Finding Your Fiduciary Financial Advisor
When you are selecting or retaining a financial advisor, how do you know if you are making the best choice?
To recognize their impact on the investor experience, following are 10 attributes that tend to be synonymous with great financial advisors.
1. Purposeful: They have a clear mission to serve clients and help them reach their goals.
Great advisors want to do great work for their clients. They stake their business on doing the right thing, and know that business success will follow.
2. Empathetic: They know they cannot effectively serve clients without genuinely relating to them.
To serve well, an advisor must assume a client’s perspective. Empathetic advisors put themselves in their clients’ shoes and work to understand what matters most to them.
3. Authentic: They reveal their true selves to clients.
Effective advisors elevate the connection with clients by revealing their own personal stories. A willingness to be transparent and vulnerable helps build client trust and encourages real communication.
4. Intellectually Curious: They continue to search for the most robust solutions for clients.
Great advisors are on a continual path of professional improvement. They are lifelong learners, open to new ideas and committed to honing their technical knowledge and skills.
5. Personally Inquisitive: They work hard to uncover what’s truly meaningful to their clients.
Engaged advisors also have mastered the personal side of advice. They ask probing questions to better understand their client’s views on money and life before creating a plan.
6. Quiet: They listen more than they talk.
Active listening encourages clients to reveal their deeper thoughts. And often, an advisor’s best answer is to ask a question that sparks creative analysis and self-discovery.
7. Passionate: Their unwavering desire to do well for others drives constant improvement.
A strong sense of conviction to do right by clients compels great advisors to continue honing their craft and ultimately enhance the value clients receive.
8. Entrepreneurial: They run their practice as a business and plan strategically for the future.
Advisors can better serve clients when they run successful firms. Just as they encourage financial responsibility in their clients, top advisors apply a high standard to managing their own enterprise.
9. Honest: They set realistic expectations about controllable actions and probable outcomes.
While the best advice may not be easy to hear, great advisors communicate essential truths about money and investing so that clients have realistic expectations about their wealth.
10. Disciplined: They do not let market swings or media messages drive impulsive actions.
Effective advisors know the importance of preparing clients to navigate changing markets and apply discipline at crucial times, which can lead to a more enjoyable and promising financial journey.
This post was written by David Booth (Executive Chairman and Founder of Dimensional Fund Advisors). This article was also first distributed by Dimensional Fund Advisors. Shore Point Advisors adheres to a similar investing philosophy to the one that is implemented by Dimensional Fund Advisors, which is the reasoning for the reposting of this article.
FOOTNOTES
(1) Data sourced from Morningstar; funds of funds are excluded.
(2) US dollars.
DISCLOSURES
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RISKS
Investments involve risks. The investment return and principal value of an investment may fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original value. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. There is no guarantee strategies will be successful.
DISCLAIMERS
This material is intended for general public use. By providing this material, we are not undertaking to provide investment advice for any specific individual or situation, or to otherwise act in a fiduciary capacity. Please contact one of our financial professionals for guidance and information specific to your individual situation. This is not an offer to buy or sell a security.
Shore Point Advisors is an investment adviser located in Brielle, New Jersey. Shore Point Advisors is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Registration of an investment adviser does not imply any specific level of skill or training and does not constitute an endorsement of the firm by the Commission. Shore Point Advisors only transacts business in states in which it is properly registered or is excluded or exempted from registration. Insurance products and services are offered through JCL Financial, LLC (“JCL”). Shore Point Advisors and JCL are affiliated entities.
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