They may all call themselves advisors, but they are all almost certainly not the same!

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Welcome to the EnjoyMore30s Family Finance

podcast. The only podcast dedicated to making life more

enjoyable for young families by hitting on the financial topics

that tend to weigh on us, stress us out, and distract our focus

from simply enjoying life.

Hello, and welcome once again to the EnjoyMore30s

Family Finance Podcast, where every week we're tackling some

of those main questions that young families face around

finances, so that you can remove that financial anxiety, take

great steps forward early in life, and just free yourself up

to spend more time making life enjoyable. Now we are already on

the eighth and final episode of this Your Major Money Misnomers

series and what we've been doing so far in this series is

focusing on some of those major misunderstandings, those

misconceptions, that I see most often being an advisor. Now, as

always, if you like what you're hearing, please make sure to

subscribe or follow us on Apple podcast wherever you listen.

Clicking that star, leaving a review, it honestly really,

really helps us reach other young families out there.

Now last week, if you remember, we discussed 'Don't Worry, We

Are All Emotional Investors', where we covered why emotions

tend to play such a big and frankly unwelcomed part in

investing and what you can do to try and not have that work to

your detriment. So check that out if you have not already.

Today though, our title is 'Advisors Aren't Candy Bars',

where we're going to discuss what you need to know about the

many different types of advisors out there and what you can do to

make sure that you find one that really is a good fit for you.

Now, everybody has a different favorite candy bar growing up

right? When I was a kid, my favorite candy bar by far were

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. If you heard the last episode I

did, I'm not that much of a sweet tooth anymore, but at the

time, it was definitely my favorite. Now not exactly what

you're supposed to do, I know, but when you go to the movie

theater, if you're like me, you may happen to buy a Reese's

Peanut Butter Cup at the grocery store before you go to the movie

theater because it is much much cheaper than buying it there.

The one at the theater wasn't any better. It was exactly the

same tasting Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, but it was just

double the price. I'd rather have two! So I know listening

now many of you probably have done that same thing before. And

I honestly would probably have a little bit of a hard time

believing if you've never done this at any point in your life.

But you know, hey, maybe there there are some people out there

that follow the rules exactly when it comes to that.

The movie theater that we wanted to go to though that decision

was different. We had a bunch of different movie theaters that we

could choose from. They were all movie theaters, they all they

were all showing that same exact movie, but they weren't all the

same, like the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. One was cheaper, I

think it was closer to our home. Another had really comfy seats.

Another one had those really big IMAX screens. And so what you

need to know is we come across many people believing advisors

are consistent, like a candy bar, like my Reese's Peanut

Butter Cup, when they actually can have a lot of variety like

the movie theaters.

So you know when you think about it, an advisor in general is

just someone that's out there giving you advice. That's it.

But what they're licensed for and their approach, it greatly

influences what your experience with them may be. So for

starters, licensing initially dictates what they're even

allowed to discuss with you. So let's say that someone is only

licensed for you know insurance. That means they can only discuss

life insurance, maybe some fixed annuities with you. That's it,

they can't discuss investments because they're not licensed for

investments. Now, on the flip side, if they're only licensed

for investments, then they can't evaluate your insurance needs.

So the licensing is really important to know because it

dictates what they're allowed to discuss.

When it comes to investments, there are even different types

of licensing. So someone may only be licensed for licensed

for commission products, which would be you know, you put money

into it into an investment, the advisor gets a commission

upfront and that's it. While some advisors are also licensed

to use managed or fee based products as well. So it has an

ongoing management fee, because there's ongoing management on

the account with them. Maybe there's financial planning in

that as well. So there are different structures that they

could use. And we haven't even gotten to all the designations

yet. So you might see a CFP, CFA or honestly a million other

different designations out there. And so what you get to is

this combination of licensing and designations, that can also

dictate even whether that advisor has to act as a

fiduciary or not, which the word fiduciary is really just a fancy

way of saying legally having to put your interests ahead of

their own interests.

On top of that now is their actual approach, meaning what do

they focus on? For whom? Is their approach investment focus,

planning focused? Are they working with middle class

people, high net worth people, maybe individuals versus family,

young, old. And you can see there's a lot of possible

combinations that can quickly escalate. And the really, really

unfortunate part about this is that it can be really difficult

now, for you, the consumer, when you're searching to find an

advisor, and you want one that best fits for what you're

looking for, and to compare it with somebody else and what

they're offering and what that may cost, because everyone tends

to be under this general, you know, quote, unquote, we help

people with their finances blanket statement.

So what you can do to help get through this is to ask

questions, and by the more questions you ask, the more you

understand them, and what they do. And you can find out if any

particular advisor out there is a good fit for what you are

looking for. So I would strongly, strongly encourage you

to ask a lot of questions like, you know, what licensing they

have, what designations they have, why did they choose to get

those designations? What kind of people, you know, their firm

prefers to work with? How many clients do they have overall?

How much staff do they have? What do they focus on

investments, insurance, planning? How often do they

communicate with you? What should you expect from the

relationship? All of these questions are really great to

get a full understanding of who you're dealing with, and what

they're giving you and what they specialize in to see if they're

a great fit for what you're looking for.

And as an advisor, myself, I consider all of this fair game.

I can answer all of these questions so I think it's fair

to say I expect every other advisor out there to be able to

answer these questions. So for example, I'm licensed for all

securities. So all investments that means whether they're

commission or fee based, as well as life, health, disability,

long term care insurances. I'm also mortgage originator in New

Jersey. I have my CFP or Certified Financial Planner

designation, which I got specifically because we focus on

comprehensive, holistic planning for our clients at my firm. We

work overall at this firm with middle class families,

particularly younger families or those 10 years away from

retirement or more, so there's time for us to really help them.

We focus on planning, so arranging investments,

insurance, cash flow, all that good stuff to point in that same

direction, so that they can best achieve what would make you

happiest in your life, which equates to what your what your

goals are, right?

So who am I not a good fit for? That means I am not a good fit

for a lot of people out there. I'm not a good fit for, let's

say, a single super high net worth individual that just wants

help stock picking, or a company that is looking for life

insurance to help cover some of the important members of the

company. I'm not a good fit for either of those situations. But

I'm sure there is someone who is a perfect fit for those

situations out there.

I will freely admit, of course, I am biased that having an

advisor is a benefit to most people out there. Because you

know, hey, I'm an advisor. And if I didn't think that I should

probably have a different job. But it really, really, really

needs to be the right one and the right fit for you. You need

to be clear on who you're working with and if they're a

good fit for what you specifically are looking for.

And if you don't want an advisor, you know, hey, that's

fine too. But hopefully after today, you're at least walking

away from this episode having a better idea of how you know

every advisor out there is not the same. They're not all candy

bars. And if you ever wanted to, you could likely find one that

is a fit for exactly what you want and what you're wanting

help in doing.

Thanks very much for tuning in today. As always, if you're able

to implement what we're covering that is fantastic, less to worry

about, less anxiety, full time to just focus on making life as

enjoyable as possible. If you are wanting help with these

things, though, please do not hesitate. You have questions,

anything like that, want to clarify something, check out the

Ask Joe section on the show's website www.enjoymore30s.com.

That's www.enjoymore30s.com. And of course if you're enjoying the

show, subscribe, review us again on Apple podcasts, wherever you

listen. There are literally millions of young families out

there I'm trying to reach and help just like you. And just

like that we have another series down, Your Major Money

Misnomers. Can't believe that already puts another one in the

books. But next week, we will have a fantastic recap for you.

We're going to cover all eight of these major money misnomer

items so that you have what you need to help take action

anywhere you have not already. So until next week, thanks for

joining me today and I look forward to connecting with you

again soon.

The conversations on this show are

Joe's opinions and provided for general information purposes

only. They do not constitute accounting, legal, tax or other

professional advice for your specific situation. You should

always seek appropriate advice from a financial advisor,

accountant, lawyer or other professional before acting upon

any content or information found here first. Joe is affiliated

with New Horizons Wealth Management LLC, a branch office

of TFS Securities, Inc., and TFS Advisory Services an SEC

registered Investment Advisor member FINRA/SIPC.