How To Look For A Financial Advisor/Planner? (credit rating, student loan, retirement plan)

[mkat321]

Yeah at age 30 I've never had the need for either so I'm clueless. Our finance classes in high school amounted to how to open accounts at the bank, how to close them and how to apply for student loans. Our college classes were about how to keep records for our business and their advice on financial planners was 'get one' that's it.

So anyways, my husband and I are going to be opening/operating my on-site massage business on a minor scale starting in January. He is going back to school in August but until then will be working for his current employer {well civilian one, he's deployed with the Guard til December} as well as doing landscaping and lawncare on the side for some older couples in our neighborhood. We would like to raise our credit ratings so that we can be in a position to buy a house once he is done with school if not before. We would also like to set up retirement funding and college funding inasmuch as we can for ourselves and our children respectively.

What qualifications should I look for in an advisor or planner? Are they one in the same or different, and which is better?

[forest beekeeper]

I would recommend that you look around your area to find any volunteer organizations that offer Household Budget Counseling. Take their courses you will learn a great deal. My Dw and I both did this route, she did it for about 8 years, and I did it for about 12 years.

The IRS offers free tax assistance through a program called VITA. If you volunteer for that, you will spend a week in a class room with an IRS auditor teaching you how to do taxes. My Dw and I both did VITA for years.

You are the person who carries your check book, you need to know what your finances look like. The person who carries the checkbook needs to be the person who can say if this purchase is going to be a tax write-off or not.

An accountant that you see once a month or once a year can not make the day-to-day decisions that you can make, to improve your business.



As for professional advise? the field is really open. There are good Financial Advisers and there are some really crappy ones. Unfortunately they both will take your money.

Right now, as you can easily see on this forum, many highly trained men have no clue of how to invest in this market.

Having been around a number of economists over the years, it has been my observation that a college degree in it, rarely helps them to actually build large Net Worths.

A good plan needs to seriously control your spending.

It needs to keep very tight control over your debt.

And it needs to be tax aware, to keep you sheltered from paying income taxes.

Nothing will drive you to ruin faster than paying interest on debt, or paying taxes.

To build Net Worth you will need to stop doing both of those habits [paying interest and taxes].

To select a 'good' FA ask a few questions.

First did he pay any income tax obligation last year? Does any money come from his income to go to the IRS? If he does pay income taxes, then he has not yet learned how to keep himself sheltered. So he obviously does not hold the big picture. so long as the Federal government is siphoning his money, he can not assist you.

Second how did his personal portfolio do last year?

Some folks earn a living by teaching, but it has no relation to their ability to do the task [only their ability to repeat what a textbook says]. they collect a paycheck preaching a method that may or may not work, they really do not know. They teach while others do, and therefore know.

If a FA makes his living from giving advise, then perhaps he is guiding folks with 'wisdom' from a textbook, and not from real world knowledge.

Good luck

[Woof Woof Woof!]

Originally Posted by mkat321

What qualifications should I look for in an advisor or planner? Are they one in the same or different, and which is better?

You can learn a lot just by reading about money. You can organize your spending by putting together a budget and tracking daily/monthly expenses. I would not spend money on a financial adviser. He is going to school and you are starting a massage business. You biggest challenge is learning how to be smart with money and save.

[mkat321]

Originally Posted by Woof Woof Woof!

You can learn a lot just by reading about money. You can organize your spending by putting together a budget and tracking daily/monthly expenses. I would not spend money on a financial adviser. He is going to school and you are starting a massage business. You biggest challenge is learning how to be smart with money and save.

Thank you. I would hope I'd be rather good at that part already, but there's always room for improvement. I've done everything I know how to do, gotten our monthly expenses down to $1,300/month for a family of 5 with over half of that going to rent {$700/month} Which is why I am looking for an adviser or planner to show me where I can make more changes, save more money and have more available to invest for the future, as well as continue to advise us as our financial picture changes.

I will call the extension office and the IRS office in the morning to look into the classes suggested as well. The only tax classes I was aware of were the ones H & R Block offers every winter for those wishing to do taxes for others. Not my cuppa, kwim?

[mmarten]

A key thing is to find someone who has experience with others in your situation.Many advisors can help with generic needs like retirement planning. However, if you have more specific needs, you should find an advisor who specializes in that. The following website - ClaroConnect.com - Search for Investment Advice & Financial Planning - has a free screening tool that lets you look for advisors that specialize in divorced women, airline pension plans, socially responsible investing, and hundreds of other specialties.

[forest beekeeper]

It is amazing that so many can professionally give advise while they themselves are yet in such need of advice.

[david_respond]

Finding a financial planner may not be so difficult, but chhosing one who is best suitable for your needs is really difficult. Unless n until you know what is your specific needs and what you need to ask to the planner, how could you choose.

I just came through a very good article on the same topic and I want to share it with you all:

How to Choose a Financial Planner! « Personal Finance Advice