If you’re prudent with your finances, then you’ve probably already spent some time thinking about what you want to achieve financially in the coming year. Whether this is saving money, making a large purchase, or anything else, it’s always a good idea. If however you’re planning on making some investments in the coming 12 months, whether you’ve already got a portfolio or not, then it might be wise for you to opt for an investment advisor. Here’s why.
The general idea behind deciding to use an investment advisor is that it will help your investments perform better, and there are a variety of reasons for this.
Assessing investment suitability
The first is that an advisor will be able to help you assess the suitability of a much wider range of options than you’d be able to do by yourself. If you’re missing large chunks of the market, then you may well be missing out on some truly great opportunities. Some such opportunities aren’t exactly easy to find either, so at the very least you should have an advisor point you in the right direction.
Following on from this point, you might have very specific criteria about the things you’d like to invest in. Some people insist only on ethical investments, and without an advisor, it can be major work finding out which ones genuinely are.
Decision marking
When it comes to actual decision making, and advisor can be extremely valuable. You can discuss what you’re hoping to achieve, along with your appetite for risk, and they’ll be able to help you judge whether a product is right for you. They can also help you assess the profitability of an investment too, because this isn’t always easy to figure out.
In some cases, with companies like Openwork, you might even be able to hand over your cash and let the professionals do the job for you – it’s entirely your own choice.
In conclusion, you choose an advisor because they are the experts. Unless you’re a dedicated and qualified investor yourself, there are few people that won’t benefit from the expertise. A final note however is that you should take every care to pick the right one. Make phone calls, read testimonials and more, to make sure that the person or people you’re trusting with your money are going to be able to help you make more of it.
I use a fiduciary CFP and find the cost is worth it because I don’t get as emotionally attached to the market roller coaster. They have done a good job to allocate my investments in a way to limit downside risk appropriate for our being early retirees living off of our portfolio. It still stings to see it drop any amount but nowhere near as bad as it may have had I not had their diversification guidance.