr. old Chevy. 

[citycat]

I had a financial adviser when I first got out of school.   He was a jerk and convinced me to buy high MER mutual funds when I didn't know any better.

I had a similar experience.  I worked with a financial advisor out of school when I knew very little about finances.  She set me up with a 5% front loaded mutual fund and high level life and disability insurance (even though I have no dependents).  Tried to talk me into a whole life insurance policy but I watched enough Suze Orman to turn that down.  Recently, I pulled out the investment and retirement predictions she ran for me and my husband, which said we'd need something crazy like $8 million for retirement.  Ha!

My employer 401K is with TIAA-CREF. I have found the advisors to be knowledgeable and supportive of my financial goals. 

I recently worked with a free TIAA-CREF advisor through my new 403(b) and also had a good experience.  I ran my FIRE plan by him (to be sure I wasn't crazy) and, once he got over the surprise, he was supportive and confirmed the validity of the plan. 

I have friends who recommend their advisor but I am unwilling to give someone 1% - 1.5% of my investments.  For my purposes, the info from MMM, forums and library books is adequate.

[briandougherty]

You need a financial adviser who is competent and helps you reach your goals, not one who shares your savings rate.

It's also pretty difficult to know when someone is FI. I doubt anyone thinks I'm FI, but I am more or less.

[Calvawt]

I agree about competence being more important than sharing a savings rate.  Well said briandougherty, well said.  I may quote you on that sometime (or did I just do that?).

Anyway, I am in finance and plan to still teach classes about budgeting, credit scoring, and retirement even after I retire early.  Its not my job, I just do it as an employee benefit for our company, but I think there may be some financial advisors out there that would do the same.  You would probably need to be their neighbor to get it for free though...

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

Just get a couple of the standard books people recommend from the library and do it yourself and save all of those fees.

[AgileTurtle]

One of my good friends is a Financial Advisory and is FI or very close to at mid 30s. He likes the job and only takes on clients he wants. I think he rather do advising than most other things.

I think most arrnt because they live the lifestlye of someone in Finance. My friend complains how ridiculous most the guys in his field are.

[Dee18]

When I told my TIAA Cref advisor a general outline of my finances, he said he was on track to a very early retirement himself.  I think people in his position are careful to not make their 5 and 10% a year investors feel bad.

[Señora Savings]

When I told my TIAA Cref advisor a general outline of my finances, he said he was on track to a very early retirement himself.  I think people in his position are careful to not make their 5 and 10% a year investors feel bad.

I agree with this.  When I was filling out paperwork our money person (they have like 5 job titles) told me "this is the box where you right the percent of income you want to put in" then awkwardly added "maybe 6%, so that it will be 10% with the match".  She also said that it's national retirement savings week and every one should be sure to put in at least 10%.  She was unphased and pleased when I put in much more than that.  I would not be surprised if she was saving heavily.

I think there are basically two boats; people who went into financial advice because they're interested in money and want to help people use their money well and people who went into it because they're interested in money and want lots of lots of it.

[rubybeth]

We had a couple meetings with a 'financial advisor' but I had kind of a bad feeling about the company she worked for, since they sold life insurance, annuities, etc. We did our own research and stopped meeting with her (meetings with her didn't make sense geographically, anyway), and then DH's aunt recommended Dave Ramsey's book. I discovered I have a pretty good aptitude for doing my own research, so similar to MMM himself, I just started reading books and trustworthy websites.

My DH is in grad school to become a marriage and family therapist, and we've talked about me getting some sort of credential so we could offer some sort of co-therapy with couples who have financial issues.

[vern]

A few years back my brother was dating a financial advisor. 

I said..."That's great, is she giving you some good money advice?"

My brother deadpanned, "What the hell is she going to teach me, she's forty grand in debt!"

[jprince7827]

A few years back my brother was dating a financial advisor. 

I said..."That's great, is she giving you some good money advice?"

My brother deadpanned, "What the hell is she going to teach me, she's forty grand in debt!"

Bahahaha, made my day!

[Cpa Cat]

I have a financial advisor. Recently he got a divorce after only two years of marriage and he was complaining to us about his divorce settlement. He said that he rolled over hard in the negotiation (to be a nice guy) because he had hoped they would reconcile, but it didn't work out that way. Of course we were shocked and demanded to know how he, a financial advisor, did not have a prenup.

His actual words were to sadly say, "I just never thought she'd be the kind of woman who'd take me to the cleaners..."

The size of his settlement suggested that he may have been FI prior to his divorce, at least. ;)

I'm a CPA, myself, and it's a pretty mixed bag among my coworkers. Some are clearly on track with their finances - while others count the minutes until their paycheck comes in. I don't think you can tell who is who just by looking at us though!

[NorCal]

I had a financial adviser once.  The most important thing I learned from them is to never trust commission based sales-people (which most advisers are).  The general impression I get is that roughly 30% of advisers manage their finances extraordinarily well.  The other 70% manage their finances as horribly as most other sales-people.

Also, for the military folks out there, stay away from First Command Bank.  They're one of the shadiest outfits around.

In the end, it was an expensive lesson, but it was also the motivation I needed to teach myself finance.  Heck, I ended up with an MBA in finance after that, so I guess it was eventually worth it.

I will eventually find a fee-based adviser when it's time to structure a trust, deal with an inheritance, or do anything related to estate planning.

[Heckler]

Our FA recently tried to sell me on her manulife one all in one chequing account, where you can borrow as much as you want as easily as you want.  She then told me how it's been great managing her huge debt load.


I dumped her and learned how to buy Vanguard. 

[ltt]

You need a financial adviser who is competent and helps you reach your goals, not one who shares your savings rate.

It's also pretty difficult to know when someone is FI. I doubt anyone thinks I'm FI, but I am more or less.

Best comment ever regarding financial advisors.

[ltt]

A few years back my brother was dating a financial advisor. 

I said..."That's great, is she giving you some good money advice?"

My brother deadpanned, "What the hell is she going to teach me, she's forty grand in debt!"

2nd Best comment regarding financial advisors.....hahahahaha!!!

[randommadness]

Those jobs are just sales jobs, doesn't mean they are actually into the FI life.

I grew up wanting to be a financial advisor, help people budget, plan for retirement, etc., then saw down the road that it was much more just a sales job and ditched that idea. Now just offer friendly recommendations and berate my friends until they increase their 401k contributions.

[MJB MPLS]

Watch the Frontline episode on Retirement, from 2013. You'll learn that so-called financial advisors are in reality, salespeople. There are maybe less than 15% whom are truly fiduciaries. Be your own FA or better yet, apply what MMM posts. It's the best financial advice you'll get. Oh and it's FREE.

[slugline]

To me the problem obviously comes from compensation models that depend on sales commissions or taking a percentage of assets under management. There appears to be little incentive to act in the client's best interest.

 This might be a niche that might be perfectly filled by financially-independent volunteers, but would they want to do it?