Your investment adviser is an important partner in your life -- after all, who knows your intimate financial details better? It's an intensely personal, yet professional, relationship. But what happens when you discover that it's not an ideal marriage? When is it time to ask for a divorce?
It may be sooner than you think. In a recent survey by PNC Wealth Management of affluent individuals -- those with at least $500,000 in investible assets -- only 15% said their advisers, "really made a huge positive difference," or gave them an "A." Some 43% said they were looking for more attention from their financial advisers. If so many high-end clients are dissatisfied with the service they are getting, how well could advisers be treating their average Joe or Jane Investors?
Just as there are in matters of the heart, there are tell-tell signs that your adviser is "just not that into you" -- and vice versa.
• Annoyance. "You hate when they call and feel like they are always trying to sell you something. You get annoyed every time you get something in the mail. They sound annoyed whenever you call, and are frustrated by your questions," explains Susan Hirshman, author of
Does This Make My Assets Look Fat?
• We Never Talk Anymore. Maybe there was a time when you enjoyed chatting with your adviser, but now the conversation is all but dead. "Your phone calls or emails are not returned within 12 to 24 hours. You haven't had a detailed conversation about your goals and financial situation in more than a year. You haven't reviewed or discussed your tax return over the last 12 months," says certified financial planner Thomas Casey of Casey, Thomas & Associates.
If you find this happening, review your investment policy statement: What did you and your adviser agree to in terms of frequency of contact? Maybe your expectations have changed. "Make this clear to your adviser, and if necessary, update your policy statement. Communicate your concerns without being confrontational or overly emotional," advises Stephen Horan, head of professional education content and private wealth management at the CFA Institute, an association of investment professionals.
• A Sense of Selfishness. Who's getting best served in this relationship: you or your adviser? Take a good look at your account activity. "If you're paying your adviser via commissions and you are seeing a lot of activity, this may be a sign your adviser is more interested in improving their financial picture than yours," says Bonnie Kirchner, author of
Who Can You Trust With Your Money? Get the Help You Need and Avoid Dishonest Advisers. On the flip side, if you're paying fees to have your assets managed and no adjustments are being made over time, you may not be getting what you are paying for.
John Graves, a financial planner with Renaissance Group, offers this simple test for when it's time to change advisers: "When he speaks more often than he listens. We often get caught up in our own importance, to our clients' disadvantage," says Graves.
• Confusion Is Rampant. Be leery if there's a lot of turnover at your adviser's office, if your adviser keeps changing firms or repeatedly makes careless mistakes like misspelling your name. This could be an indication of instability, points out Brian Patrick Kuhn, a certified financial planner with Retirement Planning Services. All this distraction could be costing you.
Confusion on the other side of the relationship is also a bad sign. If you've been with one adviser for a while, and you still don't understand your accounts or the overall plan, you should be concerned. "Sometimes people go with a planner's recommendations because it sounds good and they trust them, but they don't fully understand the recommendations," says Kuhn. "If a long period goes by and you're still unclear, the planner hasn't done their job, and the relationship can't go on forever without that clarity."
In the end, sometimes it just comes down to a personality mismatch. But while that might be tolerable, poor performance may be a deal-breaker. You should have a basic understanding of the types of investments you own, how they are tracking against the overall market and why they are under- or outperforming appropriate benchmarks, says Kirchner. If your portfolio is consistently and significantly under-performing, you may need to find someone with a better track record," she adds.
Analyze What Happened, and Move On
Much as you would try to figure out what went wrong with a marriage heading for a divorce, make sure you assess what happened in your financial relationship. "Most times it can be summed up in two words: communication and expectations," says Hirshman. "Advisers fail to communicate their process, client service model, fees and performance, clearly or accurately, for example. They don't do what they say, or they do what they say, but the client never understood it," she adds.
A new year often means lofty resolutions, especially when it comes to planning and maintaining a travel budget.
Though there are many personal-finance sites and software out there, this year I'm resolving to use Mint.com's free online tool. You can create plans for saving toward retirement and buying a house, but I'll be primarily using the site for its Travel Goals, which help you set -- and stick to -- realistic travel budgets.
And though the tool obviously doesn't do the hardest part (you still have to save the money), it does track how far or close you are to achieving your Travel Goal.
For example, say you want to go to Hawaii for a week this summer. Once you create a budget by filling in the estimates for airfare, hotel, meals, and other expenses, you can then specify how much you will contribute to that Travel Goal each month.
If you underestimate how much you'd need to save per month, the online tool points out: "Oh no! You aren't saving enough each month to reach your goal on time." The tool then offers you two ways to fix your Travel Goal: increase your monthly contribution in order to reach your desired travel date or postpone your planned date to fit your monthly contribution.
If you stay on track with saving the specified amount each month, Mint.com's budgeting tool highlights (and adjusts) the projected date of when you can afford to take the trip. Save more, and you could afford to take your trip a month or two earlier.
But if you slack on your monthly savings, the date will be pushed back -- a reality check and an instant motivator. Once you mentally equate an unnecessary clothing purchase or an impulse buy to the consequence of delaying your trip by a month, saving becomes a little more real.
Granted, most people will buy plane tickets and reserve hotels with a credit card several months before actually taking the trip; the tool helps track if you'll be able to easily pay it all off after your trip. After all, nothing ruins a vacation more than coming home to bills that you're not financially prepared to handle.
To fund my travels this year, I've linked my Mint.com account to an ING Savings Account labeled Travel Fund.
How do you stay on track with saving up for a vacation?[flickr image via epSoS.de]
Gallery: How to create a realistic travel budget
benchcraft company portland orArab News contacted on Saturday the embassy official concerned with the case but he did not answer the call. “We specifically requested that aside from providing her medical care, the embassy should also arrange her immediate ...
CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views's authors are supported by a revenue-sharing agreement with the company that operates CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views, Important Media. Of course, it's never enough ...
Photo by Ruvan Wijesooriya; front page photo by Leigh Ann Hines LCD Soundsystem have announced that they will play their ...
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Your investment adviser is an important partner in your life -- after all, who knows your intimate financial details better? It's an intensely personal, yet professional, relationship. But what happens when you discover that it's not an ideal marriage? When is it time to ask for a divorce?
It may be sooner than you think. In a recent survey by PNC Wealth Management of affluent individuals -- those with at least $500,000 in investible assets -- only 15% said their advisers, "really made a huge positive difference," or gave them an "A." Some 43% said they were looking for more attention from their financial advisers. If so many high-end clients are dissatisfied with the service they are getting, how well could advisers be treating their average Joe or Jane Investors?
Just as there are in matters of the heart, there are tell-tell signs that your adviser is "just not that into you" -- and vice versa.
• Annoyance. "You hate when they call and feel like they are always trying to sell you something. You get annoyed every time you get something in the mail. They sound annoyed whenever you call, and are frustrated by your questions," explains Susan Hirshman, author of
Does This Make My Assets Look Fat?
• We Never Talk Anymore. Maybe there was a time when you enjoyed chatting with your adviser, but now the conversation is all but dead. "Your phone calls or emails are not returned within 12 to 24 hours. You haven't had a detailed conversation about your goals and financial situation in more than a year. You haven't reviewed or discussed your tax return over the last 12 months," says certified financial planner Thomas Casey of Casey, Thomas & Associates.
If you find this happening, review your investment policy statement: What did you and your adviser agree to in terms of frequency of contact? Maybe your expectations have changed. "Make this clear to your adviser, and if necessary, update your policy statement. Communicate your concerns without being confrontational or overly emotional," advises Stephen Horan, head of professional education content and private wealth management at the CFA Institute, an association of investment professionals.
• A Sense of Selfishness. Who's getting best served in this relationship: you or your adviser? Take a good look at your account activity. "If you're paying your adviser via commissions and you are seeing a lot of activity, this may be a sign your adviser is more interested in improving their financial picture than yours," says Bonnie Kirchner, author of
Who Can You Trust With Your Money? Get the Help You Need and Avoid Dishonest Advisers. On the flip side, if you're paying fees to have your assets managed and no adjustments are being made over time, you may not be getting what you are paying for.
John Graves, a financial planner with Renaissance Group, offers this simple test for when it's time to change advisers: "When he speaks more often than he listens. We often get caught up in our own importance, to our clients' disadvantage," says Graves.
• Confusion Is Rampant. Be leery if there's a lot of turnover at your adviser's office, if your adviser keeps changing firms or repeatedly makes careless mistakes like misspelling your name. This could be an indication of instability, points out Brian Patrick Kuhn, a certified financial planner with Retirement Planning Services. All this distraction could be costing you.
Confusion on the other side of the relationship is also a bad sign. If you've been with one adviser for a while, and you still don't understand your accounts or the overall plan, you should be concerned. "Sometimes people go with a planner's recommendations because it sounds good and they trust them, but they don't fully understand the recommendations," says Kuhn. "If a long period goes by and you're still unclear, the planner hasn't done their job, and the relationship can't go on forever without that clarity."
In the end, sometimes it just comes down to a personality mismatch. But while that might be tolerable, poor performance may be a deal-breaker. You should have a basic understanding of the types of investments you own, how they are tracking against the overall market and why they are under- or outperforming appropriate benchmarks, says Kirchner. If your portfolio is consistently and significantly under-performing, you may need to find someone with a better track record," she adds.
Analyze What Happened, and Move On
Much as you would try to figure out what went wrong with a marriage heading for a divorce, make sure you assess what happened in your financial relationship. "Most times it can be summed up in two words: communication and expectations," says Hirshman. "Advisers fail to communicate their process, client service model, fees and performance, clearly or accurately, for example. They don't do what they say, or they do what they say, but the client never understood it," she adds.
A new year often means lofty resolutions, especially when it comes to planning and maintaining a travel budget.
Though there are many personal-finance sites and software out there, this year I'm resolving to use Mint.com's free online tool. You can create plans for saving toward retirement and buying a house, but I'll be primarily using the site for its Travel Goals, which help you set -- and stick to -- realistic travel budgets.
And though the tool obviously doesn't do the hardest part (you still have to save the money), it does track how far or close you are to achieving your Travel Goal.
For example, say you want to go to Hawaii for a week this summer. Once you create a budget by filling in the estimates for airfare, hotel, meals, and other expenses, you can then specify how much you will contribute to that Travel Goal each month.
If you underestimate how much you'd need to save per month, the online tool points out: "Oh no! You aren't saving enough each month to reach your goal on time." The tool then offers you two ways to fix your Travel Goal: increase your monthly contribution in order to reach your desired travel date or postpone your planned date to fit your monthly contribution.
If you stay on track with saving the specified amount each month, Mint.com's budgeting tool highlights (and adjusts) the projected date of when you can afford to take the trip. Save more, and you could afford to take your trip a month or two earlier.
But if you slack on your monthly savings, the date will be pushed back -- a reality check and an instant motivator. Once you mentally equate an unnecessary clothing purchase or an impulse buy to the consequence of delaying your trip by a month, saving becomes a little more real.
Granted, most people will buy plane tickets and reserve hotels with a credit card several months before actually taking the trip; the tool helps track if you'll be able to easily pay it all off after your trip. After all, nothing ruins a vacation more than coming home to bills that you're not financially prepared to handle.
To fund my travels this year, I've linked my Mint.com account to an ING Savings Account labeled Travel Fund.
How do you stay on track with saving up for a vacation?[flickr image via epSoS.de]
Gallery: How to create a realistic travel budget
benchcraft company scamArab News contacted on Saturday the embassy official concerned with the case but he did not answer the call. “We specifically requested that aside from providing her medical care, the embassy should also arrange her immediate ...
CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views's authors are supported by a revenue-sharing agreement with the company that operates CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views, Important Media. Of course, it's never enough ...
Photo by Ruvan Wijesooriya; front page photo by Leigh Ann Hines LCD Soundsystem have announced that they will play their ...
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bench craft company reviewsArab News contacted on Saturday the embassy official concerned with the case but he did not answer the call. “We specifically requested that aside from providing her medical care, the embassy should also arrange her immediate ...
CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views's authors are supported by a revenue-sharing agreement with the company that operates CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views, Important Media. Of course, it's never enough ...
Photo by Ruvan Wijesooriya; front page photo by Leigh Ann Hines LCD Soundsystem have announced that they will play their ...
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Your investment adviser is an important partner in your life -- after all, who knows your intimate financial details better? It's an intensely personal, yet professional, relationship. But what happens when you discover that it's not an ideal marriage? When is it time to ask for a divorce?
It may be sooner than you think. In a recent survey by PNC Wealth Management of affluent individuals -- those with at least $500,000 in investible assets -- only 15% said their advisers, "really made a huge positive difference," or gave them an "A." Some 43% said they were looking for more attention from their financial advisers. If so many high-end clients are dissatisfied with the service they are getting, how well could advisers be treating their average Joe or Jane Investors?
Just as there are in matters of the heart, there are tell-tell signs that your adviser is "just not that into you" -- and vice versa.
• Annoyance. "You hate when they call and feel like they are always trying to sell you something. You get annoyed every time you get something in the mail. They sound annoyed whenever you call, and are frustrated by your questions," explains Susan Hirshman, author of
Does This Make My Assets Look Fat?
• We Never Talk Anymore. Maybe there was a time when you enjoyed chatting with your adviser, but now the conversation is all but dead. "Your phone calls or emails are not returned within 12 to 24 hours. You haven't had a detailed conversation about your goals and financial situation in more than a year. You haven't reviewed or discussed your tax return over the last 12 months," says certified financial planner Thomas Casey of Casey, Thomas & Associates.
If you find this happening, review your investment policy statement: What did you and your adviser agree to in terms of frequency of contact? Maybe your expectations have changed. "Make this clear to your adviser, and if necessary, update your policy statement. Communicate your concerns without being confrontational or overly emotional," advises Stephen Horan, head of professional education content and private wealth management at the CFA Institute, an association of investment professionals.
• A Sense of Selfishness. Who's getting best served in this relationship: you or your adviser? Take a good look at your account activity. "If you're paying your adviser via commissions and you are seeing a lot of activity, this may be a sign your adviser is more interested in improving their financial picture than yours," says Bonnie Kirchner, author of
Who Can You Trust With Your Money? Get the Help You Need and Avoid Dishonest Advisers. On the flip side, if you're paying fees to have your assets managed and no adjustments are being made over time, you may not be getting what you are paying for.
John Graves, a financial planner with Renaissance Group, offers this simple test for when it's time to change advisers: "When he speaks more often than he listens. We often get caught up in our own importance, to our clients' disadvantage," says Graves.
• Confusion Is Rampant. Be leery if there's a lot of turnover at your adviser's office, if your adviser keeps changing firms or repeatedly makes careless mistakes like misspelling your name. This could be an indication of instability, points out Brian Patrick Kuhn, a certified financial planner with Retirement Planning Services. All this distraction could be costing you.
Confusion on the other side of the relationship is also a bad sign. If you've been with one adviser for a while, and you still don't understand your accounts or the overall plan, you should be concerned. "Sometimes people go with a planner's recommendations because it sounds good and they trust them, but they don't fully understand the recommendations," says Kuhn. "If a long period goes by and you're still unclear, the planner hasn't done their job, and the relationship can't go on forever without that clarity."
In the end, sometimes it just comes down to a personality mismatch. But while that might be tolerable, poor performance may be a deal-breaker. You should have a basic understanding of the types of investments you own, how they are tracking against the overall market and why they are under- or outperforming appropriate benchmarks, says Kirchner. If your portfolio is consistently and significantly under-performing, you may need to find someone with a better track record," she adds.
Analyze What Happened, and Move On
Much as you would try to figure out what went wrong with a marriage heading for a divorce, make sure you assess what happened in your financial relationship. "Most times it can be summed up in two words: communication and expectations," says Hirshman. "Advisers fail to communicate their process, client service model, fees and performance, clearly or accurately, for example. They don't do what they say, or they do what they say, but the client never understood it," she adds.
A new year often means lofty resolutions, especially when it comes to planning and maintaining a travel budget.
Though there are many personal-finance sites and software out there, this year I'm resolving to use Mint.com's free online tool. You can create plans for saving toward retirement and buying a house, but I'll be primarily using the site for its Travel Goals, which help you set -- and stick to -- realistic travel budgets.
And though the tool obviously doesn't do the hardest part (you still have to save the money), it does track how far or close you are to achieving your Travel Goal.
For example, say you want to go to Hawaii for a week this summer. Once you create a budget by filling in the estimates for airfare, hotel, meals, and other expenses, you can then specify how much you will contribute to that Travel Goal each month.
If you underestimate how much you'd need to save per month, the online tool points out: "Oh no! You aren't saving enough each month to reach your goal on time." The tool then offers you two ways to fix your Travel Goal: increase your monthly contribution in order to reach your desired travel date or postpone your planned date to fit your monthly contribution.
If you stay on track with saving the specified amount each month, Mint.com's budgeting tool highlights (and adjusts) the projected date of when you can afford to take the trip. Save more, and you could afford to take your trip a month or two earlier.
But if you slack on your monthly savings, the date will be pushed back -- a reality check and an instant motivator. Once you mentally equate an unnecessary clothing purchase or an impulse buy to the consequence of delaying your trip by a month, saving becomes a little more real.
Granted, most people will buy plane tickets and reserve hotels with a credit card several months before actually taking the trip; the tool helps track if you'll be able to easily pay it all off after your trip. After all, nothing ruins a vacation more than coming home to bills that you're not financially prepared to handle.
To fund my travels this year, I've linked my Mint.com account to an ING Savings Account labeled Travel Fund.
How do you stay on track with saving up for a vacation?[flickr image via epSoS.de]
Gallery: How to create a realistic travel budget
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benchcraft company scamArab News contacted on Saturday the embassy official concerned with the case but he did not answer the call. “We specifically requested that aside from providing her medical care, the embassy should also arrange her immediate ...
CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views's authors are supported by a revenue-sharing agreement with the company that operates CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views, Important Media. Of course, it's never enough ...
Photo by Ruvan Wijesooriya; front page photo by Leigh Ann Hines LCD Soundsystem have announced that they will play their ...
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bench craft company reviewsArab News contacted on Saturday the embassy official concerned with the case but he did not answer the call. “We specifically requested that aside from providing her medical care, the embassy should also arrange her immediate ...
CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views's authors are supported by a revenue-sharing agreement with the company that operates CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views, Important Media. Of course, it's never enough ...
Photo by Ruvan Wijesooriya; front page photo by Leigh Ann Hines LCD Soundsystem have announced that they will play their ...
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CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views's authors are supported by a revenue-sharing agreement with the company that operates CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views, Important Media. Of course, it's never enough ...
Photo by Ruvan Wijesooriya; front page photo by Leigh Ann Hines LCD Soundsystem have announced that they will play their ...
benchcraft company scamArab News contacted on Saturday the embassy official concerned with the case but he did not answer the call. “We specifically requested that aside from providing her medical care, the embassy should also arrange her immediate ...
CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views's authors are supported by a revenue-sharing agreement with the company that operates CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views, Important Media. Of course, it's never enough ...
Photo by Ruvan Wijesooriya; front page photo by Leigh Ann Hines LCD Soundsystem have announced that they will play their ...
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CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views's authors are supported by a revenue-sharing agreement with the company that operates CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views, Important Media. Of course, it's never enough ...
Photo by Ruvan Wijesooriya; front page photo by Leigh Ann Hines LCD Soundsystem have announced that they will play their ...
benchcraft company portland or Personal finance is a tricky thing when the economy is going along well, but it can be a nightmare when it isn't. And the personal finance planning process is no walk in the park either for many, but don't despair, let's look at a few personal finance planning steps that can help us gain back that ground we may have lost.
Personal Finance Step 1: It's Time for a CheckupBefore you can fix a problem you have to know how bad it really is; right? The same is true with sorting out your personal finances. So a little record-keeping is called for in order to start determining how much you are spending each week or month—and exactly on what. Unless you are wealthy already, I'm confident you already know how much you are making so that information is a no brainer.
Personal Finance Step 2: What Financial Goals Do You Have?This may seem like a strange question for someone who is struggling to put groceries on the table right now, but it really isn't. If you start getting your personal finances in order you will soon have some discretionary income to spend and you need to evaluate what is important enough to you to spend it on when that time rolls around.
Someone once said (but I can't remember who), that if you fail to plan there's a good chance your plan will fail. There's logic in those words, so heed them.
Personal Finance Step 3: Put That Plan into ActionNow that you know what your personal financial goal(s) is (are), it is time to develop a plan about how to get there. You are going to need a personal financial budget (but don't let that step intimidate you, it will be the next article I write about—and yes, even if you are living hand-to-mouth right now, you still need a budget; you'll soon learn why).
A budget can get you on the road to a better personal financial future like nothing else can. Don't be deceived into thinking that you just need to make more money; that's not true. You need to spend what you have even more wisely.
Personal Finance Step 4: Make Sure Your Plan Includes These Four FactorsThe four factors are: flexibility, minimization of taxes (a biggie), liquidity and protection. Flexibility in your personal finances will be the lifesaver you grab for when that job ends unexpectedly and you need to get to any investment money you have.
Minimization of taxes will put more money in your pocket each pay period instead of at the first of the year (when you file your tax return), or worse, have to pay for all the new programs in our stimulus budget.
Liquidity in your personal finances will make sure that any last-minute need for cash is at your disposal. And protection will ensure that when the bottom falls out—a flood, a fire—you aren't the one left holding the bag; an empty bag, no less.
Resources
Personal Finance: Turning Money into Wealth by Arthur J. Keown (5th edition)
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CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views's authors are supported by a revenue-sharing agreement with the company that operates CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views, Important Media. Of course, it's never enough ...
Photo by Ruvan Wijesooriya; front page photo by Leigh Ann Hines LCD Soundsystem have announced that they will play their ...
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CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views's authors are supported by a revenue-sharing agreement with the company that operates CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views, Important Media. Of course, it's never enough ...
Photo by Ruvan Wijesooriya; front page photo by Leigh Ann Hines LCD Soundsystem have announced that they will play their ...
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