WEBVTT - Do You Need a Financial Advisor? #019 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.840 Welcome to How to Money. I'm Joel and I'm not 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:06.040 and today we're answering the question do you need a 0:00:06.080 --> 0:00:20.520 financial advisor? All right, man, that's right coming up on 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:24.320 the show, we're gonna answer that question. There's certainly a 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:26.560 lot of nuance to it. But we're going to refer 0:00:26.600 --> 0:00:29.720 back to our episode nine, retirement investing is simpler than 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:32.520 you think. We're gonna talk about how expensive a financial 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:35.120 advisor can be, and the different types that there are 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:36.760 out there, so what to look for if you are 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:39.520 shopping for one, and ultimately whether or not we think 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:42.120 that people should be paying money to someone every year 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:45.000 to get financial advice. But before we get too far 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:47.640 into this, we definitely want people to know that the 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:51.600 two dudes drinking beer on a podcast are not financial professionals, 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:55.600 and we probably shouldn't be shouldn't be looked upon as such. Man, 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:58.280 that's a nice little disclaimory to put out there, a 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:03.040 little c O A U. In case that being said, Man, 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:05.560 we've been doing this now for over four months. You know, 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:07.760 we kind of hit the four month mark, so I 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:10.880 feel like for professionals, oh totally, but ready to go 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:13.280 full time yet? I mean, I think Anybody listening to 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:18.720 this knows those guys have raw talent. They're probably really 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:20.640 impressed at this point that we've even made it four 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:24.640 months together uh doing this, and I think, I think 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:26.840 we're crushing it though. I'm having a blast. It's fun 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:28.440 to get together and drink beers and talk about the 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:31.160 stuff we care about, and I think it's really fun 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:34.080 to interact with the people that are listening that care 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:36.600 about the stuff we care about. That's that's been the 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:38.920 best part to me. Yeah, it's definitely been a lot 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:40.640 of fun. I guess the reason I said four months too. 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:44.360 That's how long I had considered starting my own business 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:47.400 back when I had first started uh doing photography, So 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:49.760 I kind of kicked it around a little bit on 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:51.680 the side. But after four months is when I was like, Okay, 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:53.960 now I'm doing this for real full time and went 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.000 after it. So we're supposed to quit our day jobs now. 0:01:57.240 --> 0:01:58.920 I'm just saying, we did just sitting the bar kind 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:02.480 of high there. Back then when I had zero kids, 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:06.840 zero responsibility basically except for the Kate, and you like, 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:09.400 literally could he raman every night to cover for your 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:14.440 lack of income? And we did, man, we did cool man. 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:18.760 So before we get talking about financial advisors, let's let's 0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:21.280 talk about our beer. Yeah, al Gash was kind enough 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:23.639 to send us a couple of different varieties of beer, 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:27.560 one of which will be partaking in tonight Ala Gash Curio. 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:32.000 Let me pop it Curio. Man, it has been years 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:34.200 since I've had his beer. Yeah, so ale Gash has 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:37.640 apparently been around since. So they were one of the 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:41.760 old school players in the craft beer world here in 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:44.960 the United States throughout of Portland, Maine, which, by the way, 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:47.200 we're just having a good discussion on our Facebook group 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:50.560 this week about how amazing Portland Maine is. Uh. And 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:54.320 Ala Gash is a must see, a must visit. They 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:57.040 make some really really amazing beers. Yeah. I feel like 0:02:57.160 --> 0:02:59.360 Alagash in general is kind of like world class like 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:02.000 all around, like their beers, like they're sort of approach 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:05.720 to the industry. The marketing is pretty awesome too. Um. 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:08.360 But specifically what's awesome about this beer uh and again, 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:10.519 thank you guys for sending this down is that these 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:13.840 are twelve ounce bottles of Curio, which you can't get 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:15.960 that in Georgia yet, so that's pretty sweet. Were like 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:18.320 maybe the first guys, I don't know, probably not the 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:20.520 first guys in the entire state, but we'll say we're 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:22.679 the first guys, first guys in the state to be 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:25.720 drinking Curio out of twelve ounce bottles. Uh, Normally they're 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:28.560 in a large format, So the seven fifty bottles, the 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:32.760 Bombers and man being able to drink delicious beers like 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:35.160 this out of its twelve ounce is just so much better. 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:37.920 You don't have to team up with the buddy you 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:39.640 know to to go in together and drink one of 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:41.360 these beers. You can just crack one open on a 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:44.280 on a weekday night like we normally drink. I think 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:47.240 the main reason I love the move from like larger 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:51.360 formats to four packs is especially if it's a beer 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:54.520 the age as well. I love to crack one like 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:57.880 when I first get it, and then age one or 0:03:57.920 --> 0:03:59.480 two and see what it tastes like in a year 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:02.200 or two. So it's like, in particular fits a bourbon 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:06.360 barrel aged stout or a sour beer or something that 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:09.480 does just hang out well in my cellar. I love 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:11.960 to to let those hang and see what they tastes 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:14.000 like years down the road and just kind of look 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:16.599 at them every now again and give a little smile 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:20.000 and and just think about that beer again. You smiling 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:22.960 at your beers. I know it's weird, but Sibody walks 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:24.400 into the kitchen, You're just standing there in front of 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:26.320 the pantry just smiling. Hey, there are worse things I 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:28.839 could be doing, that's for sure. But uh so, my 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:32.240 only here's my only problem with that is do you remember, 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:34.200 like exactly what it tastes like? Like, certainly you can 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:36.880 have a general feel for the beer, like right when 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:38.520 you cracked it versus how it is a year later. 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:42.200 But I'm just so technically, I guess minded and oriented. 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:45.880 I would want another fresh one that's recently been bottled, 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:47.920 and then one that's been aged, and then one that's 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:49.560 been aged for a year and so on, you know, 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:52.440 like the vertical, like having multiple years. I love verticals 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:54.840 because then you can have all the different beers all 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:57.800 at once that have been aged differently and having that 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.480 side by side comparison. For me at least, I really 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:02.360 like that. Yeah. I don't think my memory is good 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:05.120 enough to say, oh, man, that beer had exactly these 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:07.160 notes or was better in this way or that way. 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:10.279 But more than anything, it's it's like a nostalgia to 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:13.520 bring that beer back and say I remember really enjoying 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:16.839 this and then enjoying it again a year later or something. 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:20.680 I find that really fun and in a great reason 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:23.359 to package beers and four packs. And so I'm glad 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:27.760 that a standout beer like Curio is now available in 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:30.839 four packs where we live. So it is a Belgian 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:33.919 style golden nail aged in bourbon barrels, and that's not 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:37.080 typically what you see. Most bourbon barrel aged beers are 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:42.239 like stouts and porters. And so it's been forever, forever 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:44.080 since I've had this beer. I'm really excited to have 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:46.400 it again. Yeah, I just don't have just Belgian beers 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:50.479 all that often. It pours a nice golden color. You 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:54.000 can see through it got a nice little white bubbly head. 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:58.200 You can smell those bourbon vanilla notes. Man oh man, 0:05:58.279 --> 0:05:59.719 something else I remember too. I think this is the 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:03.360 barrel aged beer I think I ever had, really, Yeah, 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:05.800 like I'm gonna gets six years ago, six seven years ago. 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:08.120 And because of that, I fell in love with it, 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:09.719 because I had never had a beer that had been 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:13.039 aged in bourbon barrels before, and for the longest time. 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:15.039 This was real high up on my list of of 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:17.720 favorite beer. So I'm really excited to go back to it. Man, 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:21.919 that is not a style that anybody else makes that 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:25.000 I know of, like golden ale aged and bourbon barrels, 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:28.840 and it's not a style that in my mind I'm like, yes, 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:32.240 please give me one of those. But holy mackerel, that 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:35.960 is absolutely delicious. That is really good. I feel like 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:38.920 the bourbon only kind of accentuates some of those flavors 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:42.480 going on in the base beer. It's refreshing, It's got 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:45.760 a lightmouth feel, but with that bourbon undertone that just 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:48.480 kind of ties it all together. And this reminds me too, man, 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:51.360 how many great old school beers there are, Like this 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:53.560 is one of the sort of first craft beers that 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:55.520 made us way around the country. You know. I think 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:58.440 it was al Ash's first barrel aged beer as well, 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:01.520 and since then there have been ton is amazing not 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:04.719 only beers, but just entire genres like styles of beer. 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:07.080 And so to kind of go back to this, it's 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:09.680 kind of refreshing to take something that you haven't had 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:12.320 forever and not just sort of embarred yourself with sort 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:15.040 of these new styles that guys are you know, throwing milk, 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:17.440 sugars and fruit and all this other stuff into their beers, 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:19.080 you know, trying to push the envelope. It's kind of 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:21.600 good to go back to something that's tried and trude. 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:24.400 That's just really I mean world class is like the 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:26.120 best way to describe it, you know. Yeah, kind of 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:28.080 more of a staple. Yeah. I was talking talking to Emily, 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:29.840 telling her that we were going to drink you know, 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:32.320 an ale Gash beer on the on the podcast tonight, 0:07:32.800 --> 0:07:35.960 and she said, Man, I think ale Gash White was 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:39.240 literally the first craft beer. I oh, yeah, And I 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:40.920 think that's probably the case for a lot of people. 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:43.560 They were drinking you know, crumby beers like Blue Moon 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:47.720 or what it's something else made by you know, we 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:51.240 have blue Moon at our wedding. I think I had 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:54.280 maybe high life at my wedding. So it was all 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:56.840 about each other place. Yeah, it was all about the 0:07:56.920 --> 0:07:59.760 low expense ratio on that one. But yeah, al Gash 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:02.240 White was probably for a lot of people that first 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:05.560 real craft beer that they got into because they were 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:09.120 drinking some of those like lighter hef style easier to 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:12.560 drink beers where you put an orange on top and 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:16.000 then al gash whites is perfect transition. But it's like, 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:19.200 but it's such a better version of it, Yeah, so 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:21.480 much better. It's like this is what you were drinking, 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:25.160 but like done right, exactly exactly, and people, oh, okay, 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:27.600 all right, I get that people in it. Yeah, that's 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:29.800 so funny. Man. One of the earliest experiences I have 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:33.000 at a local bar, at a local brew pub indicator 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:36.040 at brick Store was going in there with Kate and 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:39.040 I think her parents, my in laws, and specifically I 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:41.960 remember somebody ordering and al ash white because it's sort 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:43.559 of kind of high on the list, you know, it's 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:45.080 something that they always have, so it's like, all right, 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:48.560 this is gonna be something good. And yeah, it's just, 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:50.320 like you said, one of those originals, kind of like 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:54.320 one of those gateway craft beers, if you will. So, yeah, 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:55.720 if you were to make a list of like five 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:57.880 Gateway craft beers that would easily be on there, it 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:01.320 would be like that here and about pale Ale. It'd 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:02.480 be fun to kind of come up with a list 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:04.280 at some point of those, but like, those are the 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:06.640 two that immediately come to my mind. Those would be 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:08.600 two of the of the top five on my list 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.520 that that's how people broke into craft beer. All right, Matt, 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:14.240 onto the topic of the day. Do you need a 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:18.319 financial advisor? So generally speaking, no, I mean there's certain 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:22.880 situations like a divorce or a complicated inheritance sort of 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:26.600 situation that might call for it, um, But for the 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:29.079 vast majority of folks, and definitely for the most folks 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:33.040 that are listening to this, I would say absolutely not. Yeah, 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:35.720 what a financial advisors purport to help you with? I mean, 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:37.520 I think there are a wide range of things that 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:41.400 many financial advisors would say they offer, and that can 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:45.040 be from financial goal setting to managing your cash flow, 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:47.760 to think through what happens if someone dies or someone 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:50.720 in your family becomes disabled. They can help you think about, 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:54.079 you know, life insurance, creating a will. Most of those 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:56.920 topics are important to think about. Think the question comes 0:09:56.920 --> 0:10:01.240 down to should you be paying a profession nal to 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:05.040 help you plan those areas of your life out? Yeah, Juell, 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:07.240 I mean I think that's the absolute question that you 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:09.680 need to be asking yourself. Most of the time, some 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:11.800 of these scenes can be figured out just by thinking 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:14.360 about it, right. I think about the the episode we 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:17.480 did like the why behind money, like talk about goal 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:19.880 setting as far as like what to do with your money. 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:22.160 That's when you're gonna come up with your plan. You 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:24.040 just have to give it some time and some intention, 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:26.719 some thought, and also do some Google searching. There's a 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:29.360 lot of information out there that a lot of folks 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:32.760 have already put out there and have given real life examples, 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:35.280 and a ton of that is very very easy to 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:38.800 implement in your own life. Yeah, I think probably a 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:41.360 couple of the main reasons that's that people decide to 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:46.560 go see a quote unquote financial advisor is because either one, 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:49.760 they're a little bit lazy, they haven't done the research, 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:52.360 and they don't really know what to do with their money, 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:55.880 and they just they decide, you know, maybe they're thirty 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:58.640 five and something happens in their family, or maybe they're 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:02.600 fifty and something happened with their job. But some sort 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:06.120 of life event usually comes upon somebody and they decide, 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:08.360 you know what, now is the time for me to 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:12.040 take action and get involved in my finances and and 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:14.559 start saving for the future. I guess the right thing 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:17.040 to do is to go see a financial advisor. And 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:20.480 so it's usually out of a life event that people 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:22.920 launched into this and decided to pick somebody out of 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:25.520 the Yellow Pages and go sit down and talk to 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:27.599 somebody yellow Pages. Man, you're like taking it back to 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:30.440 the nineties or yellow pages dot com. I don't know. Yeah, 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:32.120 I think the reason people feel that way too is 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:34.040 that it can be overwhelming. You know, if you haven't 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:36.920 given any thoughts to your money basically at all, and 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:38.280 then all of a sudden you're sort of faced with 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:40.720 with these decisions that need to be made and you 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:42.640 start thinking through it. Well, yeah, it can kind of 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:45.360 be crippling, but you know if you start thinking through it. 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:48.280 I mean again, like almost all the things you already mentioned, 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:50.080 like these are things that we've even already talked about. 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:52.080 We've only been doing this podcast for like a few months, 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:55.480 but we've already covered cash flow, Right, what is that 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:58.120 you know, managing your You're you're spending and you're saving. Well, 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:00.600 that's a budget, like the goal seting. Well, that's the 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:02.520 why behind money, you know, Like, yeah, we haven't done 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:05.360 one yet on disability insurance or life insurance things like that. 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:09.000 That might be a sad episode, right, if you died, 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:11.800 is your family gonna be Okay, but it's an important 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:15.840 thing to Yeah, it's definitely true. And maybe because it 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:17.559 is kind of a bummer, we we've kind of avoided it. 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:18.880 Maybe that's one that will end up on the short 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:20.440 list and we'll get to that sooner than later. But 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:23.599 these are things that can be done incrementally and that 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:27.280 shouldn't be overwhelming because they're complicated. They're fairly simple things 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:29.760 that if you just tackle it one step at a time. 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:32.000 So we just talked through some of the things right 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:34.560 that a financial advisor can help you sort of think 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:37.640 through and plan and navigate the waters of personal finance. 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:39.839 A lot of the questions that we see out there 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:42.760 have mainly to do with investing, and so that's what 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:45.840 we're gonna spend the rest of the podcast talking about. Specifically, 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:50.800 is a financial advisor necessary when it comes to retirement investing? Yeah? Man, 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:55.160 So the financial services industry tries to overcomplicate things. There 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:58.280 are a billion products that are offered with a variety 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:01.080 of different claims and ulto only most of those things 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:03.040 are crap. You don't need to know about them, and 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:06.959 so learning how to invest your money so that it's 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:09.559 working for you and not making someone else rich is 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:13.720 really an empowering thing, Jill. Another reason to consider not 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:16.800 having a financial advisor is if you have just you know, 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:20.320 a lower income and if your assets are simpler when 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:23.080 you make less, these fees really cut into your income. 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:24.960 Even though a lot of these different companies work off 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:27.559 of a percentage, there's still sort of a minimum, right, 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:30.520 like sort of a threshold, a bar to entry that 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:32.800 you need to have before they'll even kind of take 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:35.199 you in, before they'll even consider you. So, yeah, it's 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:37.800 definitely something else to consider. Most people in America make 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:40.120 less than a hundred and most people in America make 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:42.559 less than a hundred thousand dollars a year. And so 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:45.360 let's say you're getting that four oh one k match 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:47.800 and you're trying to figure out where to go next 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:50.480 to put a little bit of extra retirement money. There's 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:52.960 a lot of people like that that are trying to 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:55.199 go see a financial advisor. There's a lot of people 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:58.280 that have just a small amount of assets that are 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:01.079 trying to invest and they want to pay a premium 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:02.920 to talk to somebody to make sure they're doing the 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:05.000 right thing. I think, more than anything, that's what I 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:07.800 want to warn people against in this episode. If you're 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:11.400 in that category of normal American income, you don't want 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:14.520 to be paying a huge portion of your investable assets 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:17.679 to someone to tell you how to invest that money, 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:19.760 or just to like maybe tell you to just get 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:22.560 out of debt. You know, like that money could bet, 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:25.560 you know, be better spent towards paying off debt or 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:27.560 paying off credit cards or something like that that maybe 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:29.440 should be obvious, but you know, this is just not 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:31.360 something that you you might be thinking of at the time. 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:34.240 You think there's something more complicated or fancy that needs 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:36.320 to take place, when in reality it's like, well, maybe 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:39.440 you should just put that towards paying off debt. So 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:41.240 here was the way I thought about it. Let's say 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:43.800 give a normal sized American lawn that needs to be 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:47.320 mowed every week and a half, and you go out 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:51.200 and you hire the guy that is the groundskeeper for 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:56.000 your local major league ballpark, say, can you come mode 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:59.320 my lawn and make it look pristine? He says, sure, 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:02.080 But I normal work on these these major ballparks. You know, 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:05.200 my time's worth a lot. Okay, I like where you're going. 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:07.520 I can make your lawn look pretty amazing, but it's 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:10.160 gonna cost a lot of money because I'm a baller, 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:15.960 and so obviously you wouldn't jump into that relationship. You 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:20.040 wouldn't pay a guy a premium that is well above 0:15:20.120 --> 0:15:22.920 what anybody else would charge the layer law. Instead of 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:26.160 doing that, the much better decision would be to buy 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:28.240 your own lawnmower and start cutting your own grass and 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:30.880 maybe buy an edge or on top and right and 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:33.400 a blower and you can make it look semi professional. 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:36.280 But I think a lot of people in America are 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:39.760 in that situation where they have a normal lawn that's 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:42.160 easily maintained on their own, and they decided to do 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:45.400 something crazy like hire somebody to give them input on 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:47.880 their small amount of assets and their small amount of 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:51.000 money that they have to invest every month, and ultimately 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:54.640 it eats into their growth and it does great damage 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:57.240 to their ability to retire early. Yeah, man, I like 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:00.120 that analogy. So another reason why you should consider are 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:02.560 not having a financial advisor is like you said, I mean, 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:05.560 they can be expensive. And when you have a small 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:08.560 a smaller portfolio you know of assets or you know, 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:10.920 like you're saying, a smaller lawn, you go to an 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:13.720 advisor and they're going to take a decent percentage of 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:16.800 what you're gonna earn is going to go towards paying them. 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:19.040 And there's different ways that they can be paid. Um, 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:22.480 you've got fee only or feed based, and then you've 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:25.760 got commission based, and they are not all created equal. 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:28.880 Best case scenario, you found somebody that is fee only 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:33.640 where they either have a flat rate or they build hourly. Yeah, 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:35.480 and if you are going to hire a financial advisor, 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:37.680 that's the best way to go because that's the best 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:41.120 case scenario. There are a lot of hidden fees with 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:44.880 most of the other ways that an advisor can be compensated. So, 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:47.920 for instance, there are also fee based planners, and so 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:50.400 they charge a fee, but then they also might make 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:53.040 commissions off of products that they sell you on top 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:55.600 of that. So at least you know if you visit 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:59.480 a fee only advisor, you've worked out hopefully an hourly 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:02.200 rate that they're getting paid, and you know exactly what 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:05.119 they're getting compensated for, and that whatever they recommend to 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:08.880 you they believe is in your best interest as a fiduciary. 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:10.840 They're not trying to sell you things, they are going 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:14.399 to make them additional money. Edel you mentioned fiduciaries, So 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:16.919 you want to define exactly what that is. Yeah, Man, 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:20.720 a fiduciary has a legal standard and a moral standard 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:25.239 to do what is in your best interest with your money. So, 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:28.520 for instance, they wouldn't recommend to you an annuity that 0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:31.720 earns them high commissions or isn't best for your scenario 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:35.159 just because it made them more dollars higher percentI rate 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:38.640 that they're making commission on. Right. Ultimately, if you're considering 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:42.119 hiring somebody to help you with their investments, that is 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:43.679 the first question you want to ask them. Are you 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:45.800 a fiduciary? If they're not a fiduciary, you want to 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:47.720 walk out the door right then and there, because that 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:50.520 fiduciary standard is crucial to knowing that you're going to 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:54.200 get the unbiased advice that you need. Yeah, not all 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:58.480 financial planners are fiduciaries. And I mean, like, how much 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:01.199 sense does it make to go to somebody and like 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:03.600 ask them for advice on something that you should do 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:06.119 with your money that is going to make them money? 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:08.840 You know, it's just like, well, of course you're gonna 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:12.160 probably mentioned the products that make them twice as much 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:15.600 in commission than the basic sort of product that's just 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:18.440 gonna be great for you, but certainly not the best 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:20.679 for them. It's kind of surprising that there's not a 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:23.399 more sort of rigorous standard. I guess, like, I know 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:26.840 this exists, but it's just crazy that not everyone is 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:29.119 required to go by that. You know, Like, anybody can 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:32.119 call themselves a financial advisor and that doesn't really mean anything. 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:34.919 It doesn't speak to their knowledge and what they're capable of. 0:18:35.080 --> 0:18:37.320 It just means that that's just sort of what they do. Yeah, 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:38.880 I mean, I think there are a couple of problems 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:41.240 in the industry as a whole. Right, there's first off, Yeah, 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:43.600 there there isn't really a standard in in the Department 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:45.520 of Labor tried to kind of come up with a standard, 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:48.199 and that's kind of been walked back. And so for 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:51.800 a minute it looked like anybody giving investment advice was 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:53.800 going to have to be a foduciary. Well that's kind 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:55.920 of been backtracked, and so that's not really the case anymore. 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:57.720 So you really have to watch your own back. No 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:00.400 one else is watching it for you. Yeah, let's talk 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:02.560 about the fact that financial planner is kind of a 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:06.520 vague term as well. It Yeah, I'm a financial planner, Joel. Right, 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:10.959 almost anybody can calmselve that. But but what does it 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:14.120 mean in actuality? And what is their obligation to you? 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:15.840