Choosing the Right Financial Advisor | Part 2: Which Professional Credentials are Most Important to You?

Published: April 13, 2023, 11 a.m.

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Not all financial advisors are created equally. Some have certified credentials, some charge their clients fees, and others may get paid on commission (if they offer investment products). In part two of this podcast episode, our own Tom Romano, Head of Strategic Relationships and Product Development, is joined by Symmetry\\u2019s Michael Storer, Senior Regional Director, and a financial advisor from our sister firm, Apella Wealth, Peter Leppones, CFP\\xae, to discuss the important credentials of, and differences between, financial advisors.\\xa0

If you have any questions or would like more information, reach out to us at https://symmetrypartners.com/contact-us/

You can also find us on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn. As always, we remain invested in your goals.

Symmetry Partners, LLC, is an investment advisory firm registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm only transacts business in states where it is properly registered, excluded or exempted from registration requirements. Registration of an investment adviser does not imply any specific level of skill or training and does not constitute an endorsement of the firm by the Commission. No one should assume that future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, product or non-investment related content made reference to directly or indirectly in this material will be profitable. As with any investment strategy, there is the possibility of profitability as well as loss.
Due to various factors, including changing market conditions and/or applicable laws, the content may not be reflective of current opinions or positions.
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Please note the material is provided for educational and background use only. Moreover, you should not assume that any discussion or information contained in this material serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice.

Transcript:

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Welcome back

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\\xa0to part 2 of choosing the right financial advisor. This

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\\xa0is Tom Romano with unfiltered finance and I\'m back

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\\xa0here with my guests. Mike store senior Regional director at

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\\xa0symmetry partners and Peter laponis financial advisor

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\\xa0and cfp at Apollo wealth. Thank you for joining us

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\\xa0gentlemen, so go Peter certified financial

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\\xa0planner see FP Mike. I\'m

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\\xa0asked this question to you because Peter is a cfp. What

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\\xa0are the credential what other credentials that investors should

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\\xa0be looking for as they\'re going through this process of choosing a

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\\xa0financial advisor. I mean cfp certainly is one of them sure. There\'s

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\\xa0you know, I mean I come across a wide variety

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\\xa0of different advisors and that have different different designations

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\\xa0and it and sometimes it

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\\xa0depends on it depends on you know, what type

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\\xa0of work they\'re doing for the client. It may not always be, you know

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\\xa0cfp, but most of the advisors that I\'m working with their

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\\xa0certified financial planners, but there\'s

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there\'s SEMA, you know, which is a certified Investment

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\\xa0Management associate, I

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\\xa0believe and that I look

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\\xa0at CFA and see Sima as kind of two different

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\\xa0designations that

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Are are very strong. I mean these people are incredibly smart.

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\\xa0They pass a lot of tests to get where they are. But I

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\\xa0look at the see the SEMA and the

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\\xa0the CFA which is a chartered financial

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\\xa0analyst as more geared towards Investments to

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\\xa0a certain extent. So they\'re if you\'ve

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\\xa0got an advisor that is more seamors or CFA oriented.

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\\xa0I think you\'re probably you could and Peter

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\\xa0you can correct me if I\'m wrong lean more

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\\xa0towards them probably approaching it from an investment perspective.

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\\xa0Whereas I think a cfp is

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\\xa0going to approach the relationship from everything

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\\xa0that Peter just talked about in terms of how they

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\\xa0want to how they want to work with you moving

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\\xa0forward Investments are important no doubt, but I think from

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\\xa0the standpoint of the approach if

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\\xa0you\'re looking for a planner, you know a cfp is

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\\xa0where you want to be if you want someone that\'s more focused on. Okay, I\'ll construct

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\\xa0a portfolio for you, but I think Sima and

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\\xa0CFA tend to lose tend to

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Themselves more towards investment only to a certain

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\\xa0extent now that\'s not every single or CFA but I think from that

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\\xa0perspective those types of designations. Those are the ones that I come across

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\\xa0primarily obviously, there\'s other designations with

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\\xa0the insurance realm that you know, you like a

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\\xa0chfc that would be which I

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\\xa0I don\'t even remember that. It\'s a chartered leave its chartered Financial

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\\xa0consult consultant, right which is different than a chartered financial analyst

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\\xa0which is kind of interesting but you know, they\'d be focused more on

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\\xa0and probably the insurance side of the investment process.

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\\xa0So I come across a lot but I would say

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\\xa0that I feel comfortable saying it that the

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\\xa0cfp is the designation where you know, mostly you\'re

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\\xa0going to be getting more of a planning approach. Whereas I

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\\xa0think the other designations might lean towards something else within

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\\xa0the whole scope of planning but more,

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\\xa0you know designated or specific on that

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\\xa0side sure. I think it\'s important, you know, individuals professionals

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\\xa0regardless of the industry having credentials after

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\\xa0their name shows that they\'re

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to the business. They\'re probably lifelong Learners,

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\\xa0which is something you probably want to look for in a financial advisor. And

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\\xa0I would agree with you a cfp

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\\xa0is probably the starting point. However, the

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\\xa0the SEMA the Cima in the CFA,

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\\xa0which I would agree are more investment driven.

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Um working with a firm who has a cfp has the point

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\\xa0of contact Peter, but that doesn\'t mean you don\'t have access to

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\\xa0cfa\'s and seamas as well. Right, correct. And

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\\xa0that\'s that\'s part of the teamwork approach here that you

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\\xa0know behind the scenes. I know that there\'s cfas working on our portfolios.

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\\xa0So so I think

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\\xa0you could see someone with another non-cfp designation

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\\xa0but is what\'s their firm like do they have a team behind

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\\xa0them is maybe they have a a young hire

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\\xa0a new hire coming out of college who\'s studying

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\\xa0for his or her cfp and that\'s their parent plan

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\\xa0who works on the financial plan. So I mean to I think

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\\xa0you might be doing a disservice just because

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\\xa0someone doesn\'t have cfp understand more about what\'s

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\\xa0what\'s going on at the firm and not just

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\\xa0the designation. But I do agree having a designation and you

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\\xa0made you reminded me. My continuing

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\\xa0ed is coming up and it\'s it\'s comprehensive. I\'ve

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\\xa0got I\'ve got a lot to do several hours to to

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\\xa0keep

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Cfp designation current I\'ve

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\\xa0got to do some continuing education requirements online. Yeah, me

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\\xa0too. Thanks for the reminder. I would say I didn\'t

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\\xa0mean to say that, you know, the cfp is definitely starting point. But Peter

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\\xa0brings up a great point that you when you visit with these cfps. They

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\\xa0do have those other.

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People in their organizations that cover those parts

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\\xa0of the planning process for them from that standpoint

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\\xa0So and I\'ve met many cfps that have their SEMA or have their CFA as

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\\xa0well. So depends on who I\'m speaking with, but there\'s there\'s a

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\\xa0wide variety of different designations and some have won

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\\xa0some have many or some have, you know, more than one right? So something

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\\xa0that you would recommend investors look for as they\'re gonna

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\\xa0go through absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah Mike we

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\\xa0for all the cfps out there yet. We\'re definitely the top

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\\xa0designation. No doubt about no doubt about it. We can

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\\xa0leave it at that. Very good very good. So I

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\\xa0have a few more questions and this has been great gentlemen, but

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What are some of the resources online resources

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\\xa0right, you know, I don\'t think people use phone books

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\\xa0anymore to find Financial professionals. What are

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\\xa0some of the things my gear you\'re working

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\\xa0with thousands of advisors. Like how do you how do you

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\\xa0go about and find an advisor that that you would want to work with

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\\xa0a professional level but not only professional of

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\\xa0us person maybe from even personal standpoint where can

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\\xa0investors go? Well they can they can you

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\\xa0know go online and you know, there\'s a couple of different organizations that

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\\xa0are out there that you could look at like the Financial Planning Association is

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\\xa0a great place to start that\'s that\'s a

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\\xa0big one National Association of

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\\xa0personal financial advisors is another great site

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\\xa0as well the certified financial planner

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\\xa0board. You can go that route as well. I mean,

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\\xa0that\'s probably the best place to start you can find someone in your general area

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\\xa0that could help you there. There\'s another firm out there

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\\xa0XY Planning Network which is which

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\\xa0is a pretty good tool for to search for fee only.

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Financial advisors you mentioned, you know

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\\xa0word of mouth or referrals from from your friends

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\\xa0or family that may be working with a financial advisor. So all of

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\\xa0them are great great ways to to identify some of

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\\xa0that you might want to work with at least get the opportunity to interview them to see

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\\xa0if they would be a good fit for you. Yeah. I think there\'s a lot of great resources online,

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\\xa0you know, one of the things that Peter and

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\\xa0I talk about quite a bit is you know working with someone

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\\xa0who understands you someone who\'s working with

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\\xa0other investors like me.

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Right in a lot of times if someone has a very specific need or

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\\xa0specific sort of outcome. They\'re

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\\xa0looking for they can identify the right Financial professional

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\\xa0by not only looking at those websites, but

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LinkedIn Facebook. Look, who are these?

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\\xa0Look who at the who these advisors are look at

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\\xa0the circles that they\'re in right? You know it a funny story my parents

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\\xa0who are not great investors. They were

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\\xa0both School teachers had a pension but when they were looking for

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\\xa0financial advisor, they didn\'t look any

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\\xa0further than you know, the Connecticut Teachers Retirement Financial

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\\xa0advisory. It was a really long name like

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\\xa0that. I know I\'m butchering it and talking it right but they will

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\\xa0work Connecticut Teachers that must be the guy that we work with without even

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\\xa0thinking twice about it, but they knew they felt comfortable and

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\\xa0they trusted that the this particular individuals working

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\\xa0with other, Connecticut Teachers.

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Here to add to any of that Peter. I mean, I think that

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\\xa0you know, I\'ve had done. Oh my

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\\xa0second cap. We have pulled that one back.

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I won\'t ask that question better.

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All right.

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so Peter

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You know, I\'ve talked about this it it\'s a mutual

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\\xa0interview between an advisor and an investor the investors making

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\\xa0a choice, but the advisors making a choice as well. So talk

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\\xa0a little bit about that process if you will.

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Yeah, I think that\'s that\'s a great question. And I definitely

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\\xa0encourage people to come up with a

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\\xa0list of questions and interview multiple

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\\xa0advisors definitely. But yeah, when when

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\\xa0I\'m meeting with with a New Prospect, I\'m interviewing

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\\xa0them as well. And there\'s things I\'m I\'m looking

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\\xa0for I want to make sure that number

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\\xa0one there. They\'re gonna be happy working with us. I\'ve

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\\xa0told people who I refer to

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\\xa0them as Gunslingers. They want to pick stocks. They want to

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\\xa0be in and out of the market they want they want action and I\'ve told

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\\xa0people I go I don\'t think we\'re gonna be a good fit. I\'m a

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\\xa0nice person. You seem like a nice person you seem to get along but

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we\'re going to have different philosophies and and I want

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\\xa0you to be happy and I don\'t want to waste your time and I

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\\xa0don\'t want to have my time wasted and so I\'ve had to tell people I just don\'t think

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\\xa0that this is necessarily going to work. Um, also there\'s

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\\xa0when I start to hear people talk and I say this

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\\xa0to clients

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and Prospects I start to get a gut feeling about what\'s

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\\xa0going on. And when I start to hear about things like

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\\xa0well a lot of debt, you know, you\'ve got

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\\xa0and not good. You don\'t have good financial habits.

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\\xa0You\'re spending all your money. You\'ve got

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\\xa0a lot of debt a lot of bad debt. It\'s one thing to have a mortgage your car

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\\xa0payments. Those are those are necessary. We\'ll call those

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\\xa0good debt necessary debt. We start talking about large student

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\\xa0loans. We start talking about large credit

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\\xa0card balances.

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I may not be able to work with you. I you may be better off going

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\\xa0and having credit counseling done first because I

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\\xa0can maybe give you some pointers but I\'ve

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\\xa0had to unfortunately tell people that we may

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\\xa0not be a good fit. There wasn\'t a whole lot I could do because they

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\\xa0just they just didn\'t have the assets. They needed to get really the

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\\xa0basics of their budgeting or spending plan

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\\xa0down and start to work on that debt. And that\'s not something we\'re

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\\xa0necessarily.

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Working on it\'d be more of sort of a credit agency

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\\xa0helping them to kind of get that square away. Absolutely. You

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\\xa0mentioned working with, you know, other sort of

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\\xa0financial professionals that you you work with

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\\xa0other.

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Financial professionals as well. I mean maybe not direct financial

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\\xa0advisors, but tax advisors and things like that. Oh, definitely.

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\\xa0I like to say that the analogy is I\'m

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\\xa0I\'m sort of the quarterback or I\'m your

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\\xa0your primary care physician if we need to bring in a specialist,

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\\xa0you know cardiologists so forth

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\\xa0weekologists.

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So but I\'m working with.

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I\'ll work with the client\'s attorney to talk about their state plan

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\\xa0work with a client\'s accountant or CPA to

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\\xa0talk about if we need to do some rebalancing in the portfolio before

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\\xa0I do any of that.

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And start triggering capital gains. I want to make sure that the accountant is

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\\xa0on board with it and we understand what the

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\\xa0ramifications are of those actions or in

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\\xa0actions because the last thing a client wants is a

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\\xa0surprise attack time. There\'s something psychological about

225
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\\xa0a big tax bill staring you in the face and it\'s

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\\xa0one thing to not know about it and have to

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\\xa0pay it. It\'s another thing. All right, you know what we knew about this, but we know why we

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\\xa0did it. So I\'m constantly working with

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\\xa0with other Professionals in helping clients

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\\xa0with taxes and in legal issues.

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That\'s fantastic. Yeah, so that\'s another thing that investors should

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\\xa0be looking for. Is there a true team approach? Maybe not even under the

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\\xa0same roof under the same corporate umbrella if you will but making

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\\xa0sure that the advisors acting in that quarterback capacity

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\\xa0and has the right Specialists for

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\\xa0those needs that might be outside of the scope of

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\\xa0what the advisors doing on a day-to-day and that could be another point

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\\xa0of reference for a client. If you have an accountant who

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\\xa0you\'ve been working with for a long time and you happen to like him

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\\xa0or her in the way that they work maybe they could be a place

241
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\\xa0where you could go to get a referral.

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Because I\'m in all likelihood that that CPA

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\\xa0or that attorney is has some

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\\xa0type of relationship with a financial advisor and could give

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\\xa0you a couple of places to go. Yeah, I think that\'s a great

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\\xa0great piece of advice there. All right.

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\\xa0I want one more topic here because this comes up a

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\\xa0lot and it\'s the notion of compensation for financial advisors.

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\\xa0I\'ve heard individuals say

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\\xa0that I don\'t pay my financial advisor or anything. He does

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\\xa0it for free sure right there is

252
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\\xa0there\'s a problem this industry, I think with transparency at times and

253
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\\xa0there\'s a number of different ways financial advisors are

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\\xa0being compensated. I didn\'t like frankly I think advisors should

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\\xa0be fairly compensated. They\'re doing really good work, right?

256
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Depending on the advisor. Of course, Mike tell us

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\\xa0a little bit about the couple of different.

258
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Fee structures or compensation structures there are for financial advisors.

259
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\\xa0And if there\'s one that you would recommend over

260
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\\xa0another I\'ll rattle them off because it\'s a

261
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\\xa0lot of different ones. There\'s feel only which we\'ve talked a little

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\\xa0bit about there\'s fee-based. There\'s Commission

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There\'s retainer.

264
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There\'s subscription. There\'s

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\\xa0another one I\'ve heard that I know is out there not as

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\\xa0popular but it\'s there and there\'s flat fee.

267
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\\xa0So there\'s a number of different ways that advisors are

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\\xa0compensated and the one

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\\xa0of course in my line of work and in terms

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\\xa0of what I do on a daily basis working with us, I come across primarily

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\\xa0not always I would say fee only

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\\xa0in fee based or the two that that primarily I work with

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\\xa0although there are there are others that are

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\\xa0less. So like a retainer I\'ve seen I\'ve come across that

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\\xa0but I say primarily it\'s fee only and fee-based that

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\\xa0I typically work with advisors and you know,

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\\xa0I\'ll let Peter elaborate but I\'ll just say generally that fee only would be

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\\xa0just be be charging, you know,

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\\xa0a fee for services. It could

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\\xa0be it could be a flat fee or could be a fee based

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\\xa0on assets under management that the investor might have with that advisor

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\\xa0fee base is is kind of

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\\xa0a combination of the only and commission if you will it has

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The concept of building on assets but also the advisor

285
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\\xa0has the ability to offer commission-based

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\\xa0products that would follow outside of the fiduciary scope.

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\\xa0I believe Peter and so those are the two that primarily

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\\xa0I see in my kind of interactions with

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\\xa0advisors around the country. Yeah, I think most of our listeners are

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\\xa0probably falling into the fee only fee-based camp

291
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\\xa0or the commission side right there. There

292
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\\xa0are a number of different fee models out there in compensation models

293
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\\xa0and I think they all have their pros and cons but you

294
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\\xa0just said something that I\'m gonna ask Peter O\'Brien on

295
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\\xa0right?

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We talked about fiduciary.

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If you are paying a commission.

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Is your advisor acting as a fiduciary necessarily? Yeah,

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\\xa0if you\'ve your your fee only your

300
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\\xa0being charged in a fee for your advice and

301
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\\xa0and whatever the the Investments would be. Where\'s fee-based

302
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\\xa0you could be receiving commissions.

303
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On investment products. It\'s sort of

304
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\\xa0I guess I\'ll use the term hybrid approach. So it\'s

305
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\\xa0a gray area. They I don\'t

306
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\\xa0know if because we don\'t do that here, you know,

307
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\\xa0we don\'t have commission based investment products. It\'s strictly

308
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\\xa0putting people into no load low cost

309
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\\xa0mutual funds and ETFs and we are being

310
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\\xa0paid a fee based upon those assets under management. We don\'t

311
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\\xa0have commissionable investment products to sell and if

312
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\\xa0you\'re if an advisor is doing that.

313
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I don\'t think they can put themselves out there as

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\\xa0as a fiduciary necessarily.

315
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Yeah, I think that the commission side I\'m not

316
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\\xa0knocking it. Just calling it

317
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\\xa0what it is. It\'s it\'s rot with conflicts of interest and

318
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\\xa0you just said something that I think would would mean

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\\xa0a lot to our listeners, right?

320
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these

321
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percentage of assets fees paying fees you\'re paying

322
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\\xa0for advice in that fee stays the

323
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\\xa0same regardless of the investment product. It\'s a

324
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\\xa0with your charging 1% regardless of

325
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\\xa0the advice you give you earn five you earn that one percent rather.

326
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commissions

327
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Is in compensation for advice it\'s compensation

328
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\\xa0for selling a product and that product

329
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\\xa0has to be suitable not necessarily best interest.

330
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Okay, so that I think that\'s something that people

331
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\\xa0don\'t understand outside of this industry. You

332
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\\xa0know, there\'s two ways two major ways

333
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\\xa0that advisers get compensated fees versus commissions and

334
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\\xa0one other point that I\'ll make about fees and correct

335
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\\xa0me if I\'m wrong gentlemen if you\'re charging fees on assets.

336
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If the asset level goes up the advisor

337
00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:52.900
\\xa0gets paid more the asset level goes down. I

338
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\\xa0mean the percentage stays the same but the actual dollars change, so

339
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\\xa0I think that it actually aligns the interests.

340
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Of the investor and the advisor using a fee model

341
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\\xa0for Susan commission model where someone might

342
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\\xa0be asking you to buy a product that you may not necessarily

343
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\\xa0need.

344
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Correct. And that\'s that\'s the thing. We you

345
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\\xa0start talking about different.

346
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Whether it\'s Insurance products investment products that have commissions on

347
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\\xa0them.

348
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Now all of a sudden it could be suitable. But if product

349
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\\xa0a May pay

350
00:17:25.300 --> 00:17:28.900
X percentage products B may pay X

351
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\\xa0percentage plus something on top of

352
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\\xa0it.

353
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A non-fiduciary advisor is probably

354
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\\xa0going to go to product B because it\'s going to pay him

355
00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:41.000
\\xa0or her more and it\'s a perceived conflict of

356
00:17:41.400 --> 00:17:44.300
\\xa0interest. I\'m not saying that every person out there who\'s earning a commission is

357
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Is not acting in good faith, but there

358
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\\xa0is there\'s a potential for that conflict to be there. Sure. It\'s

359
00:17:51.600 --> 00:17:54.900
\\xa0it\'s all things being equal right? It\'s they\'re gonna pick if it\'s

360
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\\xa0if it doesn\'t necessarily hurt the

361
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\\xa0client and all and the Investments are relatively the

362
00:18:00.500 --> 00:18:04.100
\\xa0same they\'re going to gravitate probably towards the higher commission product.

363
00:18:03.100 --> 00:18:06.400
\\xa0Not that it\'s a bad thing. But that\'s the conflict of

364
00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:09.000
\\xa0interest that we talk about right isn\'t necessarily in the best

365
00:18:09.300 --> 00:18:12.600
\\xa0interest of the client. Yeah, and I think investors don\'t need products as

366
00:18:12.600 --> 00:18:15.600
\\xa0much as they need advice. Yeah agreed. I totally agree.

367
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\\xa0We were talking the the other

368
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\\xa0day just that the the meetings we were we were at and

369
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\\xa0and the model the way it was is you

370
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\\xa0had insurance companies or investment firms sort of

371
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\\xa0sitting at the top designing product and starting

372
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\\xa0to push that product down to advisors who would

373
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\\xa0then push it to clients down at the bottom and really our

374
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\\xa0model is where we flip the script.

375
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The client is at the top and the client comes to the advisor.

376
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And we then go out to the product manufacturers to

377
00:18:45.400 --> 00:18:48.400
\\xa0find the the best product the best solution for

378
00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:51.000
\\xa0for the client to make as part of

379
00:18:51.500 --> 00:18:54.300
\\xa0their financial plan. So I think that\'s that\'s a big difference there.

380
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\\xa0We have nothing proprietary and we are acting in the best interests

381
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\\xa0of the client looking for a best of breed approach. And

382
00:19:00.500 --> 00:19:03.600
\\xa0again, usually it comes down to well, what

383
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\\xa0are the fees associated with that and that\'s another great piece of

384
00:19:06.100 --> 00:19:07.000
\\xa0advice for clients.

385
00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:11.300
Understand who you\'re paying and what you\'re paying

386
00:19:11.300 --> 00:19:12.100
\\xa0them and what for?

387
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Whether it\'s mutual funds inside your 401k or

388
00:19:15.400 --> 00:19:18.800
\\xa0something inside if you have an IRA through your bank

389
00:19:18.800 --> 00:19:21.500
\\xa0understand what it what it is and and

390
00:19:21.500 --> 00:19:24.500
\\xa0how it works. You\'re the one paying it and and understand how

391
00:19:24.500 --> 00:19:27.400
\\xa0all of that works and a lot of times people don\'t realize

392
00:19:27.400 --> 00:19:30.500
\\xa0that because a lot of times things are are not

393
00:19:30.500 --> 00:19:33.300
\\xa0apparent you got to do a got to do a little bit of digging to understand

394
00:19:33.300 --> 00:19:36.500
\\xa0what those those fees are inside of certain products.

395
00:19:36.500 --> 00:19:39.300
\\xa0Yeah. Absolutely. No, no what you\'re paying and I think

396
00:19:39.300 --> 00:19:42.200
\\xa0that there are some compensation models for

397
00:19:42.200 --> 00:19:45.700
\\xa0advisor out that they\'re a little bit opaque if

398
00:19:45.700 --> 00:19:48.600
\\xa0you will but as an investor

399
00:19:48.600 --> 00:19:51.600
\\xa0working with the financial professional transparency matters,

400
00:19:51.600 --> 00:19:54.200
\\xa0and if someone\'s not being transparent, then there\'s

401
00:19:54.200 --> 00:19:57.000
\\xa0probably not a lot of trust there in this business is built on trust.

402
00:19:58.100 --> 00:20:01.300
So yeah, I have to disclose everything to everybody up

403
00:20:01.300 --> 00:20:01.700
\\xa0front because

404
00:20:03.300 --> 00:20:06.300
It\'s coming out. It\'s coming out of the account and they\'ll see it right on the statement as

405
00:20:06.300 --> 00:20:09.600
\\xa0a line item to the penny. Yeah, exactly, except a

406
00:20:09.600 --> 00:20:09.700
\\xa0penny.

407
00:20:10.200 --> 00:20:13.700
Absolutely. Well gentlemen, thank you so much for your time. So I

408
00:20:13.700 --> 00:20:16.400
\\xa0just want to kind of recap because there was so much great information

409
00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:19.500
\\xa0that the two of you shared if you\'re an investor

410
00:20:19.500 --> 00:20:22.300
\\xa0out there if you\'re one of our listeners and you\'re looking to work with a financial

411
00:20:22.300 --> 00:20:25.500
\\xa0professional or if you\'re looking for maybe a second opinion a couple

412
00:20:25.500 --> 00:20:28.100
\\xa0of things that that Peter and Michael had talked to us

413
00:20:28.100 --> 00:20:31.400
\\xa0about today. Make sure you ask the question. Are you acting

414
00:20:31.400 --> 00:20:34.600
\\xa0in a fiduciary capacity? Probably the most important question to

415
00:20:34.600 --> 00:20:35.700
\\xa0ask a financial professional.

416
00:20:36.300 --> 00:20:40.100
Number two. What is your financial planning process? Right

417
00:20:39.100 --> 00:20:42.200
\\xa0the value proposition of a

418
00:20:42.200 --> 00:20:46.200
\\xa0financial advisor should be based on that planning process. And

419
00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:48.500
\\xa0since you are paying for advice, I think a great

420
00:20:48.500 --> 00:20:51.300
\\xa0question is what is your investment philosophy? How do you see the

421
00:20:51.300 --> 00:20:54.400
\\xa0world work? How are you going to advise me based on that investment

422
00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:55.200
\\xa0philosophy

423
00:20:55.900 --> 00:20:58.300
When it comes to credentials, I think looking for any credential

424
00:20:58.300 --> 00:21:01.100
\\xa0makes a lot of sense after a person\'s name. But if you\'re

425
00:21:01.100 --> 00:21:04.100
\\xa0looking for a true financial planner, the cfp designation is the

426
00:21:04.100 --> 00:21:05.900
\\xa0one that that our guests recommend.

427
00:21:06.600 --> 00:21:09.400
Look for people that work with people like

428
00:21:09.400 --> 00:21:12.600
\\xa0you look for advisors that are working with people like yourself

429
00:21:12.600 --> 00:21:15.900
\\xa0and there\'s a lot of resources out there. Mike mentioned

430
00:21:15.900 --> 00:21:18.600
\\xa0Napa. There\'s the advisor\'s website. Of

431
00:21:18.600 --> 00:21:21.300
\\xa0course Facebook LinkedIn are great ways to look at how

432
00:21:21.300 --> 00:21:24.200
\\xa0these advisors are working with

433
00:21:24.200 --> 00:21:28.200
\\xa0people that may or may not be like you and let me throw another resource

434
00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:31.200
\\xa0out there. A lot of investors don\'t realize that you

435
00:21:30.200 --> 00:21:34.300
\\xa0can Google broker check broker check

436
00:21:34.300 --> 00:21:38.000
\\xa0is a government website where tracks the history

437
00:21:37.100 --> 00:21:41.000
\\xa0of every single Financial professional whether they\'re SEC

438
00:21:40.600 --> 00:21:43.900
\\xa0registered or member of finra and you\'ll

439
00:21:43.900 --> 00:21:46.400
\\xa0see if there\'s any disclosures or anything like that

440
00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:49.400
\\xa0so broker checks are great way to see if

441
00:21:49.400 --> 00:21:52.200
\\xa0if there\'s any dings on the record of

442
00:21:52.200 --> 00:21:55.100
\\xa0the person that you\'re speaking to and then in terms

443
00:21:55.100 --> 00:21:58.700
\\xa0of compensation look for fees versus commissions not

444
00:21:58.700 --> 00:22:01.200
\\xa0to say that commissions are necessarily bad, but they

445
00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:04.100
\\xa0there could be some conflicts of

446
00:22:04.100 --> 00:22:06.500
\\xa0interest in there and a fee-based advisor.

447
00:22:06.600 --> 00:22:09.200
Even a fee only advisor is going to sit in the same side of

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\\xa0the table as you the investor. So Michael, thank

449
00:22:12.700 --> 00:22:15.200
\\xa0you so much for your time. Thanks Tom Peter. So thank you

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00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:19.100
\\xa0for joining us here today. This has been a great conversation and so

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00:22:18.100 --> 00:22:21.300
\\xa0for our listeners out there. Thank you for joining us.

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00:22:21.300 --> 00:22:24.200
\\xa0We\'ll get you on the next one. And if you

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00:22:24.200 --> 00:22:28.400
\\xa0want to look at any of our previous unfiltered Finance podcasts, they\'re

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00:22:27.400 --> 00:22:30.600
\\xa0available wherever you might be getting your podcast today.

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00:22:30.600 --> 00:22:34.200
\\xa0So thank you till next time. Bye Cemetery Partners.

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00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:36.600
\\xa0LLC is an investment advisor

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00:22:36.600 --> 00:22:39.300
\\xa0firm registered with the Security and Exchange Commission

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00:22:39.300 --> 00:22:42.500
\\xa0The Firm only transacts business in states where

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00:22:42.500 --> 00:22:45.600
\\xa0it is properly registered or excluded or

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00:22:45.600 --> 00:22:49.200
\\xa0Exempted from registration requirements registration of

461
00:22:48.200 --> 00:22:51.400
\\xa0an investment advisor does not imply

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00:22:51.400 --> 00:22:54.500
\\xa0any specific level of skill or training and does

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00:22:54.500 --> 00:22:57.300
\\xa0not constitute an endorsement of the firm by the

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00:22:57.300 --> 00:23:00.300
\\xa0commission. No one should assume that future performance of any

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00:23:00.300 --> 00:23:04.400
\\xa0specific investment investment strategy product or

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00:23:03.400 --> 00:23:06.100
\\xa0non-investment related content.

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00:23:06.600 --> 00:23:10.000
Reference to directly or indirectly in this material will be

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00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:10.500
\\xa0profitable.

469
00:23:11.400 --> 00:23:14.300
As with any investment strategy there is the possibility

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00:23:14.300 --> 00:23:17.500
\\xa0of profitability as well as loss due

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00:23:17.500 --> 00:23:20.200
\\xa0to various factors including changing market

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00:23:20.200 --> 00:23:22.600
\\xa0conditions and/or applicable laws.

473
00:23:23.400 --> 00:23:27.000
Content may not be reflective of current opinions or

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00:23:26.600 --> 00:23:29.600
\\xa0positions. Please note the material

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00:23:29.600 --> 00:23:32.300
\\xa0is provided for educational and background use only

476
00:23:32.300 --> 00:23:36.000
\\xa0moreover. You should not assume that any discussion or information

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00:23:35.700 --> 00:23:38.600
\\xa0contained in this material serves as

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00:23:38.600 --> 00:23:42.400
\\xa0the receipt of or as a substitute for personalized

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00:23:41.400 --> 00:23:43.700
\\xa0investment advice.

\\xa0

'