Financial advisors are professionals who provide their services to customers who need help to improve their financial situations. A financial advisor is a qualified person who must have completed his training and registered in the state as per law.
Types of financial advisors (1)
Financial advisors are trained enough to provide you the best financial services. Here are types of financial advisors who provide their services according to their roles.
Financial planners:
The term financial planners are used interchangeably with financial advisors. However, their roles are not the same. FINANCIAL ADVISORS help their customers to manage their money. FINANCIAL PLANNERS help their clients by providing them a specific plan to their clients and companies so they can meet their goals. Goals that are set by clients can be:
- Paying off debt
- Planning for estate
- Investment after retirement
- Saving for university
Financial planners show a big picture of market working, complex phrases of finance in easy language, and do counselling regarding the risk on investments. Many financial planners only guide their clients by counselling while some counsel and sell products as well. Some financial planners only concentrate on one specialization such as:
- Estate planning
- Investment
- Taxes
- Retirement
They obtain certificates and license to gain any specific designation in the field of
- A certified financial planner (CSP)
- Chartered financial analyst (CFA)
- Chartered financial consultant (ChFC)
- Certified investment management analyst (CIMA)
If they obtain any of the above mentioned certificates or license they need further education. Most customers prefer financial planners because they are certified and also fiduciaries as they work best for their clients. They also help them to make more money with interest. However, hiring financial planners is expensive but it is worth the money in many situations. Hiring them can save you from many risks in life.
Wealth Management advisors:
If you earn a substantial amount of money, then it is necessary to hire a financial advisor so they can assist you in dealing with all types of accounts, investing wisely, savings on taxes, and planning for the estate.
Self-employment:
If you run a small type of business or you are a freelancer, then it is difficult for you to deal with different kinds of issues like filing of taxes, taxes on self-employment, the pay of employees, specific deductions, and different benefits on retirement plans. A financial advisor will help you sort out all kinds of issues.
Retirement:
If you are thinking to get retirement, many things need to be sorted out such as:
- How much amount do you need to live
- What is the procedure for withdrawing money from retirement accounts
- How to maximize your benefits of social security
If you are deciding to get retirement at a young age, then you need to know where to invest the amount you receive. This became easy when discussed with the financial advisor.
Family planning:
If you are deciding to get married and have children then you need to know how to combine your accounts and how to save money for the future of your children. Financial advisors help you in filing the taxes jointly and guide you about life insurance and investing in real estate.
Investment advisors:
Their role is quite similar to financial advisors but they strictly focus on the investment of clients. They also help clients to manage their assets. They guide their clients about the investment according to their financial situation. They advise you on how to make the right decision while choosing the securities and inform all the risks related to them. Usually, investment advisors focus on wealthy clients. According to a survey conducted in 2013, more than half of clients have at least more than 100,000 dollars in assets. An investment advisor can purchase assets and investments on behalf of their customers after their authorization.
Benefits of hiring a financial advisor:
You can get the number of benefits if you hire financial advisors; some of them are listed below:
- Realistic planning and goals:
Everyone has goals in their lives, setting goals and achieving them is quite difficult if they are nonrealistic. Financial advisors will help you to set realistic goals in your life and make an easy track for you so you can achieve them. If you don’t have any plan regarding saving of retirement and investment in the future he will highlight their importance so you don’t have to face any crisis in the future.
- Saving your own time:
Planning for investment and searching for the right point to invest in is very time-consuming. You have to go through a lot of phases such as planning the number of crunching and many more. a financial advisor can make it stress-free and hassle-free by taking the responsibility for it and you don’t have to waste your precious time on it. You can do many more things in your free time.
- Minimize stress:
Planning for financial investment is not only time-consuming but also very stressful. You can make mistakes when you are more overwrought and it brings a dramatic change in your bank balance as well. You will cause more problems in a stressful situation and you might make a wrong decision when there is no one to guide you. To avoid all these situations you can leave the process to the financial advisor and relax. He will counsel and advise you about the right investment.
- Minimize self-bias:
If you are the only owner of your money it is a natural factor that you will decide according to your situation it might be consciously or unconsciously. You will become biased if you are trying to improve your financial crisis. You should hire a legal financial advisor who helps you to make a perfect and neutral decision.
Cons of hiring a financial advisor: (2)
There are several benefits of hiring a professional financial advisor but some disadvantage is as follows:
- Cost of a financial advisor
- Challenge in searching for the best advisor
- Conflict of interest
- Some may make you adhere to investment in stock and bonds.
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