Financial professionals are generally perceived to be more concerned with the fiscal side of your plans, especially when it comes to retirement. And making sure you have a comfortable savings to retire on, and enough to continue living the same lifestyle, are two extremely important things they do their best to help you achieve. But it's a deeper knowledge and understanding of you as a client that helps them truly succeed.
In fact, in order for them to truly know you as a person, a friend, and a client, they need to be asking the right questions and you need to be sharing with them more than just the bottom line.
These are just a few of the most important things to share with your financial professional when you meet to discuss your retirement:
1) Activities: It's vitally important that you inform your financial professional what activities you plan on participating in the most during retirement. Often, they assume that golf and traveling will take up the bulk of your time. While that's often an accurate prediction, it's also sometimes too simple. Give them a long list of things you want to do in retirement so they'll be able to understand what you plan on doing in the future. In the process, they'll get to know you better as a person.
2) Your Passion: What did you enjoy about your life's work? What did you enjoy doing the most? And what kind of activities will you participate in besides the leisurely ones? If you spent your entire life working this hard, then the chances are good that golfing and traveling won't necessarily fill that empty space that used to be occupied by long days at work. Make it clear what other activities you plan on participating in, whether that be a job or volunteer work.
3) Your Legacy: It's essential that you make it clear to your financial professional what you want to be remembered for. No one is a fan of talking about death, but by making your wishes and wants completely clear, your financial professional will be able to assist you with your estate planning needs.
By informing them what charities or causes you want to benefit after you're gone (if any), they'll be able to plan more clearly. Oftentimes things are left unsaid during retirement and a person's estate doesn't always get distributed the way they would have wanted.
As a rule of thumb, you should remember communication is the most important aspect of retirement and estate planning. Always communicate your full wishes to your financial professional, even the ones you may think aren't as important.
The increased communication will mean that nothing is left unsaid, and in the process, your financial professional will get to know you better and understand your wishes fully as they help you make important financial decisions.
As I was making a few changes to a website, I found myself thinking about what it actually takes to be a good financial professional. I started considering the importance of age, education, experience, and certifications first. I personally believe that age has nothing to do with one's qualifications, and certifications generally apply to a specific area. Educational background and experience certainly are up on the list of important things to consider. Then I started thinking about all of the horror stories I have heard throughout my career and realized that it is the intangibles that truly make someone stand out from the rest. Yes, intangibles: qualities that cannot be quantified. Anyone can work in an industry for a number of years, or attain a certain professional achievement. The thing is, however, there are just some qualities that are even more important. Perhaps at the top of the list is honesty. It may sound trivial, but a majority of white-collar crimes arise out of a lack of honesty. The ability to be transparent with a client as to one's true intentions and desires: Is a client's interests truly best served investing in a certain mutual fund or is it because the fund carries a hefty load that will benefit the advisor's interests? It can be as simple as padding fees on a mortgage loan, and claiming that the fees are a "necessary part of the application process". Transparency and honesty are the foundation of trust in any relationship, especially one where the client's money is involved. Another key trait that a truly special financial professional will possess is the ability to communicate. This doesn't mean that the professional has to be a charmer. No, this means that the professional has to be able to actually listen: listen to a client's background, their needs, desires, concerns, confusion, etc. Once all of the pertinent information has been obtained, the next step is being able to communicate back to the client what the plan of action is going to be, but in such a way that the client will not only feel completely comfortable, they will actually understand everything. A major point of concern with people who work with any kind of professional advisor is the inability to escape the constant use of industry jargon, which only leads to more confusion. To some people, this quality may go hand in hand with honesty, but making each and every client feel relevant is something that oftentimes falls by the wayside. Each client needs to be treated as if they are the only client a professional has--not just the few that pay the most. Part of building a business relationship involves building a personal relationship, and nobody wants to be involved in either type if they feel neglected or as though they do not matter. Too many professionals (in any field) tend to concentrate a majority of their attention on a select few clients. If one cannot devote the requisite amount of time that each client needs simply because the income is not there, then they should not have taken on those clients in the first place. What it comes down to, is that a business relationship is essentially the same as a personal relationship. Aside from education and experience, those who are able to be truthful, communicative, and make time for each of their clients will be successful. Simply possessing knowledge and having years of experience alone are no longer all that define a truly good financial professional.
Both Robert Valentine & Mary Bush are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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