{"id":4356,"date":"2020-07-01T06:00:17","date_gmt":"2020-07-01T13:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/?p=4356"},"modified":"2020-08-09T22:41:25","modified_gmt":"2020-08-10T05:41:25","slug":"financial-planning-for-women-finding-the-right-advisor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/financial-planning-for-women-finding-the-right-advisor\/","title":{"rendered":"Financial Planning for Women: Finding the Right Advisor"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you are an independent (i.e. single, widowed or divorced) woman, you are in control of your own finances.\u00a0 However, you may not feel entirely comfortable with topic of personal financial planning.\u00a0 You may not feel you have an aptitude for it. You may not be all that interested it.\u00a0 You may not have the time for it.\u00a0 But you know financial planning for women<\/strong><\/a> is important.\u00a0 If this describes you, you should find an advisor and this article will help you do it.<\/p>\n

Establish Your Goals<\/b><\/h2>\n

The place to start is identify your goals and objectives.\u00a0 The broad areas that make up financial planning are: budgeting and cash flow management, insurance planning, education planning, tax planning, investment management, retirement<\/strong><\/a><\/span> and income planning and estate planning.\u00a0 What\u2019s important to you?\u00a0 If you have priorities in more than of these areas, you should look for an advisor who practices comprehensive financial planning for women.<\/p>\n

Independence<\/b><\/h2>\n

You should look for an advisor who is independent.\u00a0 Advisors who work for banks, brokerage firms, insurance companies, mutual funds, and credit unions often struggle to navigate conflicts of interest that exist inside these large financial institutions.\u00a0 An advisor working for an independent Registered Investment Advisor will be free to offer you unbiased financial advice.<\/p>\n

Standards of Care<\/b><\/h2>\n

Financial advisors are held two different standards of care.\u00a0 The Suitability Standard of Care<\/a><\/strong><\/span> requires that an advisor has \u201ca reasonable basis to believe a recommended transaction or investment strategy involving a security or securities is suitable for the customer.\u201d\u00a0 The Fiduciary Standard of Care<\/span><\/strong><\/a> requires that an advisor \u201cmust, at all times, serve the best interest of its client and not subordinate its client\u2019s interest to its own. In other words, the investment adviser cannot place its own interests ahead of the interests of its client.\u201d\u00a0 Working with a Fiduciary is an important aspect of financial planning for women.<\/p>\n

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Don\u2019t leave your future to chance. Contact our team at Springwater Wealth today to learn how\u00a0we can help you develop a financial plan for your peace of mind.<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n

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Compensation and Expenses<\/b><\/h2>\n

Financial advisors are compensated in variety of ways.\u00a0 They can sell products and earn commissions.\u00a0 They can earn hourly fees.\u00a0 They can earn flat fees.\u00a0 They can earn fees that are calculated as a percentage of the amount of assets they manage or some other metric (e.g. net worth, income).\u00a0 Some advisors describe themselves as \u201cfee based\u201d which means that they earn both commissions and fees.\u00a0 You may also pay fees associated with third parties, fund expenses and trading commissions.\u00a0 Most consumer advocates believe that paying fees that are reasonable and stated clearly in advance is preferable.<\/p>\n

Education<\/b><\/h2>\n

Financial planning for women is complex. You should work with someone who is well-educated.\u00a0 The CFP Board<\/span><\/strong><\/a> requires Certified Financial Planners<\/strong><\/span><\/a>\u2122<\/span> to hold a bachelor\u2019s degree from an accredited college or university.\u00a0 The most accomplished advisors often hold graduate degrees, such as an MBA.\u00a0 The more educated your advisor, the more knowledge she will bring to serve you.<\/p>\n

Credentials<\/b><\/h2>\n

There are dozens of credentials held by advisors.\u00a0 It is confusing.\u00a0 Many of them lack substance and can be obtained with minimal effort.\u00a0 There are, however, a few designations that are rigorous, requiring knowledge, experience and passage of one or more exams:\u00a0 The Certified Financial Planner<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\u2122 (or CFP\u00ae) from the CFP Board, the Chartered Financial Consultant<\/strong><\/span><\/a> (ChFC\u00ae) from the American College of Financial Services, the Chartered Financial Analyst<\/strong><\/span><\/a>\u00ae (CFA\u00ae) from the CFA Institute and the Personal Financial Specialist<\/strong><\/a><\/span> (PFS\u2122) from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).<\/p>\n

If you wish to work with someone who has very specific knowledge in an area of concern to you, be sure to find someone who holds a designation or certificate in that area.\u00a0 For example, if you are going through a divorce, consider working with a Certified Divorced Financial Analyst<\/strong><\/span><\/a> (CDFA).\u00a0 You can learn more about professional designations at FINRA\u2019s website<\/span><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Experience<\/b><\/h2>\n

Your life has undoubtedly taught you that there is no substitute for experience.\u00a0 This is particularly true of investing.\u00a0 Investment markets go through cycles which can run from weeks to many years.\u00a0 These cycles are often fueled by investor sentiment.\u00a0 Inexperienced investors can get swept up in these emotional waves and this can lead to undesirable outcomes.<\/p>\n

So, look for an advisor who has experience providing investment advice and guidance over many market cycles.\u00a0 The more experience offering financial planning for women, the better.\u00a0 If you decide to work with a younger advisor, just make sure she is partnered with a mentor who has served clients for several decades.<\/p>\n

Background Check<\/b><\/h2>\n

While the financial services industry is regulated, there are still many advisors in practice who have checkered backgrounds.\u00a0 You should make sure that your advisor has a clean record with regulatory authorities.\u00a0 You can check at FINRA\u2019s BrokerCheck<\/span><\/strong><\/a> and the SEC\u2019s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure website<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 Ask investment advisors for their Form ADV and Form CRS which are required disclosure documents.<\/p>\n

Rapport<\/b><\/h2>\n

So, far we have discussed objective criteria for the selection of a financial advisor.\u00a0 Once you have identified a few advisors who for whom you can \u201ccheck all the boxes\u201d for these criteria, you might consider other subjective criteria.\u00a0 Do you wish to work with a male or female advisor?\u00a0 Would you prefer an advisor who is about your age, older or younger?\u00a0 Is it important that your advisor is close to you geographically?<\/p>\n

Once you have narrowed your list down to three or four advisors, you should interview them.\u00a0 Your relationship with your advisor should be one of the most important relationships in your life.\u00a0 So, make sure you trust the person, you like the person and you have rapport with the person.\u00a0 If your initial reaction to an otherwise well-qualified advisor does not feel right, continue your search.<\/p>\n

Find Your Advisor<\/b><\/h2>\n

Now, where can you find advisors who practice financial planning for women?\u00a0 You can find \u201cfee only\u201d advisors at the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, the Alliances of Comprehensive Planners<\/span><\/strong><\/a> and at the Garret Planning Network<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0 You can search for a CFP\u00ae at the CPF Board<\/span><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you are an independent (i.e. single, widowed or divorced) woman, you are in control of your own finances.\u00a0 However, you may not feel entirely comfortable with topic of personal financial planning.\u00a0 You may not feel you have an aptitude for it. You may not be all that interested it.\u00a0 You may not have the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,11],"tags":[66,107,140],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4356"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/springwaterwealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}