What Does a Financial Advisor Cost?

What does a Financial Advisor cost you? You know I don’t believe there’s many Financial Advisors out there that are non-profit. You know there’s going to be some fees or costs associated to the services you’re getting in that scenario. I think of this way. You wouldn’t walk into a new car dealership and buy the first car that you see, without evening questioning the price. Maybe you would, but I guess at least I know I wouldn’t. And I don’t think many folks would do that. So the same with a Financial Advisor. You have the right and deserve to know what are you paying? What fees, is it a monthly fee? Is it an hourly fee? Is it a set fee? What are the various fees that are associated with the services you’re getting? Is there additional one time expenses and all this sort of stuff? What are trading expenses? All of these different things are going to add up to kind of complete your total cost to having those services. And so like most things you’re receiving, you as a client of that are going to then start to look at am I getting value for what I’m paying for? You know the same thing you do when you buy a product, right? You examine the price, the worth of that to you and is it of value for that particular cost that it is. So with financial services it’s really no different. You know what other benefits am I getting from that? Hopefully you’re at least getting the money management aspect and the investment plan from that. Is there other services you’re getting? Different planning aspects? You know do you have an income, a cash flow plan that’s walking you through different layers and years of where money is coming from and how that looks long-term? What buckets is that coming from? Is there a tax plan in place where it’s helping minimize taxes either right now or looking ahead and developing plans that are going to put you in a better tax situation further down the road? Is there estate planning that’s being done that’s going to help make sure your surviving heirs are in a much more secure place and don’t have any major headaches when you pass? You know again, what different services are you getting for this fee or fees that you are paying and is there a perceived value for that? Again, things are only, every individual is going to have a specific thing in their mind of what does that determine. If somebody is paying a certain percentage, one person may feel that that’s a great bargain. The next person that comes in may not feel that. I stress to you though, if you are having investment advice provided and even not, what are the fees associated with investing? There’s very seldomly do we find on investment or any sort of plan or services, that there’s no cost to. So even inside these 401Ks and stuff where you don’t really have an Advisor, what are the investment costs? So I challenge you to pop open that portfolio and if it isn’t clear, ask the question. Ask the question to your plan, to your Advisor. What am I paying? What services are available to me for the costs that I am paying? If you don’t know, we’d love to help you walk through that and make sure that you’re getting value for those services.