What is a financial advisor and do I really need one?
What is a financial advisor?
A financial advisor is someone who helps you manage your money by creating strategies for managing and building wealth, investments, estate planning, and more. As the name suggests, financial advisors can also provide insight and advice about other financial decisions to help you make the right choices for your circumstances.
“Financial advisor” can also be a catch-all term for professionals—like financial planners, wealth managers, money managers, retirement planners, and many other similar titles—but they generally all mean the same thing: financial guidance for people who want a strategy to achieve some future monetary goal.
What does a financial advisor do?
As mentioned above, financial advisors can help you with a lot of financial decisions to set yourself up for success. Some of the most common things people turn to financial advisors for is to help plan for future life events like home ownership, manage existing funds, retirement, and estate planning.
Planning for life events
Eventually, we all experience some big life event, whether it’s paying for college, buying a home, starting your own business, or caring for aging parents. Often times, your financial goals can overlap, collide, or simply seem unmanageable. A financial advisor will not only help you navigate the journey, but they’ll also work with you to prioritize your efforts. Sometimes you just need a more structured savings and investment strategy that can lead you to a more comfortable and less overwhelmed mindset.
Maximizing your current assets
Sometimes the help of a financial advisor is about managing the funds you already have. Many people use an advisor’s expertise to invest their savings and maximize the opportunity to put their money to work. They can help manage an investor’s tax liability, too. A financial advisor who specializes in tax-deferred investment vehicles can help you determine the most advantageous time to take a distribution from your retirement plan or identify beneficial tax-sheltered options.
Regardless of intellect, an investor may lack the appropriate knowledge when it comes to choosing investment options. Trying to balance the relationship between risk and return with your time horizon and your financial goals can be tricky. A smart investor seeks out and leverages the guidance of experts, even if they have investment experience. Don’t ever underestimate the value of professional advice.
Retirement planning
It’s never too early to start planning for your retirement, and a financial advisor can help make those dreams come true. Whether you want to buy a boat to sail around the world or buy a large house for your grandkids to visit, your retirement dreams cost money.
Discussing those big dreams with your financial advisor can help you better understand your long-term financial needs. Additionally, they can advise on when you can access your retirement funds and Social Security benefits.
Estate planning
While end-of-life planning may feel morbid, it can help provide comfort during trying times. Having a will in particular can help relieve some of your family’s stress after you pass. Working with a financial advisor, in addition to an estate planning attorney, can ensure everything is distributed according to your wishes, but also plan out how to divide your assets. Financial advisors can even offer insight into potential future costs you hadn’t considered, like the costs of a family member adopting your pet.
When to choose a financial advisor
Some people think that only wealthy people need financial advisors, but the truth is, anyone can work with an advisor at any stage of life. Your first step should be to determine what financial goals you’re trying to accomplish. This can help decide what kind of financial advisor you might want to seek out.
Another big reason to work with a financial advisor is to help get your finances back on track. For some, their finances are one step away from crashing and burning. If you’re struggling with debt, a consolidation plan might be a wise first step. Financial advisors can develop a plan—not a get-rich-quick fix—where you’ll learn discipline, recognize your spending habits, and be held accountable so you can move toward improved financial health.
When you work through your goals with an advisor who has in-depth knowledge of your financial situation, you can create realistic expectations and learn to plan accordingly. Recommending appropriate investment vehicles and a savings strategy can help guide you through the uncertainty.
While some advisors require a long-term arrangement, there are many who offer free consultations and no-obligation appointments to review your financial plan—or lack thereof. Check out the services offered by your local bank or credit union and set up a meeting. If they don’t give you a gold star and a pat on the back, they’ll be sure to recommend a realistic strategy. Either way, you win!
Key Takeaways:
- A financial advisor is someone who can help you manage existing funds and plan long-term financial goals, like home ownership, retirement, and estate planning.
- You don’t have to be a millionaire to have a financial advisor—anyone can work with an advisor, at any stage of life.
- Some reasons you may work with a financial advisor include planning for large financial decisions, helping pick investments for your portfolio, or getting you back on financial track.
Regardless of where you are in life, it’s never too early to start thinking about your future. A little strategic planning and insightful analysis now can go a long way to helping ensure you meet all your long-term financial goals.
If you’re ready to get started, you can send an email for a no-cost, no-obligation appointment or learn more about Georgia’s Own Investment & Retirement Services here. In addition to a wealth of experience and knowledge, our financial professionals also offer a genuine concern for your financial success. We’ll not only come up with a customized plan; we’ll also see it through.
5 tips to reach your retirement goals
There is not a single straight line leading you to retirement, life takes us all through ups and downs. Use these tips to help limit the financial impact this recent crisis might have on your retirement goals.
For more info on the Georgia’s Own Investment and Retirement Services, visit georgiasown.org/investment-and-retirement-services.org.
5 pros and cons of 401k rollovers
Have recent events resulted in job loss? You might be faced with a decision about what to do with your retirement account from a previous employer. Here are 5 pros and cons of 401k rollovers.
For more info on the Georgia’s Own Investment and Retirement Services, visit georgiasown.org/investment-and-retirement-services.org.
5 smart ways to use your stimulus check
A second round of stimulus relief has passed providing some much-needed relief to Americans. Here are five ways you can leverage the funds.
For more info on the Georgia’s Own Investment and Retirement Services, visit georgiasown.org/investment-and-retirement-services.org.
Todd’s Mortgage Minute: “How are rates?” Hmmm…
I’ve been in lending for almost 20 years and a question I receive from friends, family, and acquaintances alike is often the same, “how are the rates?” Well, this all depends on many factors, but it is mostly dependent on what YOUR situation is and what YOU’RE trying to accomplish.
You’d have to have lived under a rock the last couple of years not to know how low rates have been — and not just low, but HISTORICALLY LOW. But, over the last three months, it’s been well publicized that “rates are going up”…again, from a historical low. Just because rates are rising doesn’t mean they’re high, it just means they’re higher in some capacity than what they were yesterday. Not to mention many factors go into determining the rates, as well: credit scores, loan to value, type of occupancy, length of loan term, etc.
So consider this: if you’re trying to purchase a new home and you’ve found the house of your dreams AND it’s in your budget, then the rates should be good for you! Or, if you’re looking to refinance your current mortgage to save money each month by securing a lower payment and rate, then the rates should be good for you, too!
Remember, none of us in the industry can tell or predict what the rates will be tomorrow or anytime in the future, we can only share what they are today, and if it meets your needs and is better than what you have, I would say the rates are good!
Best Resale Value Vehicles
Most experts agree that the best time of year to purchase a new model car is in January and February – plus, if you finance with us by January 31 this year, you can enjoy 60 days of no payments*! Sales at the beginning of the year are usually slow and dealers start to raise prices as the year progresses. One thing to keep in mind when buying a new ride is the best resale value vehicles. As you probably know, cars start losing value the second you drive off the lot which is a bad thing if you think you’ll resell or trade it down the road. Resale value begins when you buy the “right” car in the first place. Here are a couple of things to look for that affect resale value.
Color — Standard colors are much easier to sell than trendy colors.
Upgrades and options — Options like leather seats and sunroofs add to a car’s value, but a navigation system or upgraded stereo won’t bring any extra money when selling. Also, automatic transmission is much more popular than manual transmission.
Geography — Demand for vehicles varies in different parts of the country and even in different communities. Convertibles may be good for warmer weather states, but it’s not as valuable in the colder northern states. Likewise, a pickup truck holds less value in bigger cities as opposed to rural towns.
These are just a couple of tips to consider when purchasing a car. Though resale value is important to many who purchase a new vehicle, if you plan to keep it until it dies, then you won’t need to worry about the resale value.
Source: bankrate.com
*Restrictions apply. Offer valid December 1, 2016 through January 31, 2017. No payment period only applicable to first 60 days of the loan. Interest will begin to accrue as of the loan date.