Selecting A Financial Professional to Work With

When I have a problem that I can’t fix myself, and my friends can’t help me out, I turn to a professional for insight and help.  I like to work with people who have been referred to me – if a friend or a family member used the professional’s services and had a good experience, chances are I’ll have a good experience.  Think about it, if you need a mechanic, do you ask your friends and family for a recommendation, or do you just randomly pick someone from the yellow pages?  When you need to see a doctor, do you just randomly show up to a doctor’s office, or do you ask your family who they use?  If you needed some financial advice, who would you turn to?  Recommendations help you sort through all the options, hopefully helping you to find someone that you can work with and helps you solve your problems.

Unfortunately this doesn’t always work out.  A friend of mine was telling me how he is frustrated with his current financial professional, which was a referral from a family member.  He has been using this professional for years, but after a bad experience last year, and a somewhat complicated situation this year, he doesn’t have faith in the professional’s abilities – in fact, he never liked this professional, but always used her services because that’s what his family recommended.

There are two good lessons from this story

1. Just because someone is recommended to you by someone you know doesn’t mean that you have to use that person – you need to work with people you trust and like; do your due diligence and make sure you can work with this person.  If you’re unsure, do a trial run, or go find someone else, there is always someone else.
2. You are not tied to anyone – if you are currently using a mechanic you don’t trust, a doctor who won’t listen, a hairstylist that doesn’t know what style is, or a financial professional who does not meet your needs, then you need to switch to someone else!  Ask your friends and family for a recommendation, ask the company you are working with to recommend someone else, do some research online, but make sure you remember lesson 1, do your homework before you work with the person.

Professionals can be a great tool to help you manage your finances, but you have to work with people you like and trust.  Take control of your financial future and find someone that works for you.

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2 Responses to “Selecting A Financial Professional to Work With”

1. zach says:

   March 14, 2009 at 9:22 pm

   i’ve got a terrible financial advisor right now. i paid 500 dollars for him to help me this year in november and can’t wait to be out of it. he’s been telling me to aggressively save for retirement by putting money into a brokerage account but he gets a 5% cut every time i contribute, and i’ve got credit card debt that i want to take care of. i told him this multiple times, but he didn’t listen. regrettably, i backed down, because i’m someone who tries to avoid conflict at all costs. but i can definitely relate to being involved with an advisor who isn’t doing you any favors.

   the weird thing is i have no idea how to “break up” with him. i’m kind of in a 1 year contract and have two more meetings scheduled with him (april & august). i obviously won’t renew but i’m kind of doing my own thing in the meantime (putting money in an emergency fund and aggressively paying down debt).

   Reply
   • Adam Goodman says:

     March 15, 2009 at 4:19 pm

     Hi Zach,

     Sorry to hear about the situation. Unfortunately your story is a good example of why it’s important to work with people you like, and people that listen to you.

     Reply