What Matters Most (When Working With a Financial Planner)

Want to know a secret?

Back in the day, about two weeks before I decided to become a financial adviser, I didn’t even know it was a thing. Seriously, I had no idea who they were, what they did or ANYTHING about the finance profession. I was a drumming nerd through and through, with a soft spot for managing my money well and budgeting in my spare time.

Upon the suggestion of some well-respected friends, I thought I’d dip my toe in the water and begin my journey to learn more about the world of financial advice, and oh I freakin’ love it.

Weird, aren’t I?

I embarked upon this path with nothing but a vibrant passion for helping others manage their money with excellence and a hungry heart for learning. Along the way, I started to hear lots of rumblings. Stories of people who had been taken advantage of, mislead, lied to, and let down by people claiming to have their best interests at heart but really out to make money off of them or meet arbitrary targets (PPI mis-selling scandal anyone?). I heard the jaded and cynical advisers giving me suggestions on how to make more money only to follow sarcastically with  ‘if it’s right for the client of course **WINK WINK**’.

Ugh. Ugly, right? What had I gotten myself into?!

Well, over time here’s what I’ve come to realise. When it comes to helping you with your money, morals, heart, and integrity are what count.

As advisers, we need a whole host of skills that are incredibly valuable, but ultimately what helps you on your way to financial success begins with an attitude of honouring you, respecting you, and genuinely wanting to see you succeed. You should never be seen as the sum total of the zero’s in your bank account, you are more than that. You are a person full of dreams, wants, desires, dislikes, past and future – and that matters. An excellent financial adviser should cause you to grow by directing your money towards a future full of possibilities because they’ve helped you handle finances well to get there.

You don’t need a product pusher, you need a human that can walk alongside you and use every tool at their disposal to help you become the best version of you possible. When you come into contact with one of those people, trust me, you’ll know it and it’s worth investing in and holding on to.

Want to know another secret? That’s the kind of adviser I’m striving to be.