Hiring A Financial Advisor: Is It Just About Investment Growth?

Here’s a common question that comes up in my first meeting with prospects: “Okay, so if this is going to cost me $150 a month, then I expect you to make me more than that. Is that fair?”

As an advisor, you do want to help grow your clients’ investments, but an advisors’ value is not that simple — investment management is only one part of the job. An advisors’ value goes beyond that.

So… when this topic gets brought up, I say “to be honest, my goal is to help you grow your investments over time and increase your net worth, but my job goes beyond that. Think of your house cleaner or the business you pay to help take care of your lawn. What value do they provide for you?”

Then they usually say “well they help save me time and they take a task off my plate that I don’t honestly want to do. Plus, it is their job and they do it better than I can.”

I then say “Oh that makes a lot of sense. So a big part of hiring them is to free you up to do the things that you want to do. Do you want to do all the research to learn how to manage your finances, investments, taxes, insurance, company benefits, etc. all by yourself? Or would you rather save that time and hire someone else to do it?”

This is where the lightbulb starts to go off for most people and they realize the point I am trying to make. A huge part of working with an advisor is offloading these unwanted tasks to someone else because people simply don’t have the time or don’t want to do it themselves.  

Here’s another good example, think of your barber/hairstylist. Why do you have one when you could cut your hair on your own?  You do it so you can save time and not have to do it yourself. Could you learn to cut your own hair, yeah probably. Would it be worth your time? No, probably not — which is why most people hire a barber.

Most people understand the value of outsourcing in other areas of life, but when it comes to a financial advisor all they think of is investment growth. However, you are paying for more than, they save you time, they hold you accountable, they bring clarity and confidence around your financial decisions, and they take tasks off your plate that you don’t want to do.

If you are looking for someone to help offload some financial tasks for you, hit me up. I would love to help!