Here’s one of the most common things I hear from people curious about working with us:
“Well, financial Advisor John Smith manages a few of my accounts…but…I’m reaching out because I feel like his team doesn’t “do” planning. We have an annual check-in call…but it’s really only about the investment accounts themselves…I still don’t feel like I have an actual plan and that’s what I’m looking for”
I always ask…“Well, if they don’t do financial life planning what is it that they’re doing for you?”
It’s at this point that these people realise that they may not actually have a Financial Planner / Financial Advisor… they have a Portfolio Manager that they are paying planning fees to even though they don’t do any planning.
A lot of people calling themselves “Financial Advisors / Planners” are really Portfolio Managers…
What’s the difference?
If your advisor spends their day tracking the markets, analysing how Apple’s new management will affect their stock price, and whether this is the year for emerging markets… they are a Portfolio Manager.
If your advisor spends your valuable annual review meeting making you pore over PowerPoint slides that show how individual equity markets have performed… they are a Portfolio Manager.
If your advisor can’t remember the name of your kids and where you and your wife like to go on holiday… they are a Portfolio Manager.
If your advisor spends their day talking to you about your cash flow, how much you are saving for your kids’ university versus how much you need for retirement, and how your long-term planning will provide opportunities within your pension… they are a Financial Planner.
A Portfolio Manager can only tell you if your accounts are doing well…
A financial planner can tell if your goals, your cash flow, your investments, and your tax planning are coordinated and whether you’re on the right track for your financial future…
The financial services industry is obsessed with Portfolio Management and overemphasises its importance to clients. It forgets to ask the most important question of all – Why are you investing in the first place?
Portfolio Management on its own is not enough. We must dig deeper. We must understand where we are trying to get to before we decide how to get there.
Having worked with clients for decades I can tell you that there is a formula which, if followed, will set any individual or family on the pathway of financial freedom.
Plan + Portfolio + Partner = Financial Freedom.
PLAN – A North Star that shifts and adapts through your life.
PORTFOLIO – A strategy that powers your plan.
PARTNER – A counsel that tells you what you need to hear – not what you want to hear.
If you would like to find out more please get in touch.
