Your financial planner can make the difference between stress and success, so it’s important to choose the right one. One problem you may experience during your search is the sheer volume of financial professionals in your area. That means you have a lot of choices when you’re looking for the right professional, so where should you begin?
The first step that we recommend is evaluating each potential partner to determine if they have the following essential qualities. The right financial partner should embody these traits in everything they do – including helping you turn your retirement dreams into a reality.
1. Financial Planners Should Have Integrity
Integrity is at the top of the list for us and for our clients. This quality is subjective in many professions and depends on your individual standards. Fortunately, certifications that bind financial planners to strict ethical standards can help to reduce the ambiguity and aid you in choosing a financial planner with integrity.
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERS™, for instance, are required by the CFP® Board to adhere to certain rules of conduct and ethical standards. These standards are constantly updated to match the pace of business and innovation. If a CFP® violates those standards, he or she is subject to disciplinary action that can include permanent revocation of their CFP® status.
At Meld Financial, we believe in the baseline that the CFP® Board sets and their charge to act in the best interests of clients at all times. We also take integrity a step further – including a commitment to provide support that makes you feel comfortable and confident in your financial journey.
In the interest of integrity, we encourage clients not to be swayed by unintelligible jargon or overconfidence. The best financial planners take pride in being a valuable service, not being a know-it-all.
2. Financial Planners Should Have Situational Awareness
You may not immediately think of situational awareness when you consider financial planning, but we consider it a vital part of the process. In fact, you might not know what this term means in relation to your finances. To define it simply – if a financial planner considers each client’s financial situation before designing a plan to achieve his or her goals, they are practicing situational awareness.
At Meld Financial, we have developed a comprehensive program that ensures our advisors are situationally aware. We call this proprietary program Financial Fingerprint®, and over the years, it has become integral to how we approach every client relationship.
The first step in crafting your Financial Fingerprint® is understanding your situation. This includes the things you want your money to achieve, your attitude toward risk, and your current financial picture. Once we have this foundational knowledge, we can craft a plan to guide you to a successful financial future.
3. Financial Planners Should Have Robust Financial Knowledge
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERS™ must satisfy extensive educational requirements to obtain their certification, so you can rest assured that planners with this credential have a baseline of training. However, in this context, we’re talking about more than classes and degrees.
Strong financial planners understand that the work of an advisor is complex. This work includes not just financial planning but tax planning, estate planning, retirement planning, and wealth management. It also involves analyzing different products and investment vehicles, plus the associated risk, and making the right recommendations for clients. Further, it requires a deep and studied understanding of each individual client coupled with the ability to adapt strategies to fit their unique situation. In short, financial planners need more than education – they need knowledge, experience, and a team of professionals to support them.
4. Financial Planners Should be Experienced
Knowledge comes with experience. That is why ‘experience’ is another of our top 5 qualities to seek in a financial planner.
Your financial planner should have experience working with a variety of clients. These past relationships provide the ability to build trust and tailor recommendations for each client’s needs.
Along the same lines, your financial partner should have weathered good financial climates and bad. This experience in varying financial markets provides context for the current economic situation and gives them a blueprint for successfully navigating market shifts.
5. Financial Planners Should Have a Diverse Team at Their Disposal
While it’s important to understand the various individual qualities that your financial planner should bring to the table, it’s just as important to remember that the best financial planners don’t act alone. Your financial picture is complex, and you will get the best bang for your buck with a team of financial professionals at your disposal.
Your advisor should partner with a team of specialized professionals that can help you choose investments, plan for taxes, and secure your estate. Each of these areas requires vast amounts of education and experience to master, so having a team with diverse knowledge is critical to maximizing your financial potential.
A financial planning firm that has all five of these qualities may seem impossible to find, but we can assure you that they are out there. If you approach each potential partnership with this list of essential qualities in mind, then you can cut through the noise of the crowded financial advisory industry and find the right planner for you.
Contact a Financial Planner at Meld Financial
If you are looking for a financial planner that is client-centric, experienced, and honest, then look no further than Meld Financial. Our team has worked together to help clients build and maintain their wealth since 1976 – and we look forward to helping you as well!
At Meld, the financial planning process centers around our comprehensive wealth management program called Financial Fingerprint®. This nimble plan is more than a budget. It’s a comprehensive financial plan that brings together the most important aspects of your financial life into one easy-to-understand plan that changes with your situation. And best of all, you also get access to our experienced team of tax, legal, and financial professionals that support your financial plan every step of the way.
To get started with financial planning that puts you at the center, contact a member of our team today.
