What You Should Expect From Your Advisor
by Saxon Birdsong, MBA /
January 2009 / Financial & Estate Planning
Disappointment occurs when you
expect one thing and get something
else. Disappointment in the service we
receive from businesses occurs all too
frequently these days. So, what should
you expect from your financial advisor?
Here are the basics:
- Your advisor should be available to respond promptly to your
inquiries-usually right away, but certainly within a couple of
hours. Occasionally, providing high-quality answers to your
questions may take some research and additional time, but
you should be given a specific time by which you will have
answers.
- You should receive simple, direct, and understandable answers
to your questions. Sometimes, it's challenging for BWFA's
advisors to reduce complex information to simple terms that
promote good understanding, but that's our job.
- You should have confidence in the advice you are given. There
are many reasons why you might not have confidence in what
you're told: you don't feel like the advisor understands your
concern; the answers don't make sense to you; you feel like
there may be a better solution to your situation, and so on.
But in the end, you need to be confident that the advice is
correct and appropriate for your circumstances.
- You should have the "right" amount of communication from
your advisor. The right amount of communication differs for
each individual. Some clients want to hear from us often,
while others want virtually no contact. Some clients like
advisors to proactively call them or send e-mail, while others
prefer to call the advisor when they have a question. Every
firm and every advisor struggles with trying to find that sweet
spot between too little and too much contact. This is very
difficult to achieve. As a simple rule, you should hear from
your advisor at least quarterly (and perhaps more often in
difficult times).
Beyond the Basics
Beyond the basics, your relationship with your advisor is harder
to quantify. It's more subtle than getting a response to your
questions and getting regular e-mail updates. Yet, these other
aspects are the source of a genuine, long-term working
relationship that will separate an average experience from a
superior experience.
- Look for courage and humility in your advisor, not arrogance
and fear. We sometimes have to look closely to distinguish
between these characteristics. It is impossible to invest the
hard-earned life savings of clients carefully and wisely in the
face of extreme uncertainty without a lot of courage...and a
healthy dose of humility. Arrogance and a lack of humility
might lead an advisor to invest without the proper amount of
care and thought. Fear, exhibited by statements like, "I'm
afraid of this market right now," is a veiled admission of
inexperience that leads to overreaction to events and mistakes.
Is your advisor courageous and humble?
- Expect your advisor to help you achieve your goals, not those
that he or she chooses for you. Advisors are generally expert
at evaluating money matters, and they can usually lead clients
to the best financial decision. However, because they are
experts about money, they have a tendency (and clients have a
tendency to let them) substitute their goals for yours. Does
your advisor regularly ask you about your goals?
- Expect your advisor to seek help from other experts, when
needed. No one is expert at everything. Your advisor should
have a network of experts to whom he or she can turn for
detailed knowledge of specific situations that are outside of
his field, or which require highly technical knowledge. Your
advisor should be willing to get "second opinions" on
important matters from his network. Just as importantly, your
advisor should work cooperatively with other professionals
who you already work with and trust.
Clients are entitled to get the very best from their advisors.
Make sure you are satisfied on each of these points, and speak to
your advisor if you are not.
