Feel the "Paying"
Every decision you make is related to the value, real or perceived, you receive. Take your morning: is the $2 coffee worth the warm drink and cascade of caffeine in your system? Is there value in brushing your teeth for a minute to help ensure dental health and zap morning breath? Is driving 5 mph above the speed limit and risking a ticket worth getting to work 2 minutes earlier? Is the relief of avoiding a client’s call one more day more valuable than taking care of their needs immediately?
You make those decisions every day with hardly a thought. Other decisions don’t come as natural, such as deciding if your family should get help with their financial plan or investments.
Why is it a tough decision? I have a theory and it starts with a question. Do you know exactly how much you are paying or have paid to a financial services professional when you’ve engaged their services? You don’t, but hardly anyone does.
Why does nobody know such an important piece of information? Because it’s a pain to figure out what you’re “paying”. But without knowing the cost, it’s impossible to determine the value of financial advice. So you’ll try to figure it out on your own, skip the advice entirely, or simply find the guy or gal in the industry you can trust and say “take care of it and spare me the details”.
It shouldn’t be this way. Many people hate the financial services industry because it’s greedy and deceptive. The hate is often justified. But what’s the solution? Here’s one:
To improve advice and therefore perceptions of financial services, empower consumers. When a consumer is empowered with good information, they will flee from greedy and deceitful businesses. Consumers of financial advice need and deserve to know what they are paying. They should demand to know what they’re paying. But it is no one’s responsibility but yours to figure out the cost of financial services. So let’s shout it from a mountain: it’s time to FEEL THE PAYING so families can engage in financial advice with confidence.
The challenge: the financial services industry would rather not share this information. So it’s no surprise the commissions, fees and expenses are buried deep within the products or services sold. And by buried deep, I mean many advisors themselves cannot quickly ascertain how much of your money is being paid in fees, commissions, or other expenses.
But take heart, you are not a hapless victim. To help you determine the value of financial advice for your family and feel the paying, be sure to pay attention to the next blog post where we’ll cover the 2 keys to finding the real value in financial advice, and how to not fall prey to the “Helpers” that often do more harm than good.