In today’s complex world, most people who are building careers need professional help to organize their finances. The reason: Maneuvering the personal finance world is complex because there are myriad savings and investment options. Rather than risk making bad financial decisions, we can hire financial advisors who will fashion a financial strategy that meets the essential parameters of our lifestyles. The result: A strong personal balance sheet and peace of mind—an idyllic state that hardworking Americans deserve. Leading a stress-free life in a frenetic world moving at warp speed has ascended to a moral imperative.
Recent Events Highlight the Need
Events of the recent past have proven that millions of Americans have paid a hefty price for shoddy financial guidance. When you consider the cost to low-income families with no life insurance, middle-income families who unwisely chase that heavily touted hot stock, and multimillionaires swindled by that so-called friend at their country club, the cost to society spirals into the trillions. The upsetting fact is that these often-crippling costs are avoidable.
When hardworking Americans are taken to the cleaners by glib, fast-talking con artists who pretend to be financial professionals, they’re understandably enraged. Once trusting and open-minded, they’re suspicious and wary of all financial professionals. At this point, reason goes out the window. There is great truth to the expression “once bitten, twice shy.” Consensus thinking goes like this: If one financial advisor is a crook, they must all be crooks. It’s illogical, flawed reasoning, but understandable.
Learning from the Past
A headline-grabbing example is Bernie Madoff, now serving 150 years in a federal prison for defrauding investors of sixty-four billion dollars in 2009. His victims numbered in the thousands. Many were left stripped of their equity earmarked for retirement. Some of Madoff’s victims were able to recoup part of their losses, but most had no choice but to face down an inescapable reality. Rather than enjoying their retirement years, many had to downsize and go back to work—not to the well-paid professions they once excelled at, but to low-paying jobs such as stocking supermarket shelves or selling consumer electronics in big-box chains. Meanwhile, Madoff, a bona fide sociopath without regret, sits in a prison cell enjoying three square meals a day. While he has had some skirmishes with hostile prisoners, the unfathomable reality is that he is a celebrity prisoner and treated as such by fellow prisoners and guards alike.
Unfortunately, naïve clients pay a hefty price for their bad decisions and, often, their sheer laziness. If they had invested time in carefully vetting the charlatan investment advisor, they wouldn’t have joined the growing army of victims bilked of their savings.
Professional Guidance: A Necessity
Pro Athletes Need Superstar Coaches, Writers Need Brilliant Editors… College and pro athletes have coaches. Great coaches take promising athletes and turn them into extraordinary performers who can compete with the best. The same is true for writers. Practically everything we read, outside of self-published works, have editors perfecting the content. Why? Because even superstar writers like Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck had editors to challenge, push, and make their work better.
For important endeavors, having a leader, coach, guru, or whatever you want to call him or her, is vital in maximizing that activity. The average person, no matter how savvy, is not capable of acting completely as his own financial advisor without some kind of direction. Financial advice is not static and finite; in fact, it’s fluid, constantly changing with the times and erratic, unpredictable economies. Rules and regulations, governing taxes, estates, and investments, are frequently updated to reflect economic and political changes. Running parallel to these changes are changes in our lifestyles and careers. As we trek along life’s uncertain highway, we need financial advice that adapts to the changes taking place around us.
It’s the smart person in touch with and on top of a constantly changing world who realizes the need for expert advice from a trained and experienced financial advisor. As our situation changes, it’s often not one advisor who provides advice, but several, each one providing a service that’s right at certain moments in time. In short, Americans need and deserve financial advisors to help them maximize their finances, so they can fully enjoy the fruits of their hard work. To continue the metaphor above, pro golfer Tiger Woods is a good example of this. He outgrew his first coach (his father) and went on to hire professional coaches.
Dispassionate Third Party, Ideal for Smart Decisions
Imagine this scenario: How would we feel with no money worries? That means no money arguments with our spouses about buying that expensive sofa, or trying to explain to her or him that it wouldn’t be prudent to spend money to build a swimming pool. Or having to tell our kids that we can’t afford to pay for a private college because it’s too expensive, and that they have no choice but to apply for considerably less expensive state schools.
Or imagine bypassing soul-searching conversations with ourselves about why it’s fiscally imprudent to buy a new luxury car with all the bells and whistles—even though we want those sexy new wheels.
Every day, such arguments and discussions over money take place all over America. They’re part of our culture. But they and the angst that goes with them can be dramatically reduced to no longer dominate our lives. I’d be lying to you if I said it’s possible to eliminate all our money problems. But they can be significantly reduced by getting help and guidance from experienced financial advisors. Just knowing that they are there and can offer positive advice significantly reduces our anxiety over money issues.
Practically every hardworking American dreams about having all his financial problems lifted from his shoulders. What better evidence than Americans’ obsession with the lottery? Even though the chances of winning the lottery are miniscule, the compelling, adrenaline-charged fantasy that they could win, however remote, propels many to play.
Americans Spend Far More Than They Should
Americans in the forty-three states where lotteries are legal annually spend about eighty billion dollars on lotto games, according to the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries. That breaks down to more than 230 dollars for every man, woman, and child in those states—or three hundred dollars for each adult. That’s more than Americans in all fifty states spend on sports tickets, books, video games, movie tickets, and recorded music sales.
Practically speaking, however, it makes sense to do everything within our means to reduce our financial worries and get our financial act in order. Angst reduction alone is a wonderful benefit of having a professional we can call upon when stressed about money. Aside from providing expert advice, advisors can defuse our irrational, emotional involvement with money.
Human beings get overly involved in their decisions about money, making it very difficult to divorce ourselves from them. Many studies have found that investors fall in love with the stocks they buy. An irrational, emotional involvement with their purchases makes it difficult to sell them at the right time.
In 1987, when I was a rookie broker at Shearson Lehman Hutton in New York City during the famous stock market crash, I witnessed firsthand clients begging their brokers to sell their stocks without even knowing their individual prices. Sell orders were coming in so quickly that market technology could hardly keep up with them.
This was a textbook example of panic. Unable to see beyond the emotionally charged moment, investors threw reason and rational thinking to the wind and made a lot of bad decisions they later regretted. You can imagine how thousands of investors who panicked during that historic period must have felt a year later when the market hit new heights and kept on going.
How many times have we bought stocks near their highs and then sold low? Likely during every market bust. But then we complain about how lousy the market is. How many times have our stocks risen, yet we kept thinking they will continue to climb, and fail to take profits at the right moment? The stocks suddenly plummet, and we’re forced to wait a couple of years until they come back. An advisor could have prevented those irrational moves and given us the perspective we needed.
Financial advisors can be likened to shrinks, rabbis, priests, or pastors, because they take the stress and tension out of financial planning. We don’t have to endure angst about paying tuition for our offspring’s first year of college or obsess about the poor performance of our 401(k) plans. Instead of expending needless energy worrying about these issues, we can dump them in our advisors’ lap. They’re the objective voice of reason that can unemotionally and objectively evaluate problems, providing sound and practical solutions.
Wealth Management Can Be Learned on the Weekend, Right? Wrong. Can just anyone do our jobs? Of course not. Then how can we think we’re capable of doing a financial advisor’s job? I’m talking about professionals who spend eight-plus hours a day on the job and several years studying to be experts in their field.
I relish clients who take nothing for granted and question everything they read, don’t hesitate to question everything advisors do, and don’t blindly accept everything advisors recommend because they are experts. Putting aside the training, expertise, and experience, not even advisors are infallible. They’re human beings who make mistakes—infrequently, we hope. I love skeptical, knowledgeable clients, because they take a proactive approach and keep advisors razor sharp. If they disagree, or they don’t understand the recommendations, they call to ask for explanations. Top advisors welcome interactive relationships with their clients. Not only do they trigger confidence in the decisions, but they also keep the advisor super vigilant. The result is productive, open, relaxed client-advisor relationships.
I urge clients to read respected financial magazines like Money, Fortune, and Kiplinger’s. They publish timely articles on all aspects of personal financial management, ranging from investing in stocks and bonds to the intricacies of investing in covered call options.
Unquestionably, it’s well worth the effort. I strongly suggest that clients stay on top of the stock market and read as much as they can about personal finance issues. The more they read, the better they understand the issues affecting their financial lives. Knowledge prompts smart questions, because once clients understand and appreciate what advisors do, they realize they need the services provided. I can’t resist quoting the late New York City clothing entrepreneur Sy Syms’ advertising slogan: “An educated consumer is our best customer.”
From the client’s perspective, it’s reassuring to know that the advisor community is highly regulated. They are governed by state, federal, and self-regulated organizations, and are required to meet stringent requirements.
It’s also important to know that most advisors invest countless hours staying on top of their field. They routinely network with other financial advisors and attend conferences, seminars, and lectures so that they are up to date on innovations and other changes in their field. Being totally immersed in their field, sometimes up to twelve to fourteen hours a day, often six days a week, gives them the perspective and knowledge to offer their clients state-of-the-art advice.
Revelation: Most People Do Not Find Wealth Management Exciting When we think about the important role our finances play in our lives, it is fascinating that most people do not find wealth management interesting. We all understand the importance of making smart financial decisions, considering our lifestyles, spending, savings, investments, retirement, vacations, and college education, as well as the peace of mind that comes from astute financial planning; however, given our understanding of its import, it is fascinating from a human behavior perspective how disconnected we become when it comes to taking action.
It’s about bettering and improving our lives and eliminating continual anxiety over money. Smart wealth management, under the tutelage of an experienced financial advisor, is the vehicle leading to a worry-free lifestyle, and over time, increased wealth as a result of constructively tweaking spending habits and making smart investment decisions.
In light of such life-altering investments, the results of good wealth management does indeed fire our adrenaline, be it that dream home, car, or vacation. However, it is not hard to understand why many people think it’s a boring subject, because they’ve taken on the tedious project of managing their finances themselves without the help of financial advisors. Why the mere prospect of reading technical documents, such as 401(k) statements, can drive laypeople to drink. Poring over incomprehensible fine print is an agonizing process requiring the patience of Job.
It’s human nature to avoid what doesn’t interest us. But consider the price we pay by ignoring the critical issue of wealth management. I repeatedly urge consumers to see this issue in a new light. If we have financial advisors taking the tedium out of managing our finances, acting as intermediaries, simply explaining the technical jargon, translating the corporate- and government-speak, we can concentrate on enjoying the improvement in our personal and family balance sheets.
Understand that people can’t be masters of all trades. It’s impossible. That’s why we have myriad specialists we can avail ourselves of to make our lives better. Financial advisors are among them. They are part of our arsenal of specialists who have dedicated their careers to improving our lives—giving us peace of mind in the bargain. Doesn’t it feel great just to ponder the prospect of going to sleep without a financial worry in the world?
We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know Cash is tangible because we can touch it, and it can bring immediate gratification. But intangibles, by their very nature, are harder to appreciate. Financial advice is one of the hardest intangibles to appreciate. Hence, we don’t know we are missing something or have made a mistake. If lucky, we learn before we make mistakes. If unlucky, we learn too late. Having an advisor to guide us gives us the benefit of learning what we don’t know. They say “ignorance is bliss,” and sometimes that is indeed true. However, not knowing how to avoid financial calamity is not blissful. It’s like playing financial Russian roulette.
In retrospect, one unforgettable example is Bernie Madoff’s magnet-like attraction to investors, especially wealthy ones. This charismatic con man didn’t have to hard-sell potential clients. They willingly sought him out and couldn’t wait to turn their money over to him. At the height of his fame, he had a reputation for turning away investors who didn’t meet his wealth parameters.
Well-heeled investors thought it a badge of honor to have the now infamous Bernie Madoff manage their money. At the time, the dozens of potential clients Madoff turned away didn’t realize how lucky they were. Ironically, in light of all the lives he destroyed, the rejected clients have the last laugh.
Madoff was a scoundrel of Olympian proportions who broke all the rules. For example, he didn’t use an independent bank to hold his clients’ money, which is a common industry practice. (More on the SEC’s failure to catch Madoff later.)
The uber-wealthy are not the only ones suckered by sociopathic Ponzi schemers. One year after Madoff was handcuffed and taken to his new home (the Butner Federal Correctional Institution in North Carolina, where he will spend the rest of his days), Long Island-based Nicholas Cosmo—dubbed the “Mini Madoff”—was caught stealing more than three hundred million dollars. Cosmo created fake investments and sold them to middle-income investors. The red flag that attracted the authorities’ attention was Cosmo’s promised 30 percent return on investments. Any advisor worth his salt would have stopped clients in their tracks from giving Cosmo money to invest for them. Unfortunately, most middle-income investors don’t have financial advisors looking over their shoulders. Sadly, thousands of naïve investors were robbed because they didn’t know what questions to ask.
You Cannot Play Every Position on the Field When most people, including the media, think of financial advisors, they think of them in the singular—one person acting as their financial guru. Over the past twenty years, however, the team concept has become the state-of-the-art method for providing financial advice. This is because administering financial advice has become much more sophisticated, thanks to the creation of high-tech solutions that solve more problems. For example, eldercare advice didn’t exist twenty years ago, nor did exchange traded funds (ETFs), or same-sex financial planning. Because the industry is solving more problems, no one advisor can be an expert in all things financial. Hence, the concept of advisors either formally or informally teaming up with complimentary experts. To use a sports analogy, one athlete cannot be quarterback, running back, and kick returner, just as one financial advisor cannot be an expert in all financial services. In short, we need an advisor to be a gateway to the other experts we may need throughout our lives.
Recourse with Advisors, None Alone While we cannot abdicate our financial lives to our financial advisors, if something goes wrong and mistakes are made, we are entitled to recoup losses. And when clients screw up by failing to be proactive, they risk paying a hefty price—deservedly so. Practically speaking, when we outsource wealth management to a professional, he or she works for us. We can demand service, explanations, and—most important—performance.
We Need to Save the Billionaires There is a ripple effect when a billionaire gets taken in by a fraud. For most incredibly well-off people, they are smart enough not to put all their money with any one particular investment. There were a few ultra-high net worth investors that put a lot with Madoff, Sanford and others, and indeed the ripple effect closed down charities, caused workers to be fired, and produced other horrible results. If someone worth three billion dollars loses one hundred fifty million dollars to a fraudster, odds are life goes just fine for that family.
However, the real reason we all want fewer billionaires to be taken in by frauds is the public relations effect. When someone rich is a victim, it becomes news, and it becomes outsized news at that. It stays in the news cycle longer than it should, and regular people from middle class families to higher-net worth people think if it that rich guy got taken to the cleaners, what hope do I have?
Two Kinds of Change Mandate the Use of an Advisor If the world were a static place with rules and situations that remain the same, life would be easier. But this is not the case. First, the personal finance world changes at a pace that makes it hard for even professional advisors to keep up. Second, consumers’ lives are constantly changing. They marry, change jobs, travel, have children, get sick, and the list goes on.
When these two types of change are combined, it’s an overwhelming process to try to maximize our personal financial situation alone. Hence, the need for financial advisors—with professional expertise, experience, emotional distance, and objectivity—to take this burden off our hands.