Pain Stories:
“You need to stop going to Bonefish Grill……”
I was recently hired by a new client.
She is single and currently unemployed.
Fortunately, she has enough assets to survive without a job but would certainly be better off in the long run with one.
She is torn between both whether to rent or buy a house and where she ultimately wants to live, Columbia or the coast.
She has been a client of the same Investment Advisory firm for many years and naturally went to there for advice about her predicament.
Her advisor had to bring his resident financial planner, whom my client did not know, into the discussion since he was strictly an investment advisor and did not “do financial planning” himself.
My client left the meeting in tears because they told her that she would run out of money and be destitute in the future if she did not stop eating out twice a month with her friends.
Her advisor later apologized and expressed that he thought she could afford to buy a house, but he would have to go back to his financial planner to schedule another call.
The process kept going in circles for months.
She felt belittled and talked down to every time she asked them a question.
She didn’t feel understood or appreciated.
She was so upset by the initial conversation and ongoing interactions that she felt it was time to seek a second opinion.
She was then referred to me by a friend and we proceeded to talk through it.
I explained the trade-offs she was faced with in her situation and how renting could make great financial sense in her case, especially since she is unsure about where she ultimately would like to live.
I explained that paying rent is not necessarily throwing money away since the cost of selling a home can be very expensive, not to mention time-consuming.
She understood this all too well seeing that she lost money on the recent sale of a house purchased in 2007.
This is the difference between investment only advisory shops and financial planners
She then thanked me for making her feel comfortable and not patronizing her.
I told her that should be the bare minimum expectation when working with a professional of any kind.
My job is to do the complex work in the background and explain it to you in a way that is simple.
You should never feel anxiety before or after your discussions with your advisor.
If you do, perhaps you need to make a change.
I have had and continue to have many conversations with people who describe a lingering gut feeling that “something just isn’t right” after a questionable recommendation was made by their advisor.
Perhaps you know the feeling…
Maybe the advice or service is “just OK”, but you want or feel deserving of something more.
Don’t ever settle for “just OK”.
If you are not sure you have the right plan, or planner, or just want to get a second opinion about what you are doing, click below to schedule a call with me.
Let’s have a 15 minute phone conversation and see if it makes sense to meet.
