You Are Good Enough!

Did you know that most investors with little to invest, don’t believe they are able to seek out financial advice from an advisor? That on average, most people don’t believe they should seek advice unless they have >$50,000 of invest-able assets?

This is incredibly interesting to me, but perhaps shouldn’t be.

 What if I told you that the amount of invest-able money you require in order to seek financial advice is $0?

 What if I told you that the amount of invest-able money you require in order to seek financial advice and invest with an independent advisor is $25/ month?

What if I told you, that in Canada, right now, financial advice is essentially free?

 That’s right. As of today, the spookiest day of the year, it will cost you $0 to reach out to a financial advisor and begin your adventure?

  A 2018 study (linked here) states that nearly half of all Canadians who are investing today, do not believe they are worthy of financial advice.

I’ve got some takes… Hot ones!

Right up front, as with most things, you’ve been conditioned to believe you aren’t good enough to seek help by the insidious brainiacs who work within the marketing industry. You’re not skinny enough, your car sucks, your hair is weird, your clothes reek of desperation, you’re not rich enough, is that all the cucumbers you eat? (scoff)…

 For one reason or another, an incredibly stupid 46.9% of people without an advisor (or ~23% of study respondents) will not look for an advisor, for any reason, ever.

 I can talk about marketing all I want, I suppose, but the real reason people aren’t making good choices is the incredibly poor job our industry has done in educating people.

 I wish we didn’t live in a world like this, but we do, so let’s smash it together, with some learnin’!

 The same study linked above states that over the long term, a person who invests their time and money with a financial advisor in Canada, will earn ~2.3 times more than the person who decides they can do it on their own. Their long term isn’t even that long at 15 years, over a 30-year span, it is very likely that this multiplication factor increases substantially.

 One thing the study doesn’t, and likely cannot confirm, is the value of the advice given from the advisor, I would have to assume that there is a range and the ~2.3X multiplier is the average of the people who complied with the study. So, while we can talk about how good it is to have someone to lean on and learn from, we ought not forget that not all advisors are created equal.

 The 80/20 rule, IMO and in dad’s opinion with his nearly six decades of experience, doesn’t apply here. Anecdotally, I would suggest that 5% of the advisors in the industry are doing great work, and it drops off significantly from there. So just know, that it is very likely that the average here is taking into account some pretty sub-par work.

Which is still likely out-returning most if not nearly all the people working independently and or with robo-advisors (Wealthsimple, et al)!

 TV and print ads are working to ensure that institutions are dealing with wealthier people. People who surely have more money, time and better hair than you do. They have exquisite hobbies, white sands are nearby and the general stresses of life most of us face, just don’t exist for these people.

 There is a reason nearly half of us don’t have the courage to wake up and start looking for a person to spend the rest of our lives with; we don’t believe it is for us.

  I am here to tell you, whomever you are, that you are good enough, you need help and you should seek it out IMMEDIATELY!

But where to start?

All the studies and marketing in the world will not prepare you for the initial steps on this journey, they just won’t. They don’t teach you these things in school, and to be for real with you, the stakes are high!

 I am really going all in on the people with nice hair here, and I want you to know, it isn’t on purpose, I am just jealous and have only observed what you go through to keep your hair looking nice. I must assume you spent some time, before doing something to change your hair, researching and asking for referrals. Meeting perhaps, with hair stylists and getting to know them and their salon. Praying they don’t mess it up!

 Have you gone out and taken that time with your money? Your hair will grow back, the stakes are high for a short period of time.

You researched your car, to death no doubt.

 You probably spent some time online reading reviews about a new mattress, toaster, set of winter tires, lawn fertilizer, Dyson hair dryer vs one that doesn’t cost you your first born. Do you believe they are objective reviews? Do you accept the subjective advice from people you don’t know, because you believe they know? The stakes here are pretty low, tbh.

 We allow our ego to get in the way of a lot of critical thinking. Believing that so many decisions we make are so crucial, not realizing the beings who created this simulation are taking notes and laughing to themselves, at us, because we aren’t good at decisioning.

 It is easy to say that you ought to take the time and effort to find a really good financial advisor, that you ought to ask around and try to meet with some people. It is not easy to do, because in our limited wisdom as a species we have decided to be secretive with our actual money and boastful about the time we won $2,500 at the blackjack table after a Flames game. (Not me, for sure not me.)

 The only way to do things right, is to go out; try and fail. Hopefully you are young enough to recover, and if you’re reading this, you probably are. Maybe I made this into a funny tik-tok, and then you for sure are.

I digress.

I will tell you some simple truths and shed some light here.

Don’t go to the bank.

Don’t go to any institution large enough to pay for marketing at a professional sporting event. Seek a local and independent financial advisor.

When seeking out this person, ask them these simple questions:

• What’s their story?

• Do they have a mentor?

• How did they learn to invest the way they do?

• Do they use a model for their clients?

• What are their interests?

You are looking to embark on a long and often perilous journey with this person and their business, get personal, get into their heads. If I meet a 25-year-old, who wants to invest with me, someone born in 1981, will they really spend the next 75 years of their life with the firm I have been a part of building?

That is what you are asking: “Can I spend my life with you?”

• Who pays you?

• Specifically ask that when someone purchases a product or invests, are they paid by a brokerage or directly from an investment and or insurance company.

  • What you are trying to discover here, isn’t whether they get paid and how much, but whether they are truly independent.

  • If they are paid by a brokerage, of any kind, ask if there are any incentives, they receive for selling one product over another.

• This is key; can they be truly independent if they are being told what to sell?

I am not saying that Mutual Fund and Stockbrokers can’t make you money. But I think it is extremely prudent to understand who and what they are. In a fluid industry, you want to make sure you aren’t handed around an office as people in that office shuffle around the industry.

 In my experience, whether you want to or not, you have between 3-5 years to keep a client/ advisor relationship alive and well. You might find you don’t want to work with this person, or maybe they don’t want to work with you. We have fired clients, sometimes it happens. An advisor may move brokerages, which isn’t necessarily a bad sign, but it shouldn’t happen more than once IMO. They may leave the industry, which leaves you looking again. In our experience, if you can make it to the fifth year, you’re probably going to stick around for the long haul.

 3-5 years is no short amount of time. In the span of five years, you ought to have met with your advisor somewhere between 15-20 times, for an hour or two each. That is more time than you spend with most of your friends and family. Seem like a lot? Well, how much money did your sister make you last year? lol

 And that is the point. To make money. Not to “save” money. Savings are for your groceries and taxes. To fill your gas tank and buy shoes. Investing is done to make money. If the advisor you choose doesn’t have a model or has one that talks about safety and protection more than it talks about returns… walk away.

You’re here for one reason.

People come to our firm, Financial Value, for one reason. They have been referred and been told they will make money. We grew this business, in our opinions, into a top 5% wealth management firm, because we are truly independent, work with a model and work to build not only relationships with our clients, but an entire community of people around western Canada that are having a profitable and positive overall experience with their advisors and investments.

That is what you are looking for.

 Forget the marketing!

 You are enough, and you need a lifelong partner to help you grow your wealth, protect your future, your family and leave a legacy. That is how you get 2.3X+ wealthier, not 30% wealthier because we kept fees low like the robots. Not bouncing around from bank to bank, broker to broker, brokerage to brokerage, while they sell you products.

 You are good enough to enjoy a long-term relationship, with people who want to help you make money. People that wish to see you succeed.

 If you’re here, and reading this, give us a shout and let’s see if we can spend the next thirty or forty years hanging out, making money. If you’re not, but wish you could find that, then you gotta go look for it.

 We’re around, in every city and town. Come see us.

Happy hunting!

Darris Cameron and Don Cameron
CEO and Founder of Financial Value Inc.