Financial Planners

This article will explore the importance of financial planners and what you can do to create a financial plan. If you’re interested in learning more about taxes, budgeting, investments, insurance, or anything that will help with your financial planning, this is the article for you. Becoming financially literate is important if you want your financial life to be fruitful. This article will thus encourage you to become financially literate and can even help high-net-worth individuals who have between five million USD and five hundred million USD in liquid assets. If you “fall” into this class, you may want to schedule a free consultation call with Chris-Snyder and Hutch-Ashoo, Pillar Wealth Management co-founders.

Before we look at the types of financial planners that you can work with, let’s first establish just how important a financial plan is. Before anything big is created such as a house, a monument, or a bridge, something else needs to be done first. A plan needs to be created! Diving in without a plan can work in certain scenarios, but having a plan will always increase your potential to succeed. You can create and edit a plan easily if you see any mistakes. If you simply build, fixing a mistake once it’s already happened will be much harder.

Apply this analogy to your own financial fortune, if you dive into increasing your wealth without creating a plan first, you could make a mistake and lose it all. So, even if an idea seems great and like it will yield great results, that’s not always the case. Making mistakes, such as making big purchases with little return, can negatively impact your long-term financial goals. You may end up spending all of your wealth in one go when you could have created a financial plan strong enough to make your wealth last for generations.

Thus, making a financial plan and sticking to it as best as you can is important if you want your financial goals to come to fruition. If you’ve never created a financial plan, even as a high net-work individual, it can be confusing. But, we’re here to help! Let’s explore the various types of financial planners that will help you create a financial plan.

What Is a Financial Planner?

Financial planners are professionals that are trained to provide financial services to individuals and organizations. They help their clients make better decisions about their finances.         

Understanding the Role of a Financial Planner

A financial planner wears many hats. By understanding the details of your financial situation, a financial planner can develop a strategy with recommendations that are aimed at achieving your goals for today and the future. 

For example, to reach your goal of a comfortable retirement, a planner can help you with budgeting and saving, creating retirement accounts, and projecting your income for when you retire.

If you have money to invest, a financial planner acts as an investment specialist, making recommendations based on your risk profile and income expectations. They can share their knowledge and expertise with you, making sure that you understand your investments and become smarter about investing.

Choosing the Right Financial Planner 

Most financial planners offer the same services, but some may have a specialty, or they may have more experience working with certain types of customers. So, before beginning your search for a financial advisor or planner, prioritize the financial services you need.

On the internet, there are various websites that can help you find a financial planner, someone with whom you can work remotely, or if you prefer a face-to-face meeting, your search engine with provide some names. To find a certified financial planner (CFP), you can use the CFP Board website or Brokercheck on the FINRA website. Another good site is NAPFA, the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors.

Ask around among your friends, family members, and co-workers to see if someone you know is working with an advisor or a planner with whom they are getting satisfactory results.

Of course, you want to know how much you’ll have to pay for financial planning services. So, you may want to focus your search on planners with certain designations and who are compensated on a fee-only basis. Following a fee-only compensation model means the advisor’s income is comprised of only the fees paid by their clients, which avoids conflicts of interest. Many fee-only advisors are also fiduciaries, which means that they must act in the best interest of their clients at all times.

This advisory fee will vary depending on the asset management services provided and the size of the portfolio, so the advisor may require a minimum amount to manage the assets.

For each planner on your shortlist, you’ll need to validate their credentials. Do this by going to the relevant website (CPF board, FINRA). The SEC keeps track of regulatory violations.   

Make an appointment to meet the candidates that appeal to you. Be prepared to discuss your financial situation and personal details. During your first meeting with a potential planner or advisor, you will want to ask questions about the advisor’s qualifications and the services they provide to determine how they can help you reach your financial goals.

What do financial planners do?

Financial planners provide a broad range of services that are designed to help you achieve your financial goals.

Financial planners advise their clients on controlling expenditures, budgeting, saving, and planning for major purchases.

Other financial services include:

Investment advice — investment recommendations are based on your risk tolerance and goals.

Debt management — the advisor develops a repayment plan.

Retirement planning — a retirement plan allows the client to anticipate a comfortable retirement.

Tax planning — your advisor can help you with your tax returns and how to minimize your taxes through deductions and managing capital gains.

Estate planning — this service ensures your assets are distributed to the beneficiaries according to your wishes.

How much will a financial planner cost?

Financial planners follow different compensation models. Some of them are paid only by their clients’ fees, meaning they adhere to the fee-only model. In this case, the advisor is much less likely to have conflicts of interest. Otherwise, they should reveal any conflict to the client.

A planner that follows the commission-based compensation model is paid by commissions, which can give rise to conflicts of interest. Again, the advisor should be transparent about how they are paid.

A fee-based financial planner earns fees from clients as well as commissions. Most of them charge an annual fee that is a percentage of the value of the assets they manage for the client. So, their fees increase as the value of the portfolio increases, which is advantageous to both parties.

Types of Financial Planners

1. Traditional, in-person Financial Planners
2. Financial Planner/Advisor vs. Wealth Manager

As the financial world is so cast, there are different financial planners for a variety of needs. There are insurance brokers, stockbrokers, bankers, and many other types of finance professionals that can be sorted into the categories of financial planners.

No matter what their job description or title is, any financial planners or professionals’ basic duty is to help their clients manage, grow and protect their investments and wealth. For more information on the kind of professional advice you need to manage your considerable investments, you should schedule a free conversation with Hutch Ashoo and Chris Snyder, the co-founders of PillarWM LLC.

Even though there are many financial planners that may be licensed to provide financial advice, it does not mean that each one will be right for you as your financial needs will vary compared to someone else’s. This is especially true if you’re a high net worth individual because many financial planners have more experience working with and advising the middle class.

This means that many won’t have experience dealing with financial needs that are more complex, as is usually the case with high net-worth individuals. If you want some more information on improving your portfolio performance, get a copy of our guide, Improving Portfolio Performance: The Shifts Multi-Millionaires Must Make to Achieve Financial Security and Serenity.

So, as there is such a wide variety of financial planners, exploring them and narrowing down which is the best type for you is a good place to start.

1. Traditional, in-person Financial Planners

Having a plan is essential if you want to succeed. The easiest way to create said plan is with our first type of financial planner, a traditional financial planner. The best way to use a traditional financial planner is by considering your goals financially, then creating a financial plan that would help you achieve the goals holistically.

If your goal is, for example, to secure your financial future, what steps will you take to work towards this? A good place to start is to figure out what investments you can make to accomplish your goal. Them, you need to plan how to manage your tax liability and use insurance products that can minimize your tax liability.

Using a financial planner is thus a good idea as you can both lay out all of your financial goals and then create an investment plan to help you achieve those goals and succeed financially. To find out more about how financial planning can help you manage your wealth, schedule a free conversation with Chris Snyder and Hutch Ashoo, the co-founders of PillarWM LLC.

There are, however, two major potential problems that arise when using a traditional financial planner. You may have already realized what the first challenge is as it is quite obvious. Simply having a financial plan is not enough to guarantee you will succeed financially. If you’re already a high net worth individual, this will be especially true for you.

A financial planner alone can only take you so far. For example, a traditional financial planner may not be able to create investment opportunities and securities for you. This is a problem as you need them to achieve your financial goals.

So, in addition to your financial planner, you will also need a financial professional. A financial professional will assist you to achieve your goals as they can purchase stocks, bonds, or any other security you need. You may need more-information about protect your investment portfolio & wealth. In that case, you can order for copy-of-our hardcover guiding book to help you, The Art of Protecting Ultra-High Net Worth Portfolios and Estates: Strategies for Families Worth $25 Million to $500 Million. Put-together by the team-PillarWM LLC, it’ll provide you with strategies to protecting-and-growing-your-wealth.

2. Financial Planner/Advisor vs. Wealth Manager

We now know that the main problem with traditional financial planners is that they are not able to implement your financial plan as they cannot buy or sell any type of securities. So, you need a financial professional such as an investment broker, otherwise known as a stockbroker. Investment brokers have extensive experience with investment solutions.

This means they can assist you in achieving your financial goals by helping you invest your money wisely. If you want to improve your portfolio performance, get a copy of our guide, 5 Critical Shifts For Maximizing Portfolio Growth Strategies- For Families Worth $5 million to $500 million. This guide will show you the shifts that you must put your investment portfolio through in order to grow.

Although both a financial-planner and the investment broker are great, you should not have one without the other. Having both an investment broker and financial planner will help you create your financial plan and then actively work towards your goals by creating an investment portfolio. That being said, there are still flaws in this plan. The first flaw is that you need to find two professionals: an investment broker and a financial planner.

While this doesn’t seem like a big issue, you need to ensure you can work well with both people and finding one professional you can both trust and work well with is hard enough! Your finances and your financial goals are reliant on these professionals and if you can’t trust them or you are not comfortable being open with them, achieving your financial goals may not be possible. Not only do you need to work well with them, but they also need to work well with each other as well.

By hiring a financial planner and an investment broker, you are creating your own team. If your team isn’t on the same page or they can’t work well together, you may not be able to see your plan through.

Additional Issues with Stockbrokers and Financial Planners

The other flaw of hiring a stockbroker is, that it can be a conflict of interest. This is because some stockbrokers get paid when you either buy a security or sell one as they make a commission. This can create a conflict of interest because the amount they make depends on the security you buy or sell. So, let’s say you visit a stockbroker because you want to plan your retirement fund. You visit the stockbroker because you need to-know-more-about what mutual funds you can invest in to grow your savings for retirement.

If you don’t visit a good stockbroker, they may try to suggest a fund that has a high commission for them, regardless of whether or not the fund suits your needs the best. This in turn will be disadvantageous to your investment account because it doesn’t fit with your financial plan. You will likely be none the wiser as well because there is no law saying an investment broker cannot do this, they only need to suggest a fund that can increase your retirement savings.

That being said, going to a good stockbroker can yield good results. An excellent stockbroker will recommend a fund that best suits your need, regardless of how much commission they make. The biggest issue here is that you can’t be sure whether the stockbroker will be honest with you or not. If you work alongside a wealth manager or financial planners, however, they will have your best interests in mind and help you make the best financial decisions possible.

To understand the details behind selecting financial planners, our team at Pillar Wealth Management, LLC, created this valuable resource for you. Receive your copy of The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Best Financial Advisor: For Investors with $5 Million to $500 Million in Liquid Assets. It will explain the steps and considerations behind selecting the right financial advisor.

The final option for managing your wealth is a wealth advisor. Wealth advisors are professional financial planners who specialize in managing wealth for high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals. A good wealth advisor will perform both the financial planner and the investment broker’s services and provide even more services as may be applicable.

If you need to know more about the duties that a wealth advisor performs and how it applies to you, you can schedule a no-obligation, free consultation call with Pillar Wealth Management, LLC co-founders Chris Snyder and Hutch Ashoo.

Working with Pillar Wealth Management Financial Planners

When you choose a wealth advisor or financial planner, one of the most important things to take into account is how long the firm has been providing financial advice to affluent clients. If a firm does not have the first-hand experience of working with clients of a similar stature to yours, the financial planners’ certification alone is not as important.

When it comes to managing the assets of high net worth individuals in the US, Pillar Wealth Management, LLC is a reputable wealth management firm. They have experience more than thirty years of providing expert financial advice to wealthy clients between five million USD to five hundred million USD in liquid assets and managing investment portfolios of $10 million and higher.

If you would like to take advantage of this wealth of experience, you can schedule a free consultation with Chris Snyder and Hutch Ashoo, co-founders and financial planners.

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