What Is Good Financial Advice?

So how do you go about getting good financial advice? Who do you talk to? How do you know they are looking after your best interest? What should you be looking for in the first place? Let’s look at some key points.

 

Financial Advice Is all About You

 

Financial advice should focus on you, the client, and not on financial products. OK, the products are there to help you alright, but they are not the reason for a financial review, YOU ARE.

A Financial Review should start with the Advisor/Consultant/”Expert” finding out all about you. If they are not asking you loads of questions they cannot understand you or your needs.

Key Point One: Make sure the initial discussion centres on you and not on fancy financial products.

 

Financial Advice Ain’t Rocket Science

 

You should be able to understand financial advice. Financial products are not supposed to confuse you, they are meant to help. If you find your self lost in a sea of jargon you need to go somewhere else.

A particular nuisance is the use of acronines (abbreviations) which sometimes people are afraid to ask about. Plain English is very important if you don’t want to drown in waffle.

Key Point Two: Insist on simple explanations and if they are not forthcoming, exit stage left!

 

Solutions are the name of the game.

 

Good financial advice should give you solutions to your issues and problems. If you need to invest without risk, this needs to  be addressed for you. If your top priority is to buy a new home, this should be central to discussions. Sometimes advice strays off on path to one you are not even going on.

If the financial advisor knows all about you (key point one) he/she should be helping you with the things that matter most to you.

Key Point Three: Make sure your most important issues are addressed first.

 

Financial Advice Is Not a One Day Event

 

Our lives change and so do our financial needs. Financial advice needs to cater for this. Products need to be adaptable. Advice itself needs to adapt.

Most successful financial advisors will have clients for years or even decades. This also means that you need to be comfortable dealing with an advisor for the long term.

Key Point Four: Look for an advisor who has (or at least aspires to having) long term client relationships.

 

Summary

 

A good financial advisor will get to know you, will care about achieving good outcomes for you and will become, over time, a trusted advisor. Make sure you pick one that you feel comfortable with, someone who you feel you could deal with over the long term.

Research has shown that clients with financial advisors achieve better out outcomes than those who don’t, see our article in link below.

https://osullivanfinancial.ie/should-i-talk-to-a-financial-advisor/

If you don’t have a Financial Advisor, or would like more information about services they offer visit: https://brokersireland.ie/

OR please feel free to contact donal@sullivanfinacial.ie