I don’t want to come off as an anti-advisor. Many financial professionals truly do have the best interest of their clients at heart. Some of them truly are brilliant money managers. Still, the odds of a randomly chosen advisor being brilliant, honest, and client-centered all at the same time aren’t very good. Many people are drawn to the field of finance because the pay is excellent, and in many cases will be on par with a medical doctor or lawyer.
Sadly, most firms do not require degrees in finance when they hire financial advisors; they are just looking for good salespeople. Many (not all!) financial advisors are paid based on commissions, and those commissions come from selling company investment products (as well as other financial products, such as life insurance). All you really need to be a financial advisor is to be a non-felon, use a computer, read and write in English, and pass an exam. I am not suggesting that not all investment advisors are bad or that you should not use one, but I am suggesting that you must educate yourself enough to know a good one from a bad one.
Last Updated: 6/25/2018