WEBVTT - The BA Q&A: Do I Need a Financial Planner? 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:09.080 Hey, Hey, via fam It's Mandy here with another episode 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:11.320 of the B, A Q and A. This is the 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:14.440 episode where we take all of your lovely questions and 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:17.159 try to give you a lowercase A answer. Okay, you 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:19.479 know you guys, when I take your questions, I'm just 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:22.840 giving you off the dome responses. So take everything with 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:25.599 a giant like palmful of salt based salt. You know 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:27.840 what I mean by that. And this is all just 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:31.640 meant to be fun informational. Don't forget that you can 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:33.839 remain anonymous, so give us you know, you can tell 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:35.800 us your business, but we won't actually put your name 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:37.519 out there. So just let us know if you want 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:41.080 to remain anonymous. Submit your question to us at Brownambition 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:44.519 podcast dot com or hit us up through IG. We 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:48.199 are at Brand Ambission Podcast on the Gram. All right, 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:52.760 let's dive into these questions. First question from IG. We'll 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:56.800 call this listener Sam. Sam says. Sam says, what is 0:00:56.840 --> 0:01:00.120 better renting or buying a house? Oh? Sam, I feel 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:03.560 like this is the perennial question on everyone's mind all 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:06.640 of the time, and it kind of depends on a 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:10.080 couple of different things. One, it depends on the and 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:12.480 I will say the economy, but also the economy in 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:17.440 your area, the local housing economy, and financially, the second 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:20.920 huge contributing factor to whether it makes sense to rent 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:22.800 or buy our house is what do you want to 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:25.320 do and what makes sense for your financial picture. I 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:27.640 think what I love about a lot of the advice 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:31.319 and conversations around home ownership these days is there's a 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:35.360 lot more appetite to not force people into prescribing to 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:38.839 this vision of oh, I need to get a house. 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:40.960 I have to be a homeowner in order to build 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:43.959 wealth or to be a proper adult. Right, that's just 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:46.600 bs and we all know it when it comes to 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:49.360 deciding whether to buy or rent. And by the way, 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:51.800 this was me four or five years ago when we 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:54.600 bought this house. I was exactly where you are, and 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:57.320 I was like, what is the right decision? This is 0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:01.040 very stressful. We ultimately decided to stop renting and buy 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:04.040 a house. And I'll kind of talk you through my 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:08.680 train of thought there at the time, in our local economy, 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:12.120 there were some houses that we could get at an 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:15.639 affordable price that fit the bill for what we wanted 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:17.960 out of our lifestyle. We wanted to be close to 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:19.920 the city. So I live outside of New York. Now. 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:21.800 We wanted to be close enough to the city to 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:24.000 commute to work, which is like, Lol, no one does 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:25.640 that anymore. That's not true. A lot of people do. 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:28.720 But yes, we were concerned about being close enough to 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:31.520 the city so where commute wouldn't be hell, finding a 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:34.160 home that we could put our own stamp on with 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:37.520 doing our own you know, remodels, renovations, things like that, 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:40.799 because of course, we were always watching HGTV, which is 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:42.560 what you do when you're thinking about buying a house 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:44.800 and then you think you're a property brother and you 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:46.600 can just you know, renovate it on your own. But 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:49.760 I digress. So we wanted we wanted to find a place. 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:52.320 It had to be the right fit for us location wise, 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:55.440 so close to the city, not too far. We also 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:57.520 wanted something within our price points, so we got really 0:02:57.560 --> 0:02:59.880 clear on how much we were willing to pay. I 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:02.880 kind of went off of what what mortgage payment can 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:06.840 I afford? Okay, and we decided like something near or 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:09.680 a little bit over our rent would be doable, and 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:12.200 that was comfortable for us to be able to pay 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:14.680 with one income. Just in I always like to be 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:17.120 prepared and kind of think, well, what if one of 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:19.600 us loses our job. At the time, we were both 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:24.160 working full time for businesses, so it was possible, right, 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:26.760 And my husband works for the government, so really I 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:29.120 tried to base it off of his salary because you know, 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:32.760 government jobs so stable, blah blah blah all that. But anyway, 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:35.320 I've tried to come up with a monthly budget and 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:37.600 then kind of work my way back my way into 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:41.240 how much house we could afford from there, and ooh, 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:43.880 when I tell you you think you can afford something, 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:48.040 and then you forget about property taxes, right, so, oh man, 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:51.360 the property taxes here are wild. So I would definitely 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:55.080 also factor in like what's your total household expense for 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:57.520 the month, so how much mortgage could you afford, and 0:03:57.560 --> 0:03:59.280 then kind of try to get a sense of what 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:02.440 property tax like in your area too, to give you 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:06.280 a real realistic picture of what your housing costs could be. 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:08.520 And then from there, once we knew kind of how 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:11.360 much house we could afford and what kind of house 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:13.840 we wanted and where we wanted it at, then it 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:18.520 was just about really wheedling, whittling down the list of 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.679 options and filtering it down. And the good thing about 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:24.640 being so cheap and an extremely expensive market like New 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:27.080 York is that our options were very few. Right, So 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:29.200 once we found a house that fit our budget and 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:32.560 the other sort of metrics, then we stopped renting and 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:36.039 we bought the house. Okay, that is what I can say. 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:39.520 It made financial sense for us, It made sense for 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:42.120 what we needed. It was a house that fit our needs, 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:44.200 and those are the reasons that we got it. And 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:48.160 for no other reasons. Could we control the economy. No. 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:52.039 That's why I think it really is important to only 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:54.960 buy what you can afford. And it's true since the 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:58.400 housing crisis of the early two thousands, banks and lenders 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:00.320 have gotten a lot better because they've been for to 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:04.080 buy legislation and by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, But 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:06.000 they have been forced to get a lot better themselves 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:08.760 that only letting people borrow what they can afford to repay. 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:11.520 So it's a lot harder to get too much house, 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:14.479 more house that you can afford these days. That being said, 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:17.440 like you can still do like even though your lender 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:20.119 says your approved for X amount of money, it doesn't 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:22.479 mean you have to buy a house for that much money. Okay, 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:24.839 it's okay to get it's okay to get the smaller 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.800 house for a little bit less and give yourself that 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:30.840 wiggle room. And for us especially, I didn't know four 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:33.000 or five years ago that I'd be launching my own business, 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:36.279 but as sure as hell, was relieved to know. And 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:37.840 that's part of the reason why I was able to 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:40.640 step out of my own you know, when I did, 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:45.200 is because our housing expenses were not such a massive 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:49.880 part of our household budget that I felt chained or 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:52.920 kind of locked down to having this particular job at 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:57.200 that particular salary. We gave ourselves that flexibility, and I'm 0:05:57.240 --> 0:06:00.240 so grateful that we did, because you may have have 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:03.760 the job that pays you know, X amount of money now, 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:05.760 but what if in five ten years from now, you're 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:07.680 not happy anymore, or you want to take a pay 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:09.400 cut to do something else, or you want to launch 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:11.919 your own business or whatever. You want to buy a 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:15.320 camper van like everyone's doing and go, you know, around 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:16.960 the country living out of a camper van and not 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:19.520 my style, but you know, to each his own. You 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:24.400 have that flexibility if you create a budget that gives 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:27.880 you some room, okay, some room to wiggle around. What 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:30.479 else can I say about renting or buy us that's it. 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:33.320 Rent if you want to rent and buy. When you 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:35.320 want to buy, pay attention to what's happening in your 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:39.599 local economy, pay attention to you know. And if you're 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:43.240 in a place right now since the pandemic where how's 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:46.160 how's price? Home prices have just been insane and nothing 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:48.440 seems affordable and you can't find a house that ticks 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:52.640 all your boxes, then just wait, wait, or potentially pursue 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:57.279 home ownership in another area. But I definitely wouldn't want 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:00.840 anyone to buy a house before they're ready, or a 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:04.960 house that doesn't make sense for their financial goals. You're 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:06.560 the one who wants to live in the house at 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:09.000 the end of the day, and you're the name who's 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:11.440 your name's gonna be on the mortgage payment each month, 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:15.000 So that decision has to come from you and no 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:19.320 one else. All right, Sam, thank you so much for 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:22.840 your question. Let me get to question number two. Oh 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:26.000 the boys are out today. This question comes from listeners 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:29.360 Brian the boy the men's are here all right? So 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:33.920 Brian says, let's say someone's credit is under six hundred, 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:37.040 would there be any benefits to them being added as 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:41.280 an authorized user on another's credit card account whose credit 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:44.800 score is over seven hundred? Would there be any negative 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:48.440 credit effects in doing so to the person whose credit 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:51.800 score is over seven hundred? Okay, So we've got two 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:56.040 hypothetical people here. Someone's got poor credit, their credit is 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:59.200 under six hundred, and then they're wanting to become an 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:02.560 authorized user or on someone's account who's got great credit 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:05.600 seven hundred and above. And so the question is like, basically, 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:07.880 what are the benefits of that? And then is there 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:10.800 any risk to the person with good credit to have 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:14.960 someone piggyback on them who has crappy credit? Okay, fun question. 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:17.520 So let's talk about being an authorized user. So there's 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:21.200 a couple of ways to share credit responsibility and credit 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:26.120 card usage with another person, authorized user or joint account holder. 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:29.000 The main difference between those two is that when you're 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:31.680 an authorized user, you're able to use the card, but 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:35.680 you don't actually have ultimate responsibility for the payments. A 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:40.240 joint account holder is when two people have joint responsibility 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:42.520 for the payments. So if one person stops making payments 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:44.320 the other one they're going to come for you. Okay. 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:48.440 So authorized user. The benefit of that is it's less 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:52.160 risk for the person with poor credit to piggyback onto 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:55.400 someone with good credit. Less risk meaning they don't actually 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:57.960 they're not on the hook for those payments. And if 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:01.080 the person who actually is the primary account holder has 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:04.319 issues making payments, it's not they're not going to come 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:07.240 after the authorized user. And the benefit of being an 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:10.600 authorized user, which is this person's getting at, is it 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:13.600 can actually help you improve your credit score, so long 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:17.199 as the main account holder is making their payments on time. 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:20.600 So this is the tricky thing here. You're really trusting 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:23.400 that you're piggybacking, and you're like attaching yourself to someone 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:26.520 who's going to be responsibly using their credit card. If 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:29.280 they start to not responsibly use their credit card, that 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:33.679 could have a negative impact of course on them they themselves, 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:36.520 but also on you as an authorized user, because those 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:40.720 that credit card behavior could be reported on your credit 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:45.360 history as well. These are this kind of reporting will 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:48.480 change by credit issuers. So before you become an authorized user, 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:50.960 I would actually call up the credit card company and 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:53.800 ask them how do you guys treat authorized users? Do 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:56.439 you report positive And of course they're going to report 0:09:56.480 --> 0:09:59.079 positive behavior to credit bureaus, But what about the negative 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:02.120 behavior because that can actually change by issuers, So definitely 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:06.600 call them up and get the details on that. Now, 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:09.440 would there be any negative effects or risk to the 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:12.560 person with higher credit to have someone piggyback on their 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:15.160 account who has poor credit. Well, as an authorized user, 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:19.360 you are giving that person the ability to use your 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:22.000 credit card, So yeah, there's a huge risk there. They 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:24.280 have to be able to use it responsibly. And ultimately, 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.280 if they screw things up and they charge a bunch 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:29.480 of crap to the credit card and they can't afford 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:31.920 to pay you for their part of the bill, then 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:34.360 you're on the hook for that. So what I tend 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:39.520 to see is people you know in relationships or like 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:44.240 a parent child relationship, where it authorized credit card user 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:46.720 makes more sense. I mean, you think you can hopefully 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:49.760 you can trust your kid, but yeah, there's a risk there, 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:51.760 and I would say if you have an authorized user 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:53.560 on your account, you got to watch them like a 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:57.360 hawk baby. Okay, it's really it's your credit on the 0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:00.360 line at the end of the day. So it's helpful 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:03.040 for the person who needs you to improve their credit, 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:05.559 and I think it's a great you know a tool 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:08.000 and a strategy for that, but there's got to be 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:12.440 mutual respect and trust. And I think the person whose 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:14.080 names on that bill at the end of the month, 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:16.400 do not take your eye off of that credit card 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:19.040 bill and make sure that you nip any shenanigans in 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:21.480 the bud right away, because you're the one holding the 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:24.760 bag at the end of the day. Okay, all right, 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:26.840 let me take a quick breaky break, and I'll be 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:31.640 right back with more BAQ and a All right, the 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:34.160 A fan, It's Mandy. I am back with our third 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:37.080 and final question for the BAQA. This week, we have 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:39.800 got a question from Brittany. Brittany says, Hey, I'm new 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:43.320 to the podcast, but I've definitely been binging. I paid 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:46.240 off my student loans in twenty nineteen, saved up and 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:48.680 bought my first home, and now I'm thinking about my 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:51.720 overall financial health and trying to build wealth. On a 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:54.920 recent episode, you mentioned you have a financial advisor. Could 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:57.400 you talk about where we should get one, how much 0:11:57.440 --> 0:11:59.640 I should spend on them, and how often I should 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:02.600 meet them. I tried one and it really didn't work. 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:05.199 Then I found another one that has a flat feet 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:08.440 of twelve hundred and fifty dollars, which for someone who's 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:13.920 trying to build wealth feels counterintuitive. I would love some advice, Okay, Brittany, 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:16.120 I get this question a lot, and you know what, 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:19.880 Do I have a financial planner? Yes? But do I 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:22.880 think that everyone needs one? No? Even I don't need 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:26.040 one sometimes. I mean, I'm sure my financial advisor and 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:28.160 planner would tell me like, yeah, you need one, but 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:32.040 I don't really think that everyone needs them. I think 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:34.200 what was helpful for me, and the reason I got 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:37.640 one about when did I meet Helen like five years ago, 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:41.080 is because my husband and I were thinking about getting engaged. 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:43.160 We knew we were going towards marriage and wanting to 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:46.640 combine our you know, financial pictures together, and we were 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:50.199 kind of like not speaking the same language about our finances. 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:53.720 I mean, ten eleven years into our relationship now, I 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:56.280 just know that we're two fundamentally different people, and we 0:12:56.360 --> 0:13:00.760 decided to make life really difficult for ourselves choosing someone 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:04.200 so different to us. But what really helped me was 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:06.679 having financial planner to kind of be that mediator between 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:08.840 the two of us and to help kind of like 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:12.040 make things less. I don't know, it just made our 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:15.400 conversations easier to have. We would schedule a time with Helen, 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:18.720 we would have a question, you know about saving for 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:21.520 the wedding or I know, we talked to Helen when 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:24.040 we were thinking about buying our first home and it 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:26.679 just kind of made it. We had like a referee 0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:30.679 in the mix, and it helped my husband feel more heard, 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.000 because when you're married to Mandy Money, or you're dating 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:35.360 Mandy Money, it can feel a little bit like I 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:37.360 take a lot of like air out of the room 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.520 because I live and breathe and eat and sleep this stuff, 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:42.679 which made it more challenging for him to feel like, 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:45.240 you know, his ideas mattered and things like that, which 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:48.760 I understand looking back now. So that is why we 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:51.240 brought in a financial planner for a lot of people. 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:52.960 You know, let's talk about what's the point of a 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:55.960 financial planner and what can they actually do. So most 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:59.720 financial planners can be really helpful in kind of assessing 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:02.760 where you're at with your net worth, so how much 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:06.000 assets versus liabilities do you have, and then helping you 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:10.240 sort of strategize how to increase your net worth. So 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:12.959 how can we get our debt paid down? You know 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:15.280 what can we do to be saving more and increase 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:17.839 our cash flow so that we have more money to 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:22.520 save and invest, make some suggestions on you know, how 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:25.000 much to contribute to different accounts, and if you need 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:28.080 someone to kind of help you, just get the nice 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:32.000 foundation for financial success set up. That's where a financial 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:35.000 planner can be helpful. Another thing, and this is where 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:37.840 I kind of suspect this flat fee of twelve hundred 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:40.840 and fifty dollars is coming in, is financial planners can 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:44.200 give you like a full plan which kind of gives you, 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:46.280 like your goal for how much you want to have 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:49.760 saved and invested for retirement and things like that. And 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:52.360 that's more like here's a you know, you're going to 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:54.520 download a lot of information from you and then they'll 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:57.840 like give you this plan. I've had one of those 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:01.800 plans done not by Helen, but by a previous financial planner. 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:04.400 I actually got it through I was a personal finance 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:07.760 journalist and I was using a service called learn Invest, 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:10.720 which is now not even around anymore. But they had 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:12.960 a financial planner and I just decided to use them 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:15.120 kind of for research to see what it was like, 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:17.720 and I got one of those big financial plans and 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:19.680 when I tell you, I haven't looked at that thing, 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:23.200 I don't even know since one Also I was making, 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:26.320 you know, I don't know forty five thousand dollars at 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:29.000 the time, and it just a lot of that plan 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:34.760 didn't necessarily it didn't stay like accurate for long. My 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:37.560 career was just progressing. I was making these big leaps 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:41.520 in my pay, and that plan made sense for a 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:44.920 single twenty four year old, you know, making forty five 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:48.040 to fifty K a year, but it definitely didn't make 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:50.440 sense for me a few years down the line. So 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:54.760 I would just make sure you really understand what it 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:57.280 is that you're getting with an investment like that. The 0:15:57.360 --> 0:16:00.800 financial planner that I have, we base, we just pay 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:03.600 for the sessions. When I decide I need a session, 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:05.640 I'll book one and then we pay, and it probably 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:08.880 amounts to a couple of times a year. And how 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:12.000 do you decide how much you should meet with them. 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:15.280 That's really up to you, and it's really up to 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:18.840 what kinds of goals you have and how much support 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:21.560 you need in achieving those goals. And I think that's 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:24.440 maybe not the best. That's the answer that you know 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:26.240 people would like because they just want me to tell 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:27.840 them what to do, right, But I can't do that. 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:31.880 It really depends on you and your personality. For myself, 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:35.680 I work better if I have sort of like a 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:38.720 big call and then I can like execute, you know, 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:41.960 do X, y Z, and then I'll get it done 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:44.400 and then you know, see you in six months or whatever. 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:47.760 So that works for me. If you're someone who's got 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:51.920 more of a complex financial picture, maybe you have children, 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:57.440 you have a mixed family, You've got some big goals, 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:01.520 you know coming up, big career changes coming up. You 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:04.080 may want to have a chat with a financial planner, 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:06.640 you know, once a quarter or once every other month, 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:10.520 or maybe even once a month. It all depends ultimately, 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:12.959 like how much you're willing to mean it will cost money, right, 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:15.480 this is someone's time. But I think what you should 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:18.800 get as an upfront expectation of what is an hour? 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:20.840 What is a one hour call with you? Look like, 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:23.439 what is the goal for that call? What am I 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:26.080 going to get out of that call? And because there's 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:30.440 so many more independent financial advisors now financial planners, they 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:33.800 have their own way of doing things, so unfortunately it's 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:36.440 not as easy to compare kind of apples to apples. 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:38.800 When I was searching for a financial planner, I remember 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:41.960 we interviewed probably three different planners until we found the 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:43.719 one that we felt was the best fit for us. 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:47.679 And it wasn't really a like a strategy there. It 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:50.439 was just kind of who did we think fit, Like 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:52.159 who do we both like because this is two of 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:55.879 us deciding, and who could we afford and all of that. 0:17:56.600 --> 0:17:59.520 So all that is to say, it's what you're doing 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:01.480 right now now is the work that it takes to 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:03.879 find the right financial planner for yourself. It is to 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:06.240 work with different people and see how it goes, talk 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:08.960 to different people until you find the right fit. And 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:11.240 I know Tiffany has also in the past talked about 0:18:11.240 --> 0:18:13.960 her own journey to find the right financial planner, and 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:17.919 she interviewed several people. So it's not easy work. And 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:20.640 it's not as easy as going on like a ZocDoc 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:25.159 and getting the best reviewed gynecologist. There's just maybe this 0:18:25.240 --> 0:18:28.520 is a business idea, but yeah, there's no easy way 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:32.439 to gauge as the success of financial planners or like 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:33.960 who's best for you kind of have to do a 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:36.560 lot of the like work yourself. You can definitely ask 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:40.520 for referrals from friends and family and people who you 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:43.040 know who have had a good experience with their planner. 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:44.960 What else can I say about that? Oh? Right, where 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:47.720 did I find Helen? So? I found Helen through x 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:51.119 Y Planning, which is the x Y Planning network, and 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:53.320 at the time, they were really focusing on gen X 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:55.879 gen Y, which I think they still do. They have 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:58.600 a lot of fee only planners there, and fee only 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:02.639 planners will charge you a fee for their services. So, 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:05.639 like I said, when I have a call with Helen, 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:07.439 I pretty much know what it's going to cost me 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:12.200 and all of that, so everything is pretty transparent. And also, 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:15.080 if you want investment advice, like if you want someone 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:17.760 to tell you where to put things and give you 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:20.920 a plan for that, that's an additional level of service 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:23.440 which some financial planners can help you with if they're 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:27.520 a registered investment advisor. So ask those questions too, and 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:30.239 also ask what the fees are for those services. So 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:32.240 I know when I go to Helen and I'm like, Okay, 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:37.439 give us advice on how to diversify our investments. You 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:39.439 know we've been doing these an autopilot for a while. 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:41.600 What's your advice? I know that's going to cost me 0:19:41.680 --> 0:19:43.879 more to get that kind of advice from her, So 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:46.399 I just kind of ask what's that going to cost me? 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:51.400 And move from there. Okay, I hope that's helpful. Brittany. 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:53.440 Thank you so much for listening, and you're a new listener, 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:55.719 so welcome to the show. Thank you so much for 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:59.080 supporting us. And that wraps up this week's be a 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:01.880 Q and a thank y'all so much. Hit us up 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:04.639 at Brandimission Podcast at gmail dot com. If you have 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:07.680 any questions, you can also go to our website, brandimission 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:11.199 podcast dot com submit a question there, or go to 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:20.399 ig We are at brandambission podcast on the Gram.