still got 7 to do

hedge_zer0 said:

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i wasnt trying to cause conflict, headed down a path to be a FA myself, doing some research and there is alot of flack towards FA's

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There is a lot of flack for FAs here mostly due to do it yourselfers. Most people with advisors don't come here for advice on stocks. You won't see many with good mechanics on the auto board. You won't see many many good CPAs posting about tax stuff.

Why is stagecoach so consistently an ******* on the B&I board, I wonder?

tarhee200 said:

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Ha...I'll give you the "official" explanation and then a short layman's terms answer:

Official - We're a registered investment advisor (RIA) firm that is legally required to serve their client's best interests ("fiduciary duty"). We are not a broker/dealer. We do not sell "products" (insurance or otherwise). We do not receive commissions for any investments in the portfolio. Non-RIA's generally are only required to steer you towards "suitable" investments/products (which allows a window for them to say "hey, option X and Y basically accomplish the same financial goal for the client, but X throws me an extra 2% commission, so I'll just put him in X").

Unofficial - Like I said above, we are completely fee-only. We only get paid for providing advice/managing your portfolio. We do not get paid by anyone (institutions, etc.) for carrying certain funds in our portfolio solutions. I'm required to report all my personal investing activity to ensure no "funny business" is going on. For any outside needs (legal, insurance, etc.), we advise the client if there is a need for those services, but we do not recommend any one, specific source to go to (and certainly don't get paid a referral fee). We provide a few different options of attorneys/insurance brokers who we deem creditable to even eliminate the appearance of favoritism towards a particular vendor. We even have pretty strict reporting requirements on accepting gifts from clients or business connections (i.e. value of a dinner or going to an Astros game, etc. has to be disclosed if over a certain amount, etc, etc.). Very tight restrictions on anything that gives the appearance of a preferential business relationship.

Hope that helps! Again...it doesn't mean all non-RIA's are swindlers or won't act 100% in your best interest. It just means that they are not legally required to. I feel like the safer route is always to go with an advisor who is bound to act under the fiduciary standard.

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Bernie Madoff was a "true" fiduciary. Just because the SEC requires an RIA to meet a fiduciary standard does not mean that standard is met.

Stive said:

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tarhee200 said:

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Then Stagecoach will show up in the middle of the night saying all of us are wrong.

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Nailed it!

Stive is sensitive to insurance bashing, but no need to get your parties in a wad over one NWMutual comment

neutics said:

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Stagecoach said:

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neutics said:

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If he's a true fiduciary (fee-only) then he didn't receive any compensation for the life insurance policy.

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You don't fully understand fiduciary

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Sure I do. Everyone tries to call themselves a fiduciary now, including the insurance salesman and B-D's, and I fully recognize that all of us have certain conflicts of interest. Thank the CFP Board for watering this term down tot he point that it means almost nothing.

Also see you have a history of self-righteous indignation on this board, so yes I'm a CFP among other things.

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I prefer "prone to grandiosity"

Stagecoach said:

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Stive said:

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tarhee200 said:

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Then Stagecoach will show up in the middle of the night saying all of us are wrong.

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Nailed it!

Stive is sensitive to insurance bashing, but no need to get your parties in a wad over one NWMutual comment

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Ha...you can take shots at NM all you want, not sure that's ever bothered me nor do I remember ever defending them. I've always thought it was simple minded to lump all people that rep any one company into one opinion (good or bad). There's stupid people that work for every company and likely there are good people with every company as well. I know that's been the case with people/advisors I know at Merrill, EJ, NM, you name it.

In fact...that would be a good thing for the OP to know. If you're going to work for a large group/company the company can set the tone, but certain offices that are branded under that company can also have their own cultures/styles/personalities. If the approach/style of the company seems to fit you (what they do) but you're not jiving with the personalities where you are interviewing, try a different office under the same brand and see if it feels the same. If you're talking to an Indy office where there's one location that's obviously not going to apply but it would apply to just about any of the groups that work under the big name brands and use that logo with their signage: Merrill, UBS, EJ, Wells, JPM, etc.

Stagecoach said:

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Bernie Madoff was a "true" fiduciary. Just because the SEC requires an RIA to meet a fiduciary standard does not mean that standard is met.

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Not quite: However, the two-year life of his RIA--Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC--was preceded by the 48-year life of his broker/dealer of the same name. Yes, Madoff operated solely as a broker/dealer for all but two years--the last two years--of the nearly half-century that he was in the investment business beginning in 1960 and ending in 2008. As such, Madoff was a dually registered (hybrid) broker/dealer and Registered Investment Adviser for just over two years.

First, the FA/WM field can be a great career. Make sure you know WHY you think you want to get into it (or anything else though). Is it because you want to make a lot of money, want to make an impact in people's lives/see them accomplish their goals, enjoy working with planning, like the financial/investment side of things...

Know this (and it can change over time) and let that guide you down the career path you want. What firm or team you start with or transfer to also. There's the administrative side, there's the investment side where you'll be more focused on managing a portfolio of asserts, there's the planning side where you'll be more client facing walking them through different areas of their plan and implementing those strategies. There's a huge sales side depending on where you're at... it's like any business - you/your company will want to grow and build the business.

Be careful reading into what other people call certain things/positions/etc. because a Financial Advisor can be different than Financial Planner or Wealth Manager or Money Manager or Investment Advisor etc. Professionals may call themselves different things or two may call them selves the same thing but do different things. I know. It's very confusing.

I see many people say they don't need a financial advisor/planner (insert any terminology here) until they're making a lot of money. I think this couldn't be further from the truth. The MAJORITY of need a good Planner EARLIER in their career helping them understand the fundamentals of having a solid financial plan and expanding that as your situation grows. The MAJORITY of people need that accountability partner to tell them to increase that 401k contribution or begin investing in a 529 plan now or focus on this debt, or here are the pros and cons and tax consequences of doing this... or let me introduce you to good professionals that can help you in getting wills done, or tax advice or refinancing your mortgage, etc.

90%+ (made up statistic) of personal planning et al is behavioral and emotional. Even if people know what they should do- they rarely do that, or know what they shouldn't do and do it anyway. Or made poor decisions because they just saw their 401k drop by 30% and get emotional. That's the majority of people and they're the ones that need an advisor the most.

At the end of the day it's not that complicated, people just rarely have the time to educate themselves on all the different options, changes in laws and regulations etc, new or change in products, etc.

Like any profession, there can be good people that know what they're doing, good people that don't know what they're doing a bad people that you just need to avoid.

Good comments Grown Pear...

Yeah actually the most surefire way to build wealth over time is to spend less than you make, and then do it over a long period of time (while also making wise choices with the margin each year). We find a lot of people struggle with simple budgeting regardless of income level. Getting a handle on what your annual cash flow looks like sooner rather than later is huge due to compounding, and it's amazing the difference you can have with your wealth accumulation just by lowering your annual expenses $10k over a 20/30/40 year period.