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When to Fire your Financial Advisor / Adviser

When to Fire your Financial Advisor / Adviser

Believe it or not, despite the recent volatility and drop very few planners at my office have been fired by clients!  I will go into the reason a little later (or at least my humble theory).  While revewing the Personal Finance section at WSJ Online – I came across a great article written by Brett Arends titled, “How to Know When to Fire Your Financial Adviser.”  I generally like Mr. Arends’ writing – he provides common sense personal finance information…which is probably why he writes for the wall street journal!  I just did a quick search on my site and found two posts based on his articles.

Prior to providing a great list, Mr. Arends indicates that performance alone should not be your sole reason to boot your financial advisor stating,

It’s not simply that they’ve lost money. Everybody lost money last year, even Warren Buffett.

Mr. Arends’ Top Ten Reasons to Fire your Financial Advisor

  1. He didn’t just lose money, he lost money stupidly.
  2. He won’t return your phone calls.
  3. He’s Rude
  4. He hides behind jargon
  5. He has blind faith in an automatic “system” for investing
  6. He wouldn’t change course last year
  7. He passes the buck
  8. He had your money in an inappropriate portfolio for your age and position
  9. He whines that “this has never happened before.”
  10. He tries to bully you

I think the reason the planners at my office haven’t been fired by clients are they don’t violate the core belief that the planner is a “hired professional.”  Lets break down the quoted statement – hired: you work for someone else, i.e. the person whose money it is…never forget it! Professional: ACT LIKE IT!  Most planners/advisors have finance degrees, but even if they don’t they should be held accountable for their failures.  As a lawyer (by education at least) it has been hammered into me that I actually can be sanctioned for not calling a client back.

Without ANY training we can cross out a few items on the list that if you have interest in being a drive to be successful in ANY business you should follow.

  1. He didn’t just lose money, he lost money stupidly.
  2. He won’t return your phone calls.
  3. He’s Rude
  4. He hides behind jargon
  5. He has blind faith in an automatic “system” for investing
  6. He wouldn’t change course last year
  7. He passes the buck
  8. He had your money in an inappropriate portfolio for your age and position
  9. He whines that “this has never happened before.”
  10. He tries to bully you

6 out of a  list of 10 have nothing to do with investing, but rather being just a good business person!  Take that to heart regardless of your chosen profession.

Can you come up with any other reasons you would fire a financial advisor?

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2 COMMENTS

  1. Before I posted this article, I had called my CPA 3 times before getting a call back yesterday…guess who isn't getting another client next year.

    Look at you J! commenting on my blog and the wife's you are all over the place!

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