The Number One Reason to Work with a Financial Planner
No matter what their age or background or income or level of wealth, there’s one question we ask every single client who works together with us at Lake Road Advisors:
Why did you reach out to us?
It’s really important for us to understand what motivates folks to take the initiative, get proactive, and seek out a financial planner. After all, that’s a big step and one that isn’t always easy to take.
But the way our clients answer this question clearly point to why it’s worth making that initial effort to them, because what they’re seeking (and finding!) with us is priceless.
The Biggest Reason People Work with a Financial Planner
Over the years, we’ve found the biggest reason that people reach out about working with us is because they want to make good decisions about their money.
That sounds quite simple on the surface. But dig deeper and that seemingly simple stuff — making good choices, getting organized, finding clarity — is attached to a huge amount of complexity.
Think about all the financial decisions you make in a single day. From deciding whether you will or won’t spend money (and if you’re spending, how much), to planning out a monthly budget, to trying to determine how much you need to save in cash versus how much money you should allocate to retirement…
That’s not just me talking. Here’s what one client said when they answered the question of why they reached out to a financial planner:
“As our family grows and our assets grow, we want to ensure we are maximizing our investments and making wise financial decisions — including household spending, savings accounts to life insurance, education savings and saving for retirement.”
It’s exhausting to just inventory all those decisions that must be made with money, constantly and on an ongoing basis throughout the future. And that doesn’t even get into the process of actually deciding and choosing for each one of these big topics!
Ultimately, the biggest reason people work with a financial planner comes down to wanting to better understand their money, from their cash flow to their investments, and then once they have that clarity, to make the best, informed decisions possible for them.
Gain Confidence in Knowing You’re Doing the Right Thing with Your Life’s Biggest Decisions
In fact, when we took a look at other recent answers to the question of “why did you want to work with a financial planner,” we found that a full half of our clients said it’s because they want to make wise decisions and have an actual plan.
In other words, they want the confidence that comes from knowing they are on the correct path, making the right decisions so they can have the life they want for themselves.
Here are some of the specific choices and decisions people are looking to make — and want a financial planner on their side to ensure they’re making the right moves:
“I am interested to understand how working with a financial planner could help me better plan for retirement and possibly look ahead to start a business next year.”
“As we are expecting our first child, we want to make sure we are putting ourselves in the best financial position for our futures as possible.”
“I’ve been making great money and don’t know what to do with it. The cash I have on hand now is burning a hole in my pocket, and needs to be focused and aligned to something useful for our future.”
“Should we be paying minimum amounts on our car/student loans or paying more? Should we keep renting or does it make sense to buy a home? We need someone to help make sense of our finances and answer these basic questions.”
I could go on and on with more real-life examples, but I think just this small sampling points to the fact that people come to us for confidence that they are doing okay, on track, and poised to achieve and grow their wealth to enjoy retirement as they also make critical decisions that are happening right now.
People come to us to get a better understanding of where they are and how to get to where they are going.
Now Is the Time to Plan for the Life You Want, Now and Later
While half of our clients say they reached out to us because they wanted to ensure they were making great decisions on a variety of important events and milestones in their lives, almost a third said they specifically wanted more clarity and confidence around knowing they were on track for retirement.
The fact is, when you reach your late 30s or early 40s, you may be passing the midpoint of your career. It’s crazy to think your working years are half complete, but the reality is that you might be closer to retirement than you are to the start of your career (even if it doesn’t feel like that!)
Realizing this can also lead to questions like, “How long do I have to do this for?” and “Can I make less and still live the life I want?”
Those are tough inquiries to look into on your own, much less answer with full confidence. Working with a financial planner and the tools and knowledge they can offer you, however, can provide you not just with a “yes” or “no” answer but a complete roadmap to making your ideal retirement or second-act career a reality.
The same can be said for the folks who come to us because they want to make better investment decisions. A planner can provide clarity and confidence… and a steadying, calm presence which is especially valuable in times like they ones we’re living through right now.
Experiencing the market ups and downs caused by the global pandemic in the spring of 2020 has made more people realize that they don’t want to navigate those choppy, sometimes scary waters completely on their own.
It can be tough to remember since the market was previously straight trajectory up since 2009 — but markets do actually go down, and having an expert guide to get you through those turbulent times is extremely important to a successful investing experience.
Stop Feeling Overwhelmed and Start Feeling Better About Your Finances
No matter what the specific answer that people give, I personally feel like the number one problem we solve for is the sense of overwhelm. We eliminate that feeling of not knowing what to do or where to start as life gets more complicated.
We give people a plan, direction, and support along the way as they journey forward. If you’re like most of the people we work with, you have way too much other stuff going in your life, too little time, and not enough interest to handle every aspect of your financial planning on your own.
If, like our clients, you’d rather partner with a trusted expert and resource, click below to schedule a call and tell us your reason for reaching out. We look forward to hearing more!