Would You Hire a Part-Time Financial Advisor?

My on-going beef with "financial advisors" who know little about personal finances other than they want your money to become their money has a new twist. Here's a comment a reader left to my post titled Millionaire Test for a Financial Advisor:

I had a financial advisor that wanted to talk to me about my finances. He apparently did not give me time to ask about his relevant income.

He burst the bubble when he told me that this was his second job! His first and primary job had nothing to do with personal finance.

Yikes! So what did he do as his main job? Sell cars I'd guess! Add this guy to the list of "financial advisors" to avoid.

That said, if you are looking for a real financial advisor, see How to Hire a Financial Advisor and Tough Questions to Ask Potential Financial Advisors for some guidance.

Comments

[Mike]

I personally think most people are better served becoming educated enough so that they can be their own financial advisor. The vast majority of financial advisors appear to be financial product salesmen, first and foremost. Flat fee advisors would be my choice if I decided I needed one, but personally I think I know enough to get by without one. I may decide to hire one at some point, but if I did, I don't think it would be for investment advice, planning how much I need for retirement, or setting savings goals. I can do that pretty easily on my own, and by doing it myself I think I'm much better positioned than relying on someone else who isn't as "invested" (pardon the pun) in my financial success.

If I hired one, it would be for specialized knowledge that I didn't have or didn't have the time or desire to acquire. For that reason, I'd probably be more likely to hire a CPA or tax attorney, because those fields of knowledge pass that test for me.

[IAmSoOverMe]

I thought about becoming a financial advisor because it seems so interesting to me. But I never did pursue it because you just end up becoming a salesman. If you want to make any real money doing it, you gotta go out and get your own clients. Most advisors that make good money are those that have huge investment accounts that come their own family or rich friend they went to college with. For now, I manage my own finances. Finanical Advisors really don't have any magical advice to give you. You'll find that you can make just as good decisions on your own if you are educated enough about what you are doing.