One of the signature signs of a good advisor is the ability to rely on him or her for timely callbacks. This clearly demonstrates a few characteristics that you should demand in any advisor, especially if they are handling your money and/or family's security. By calling you back in a timely manner, they show you that you are a priority not to be put on the back burner. It also shows that they are doing something to get you an answer to your question, even if they may not have the answer immediately.
Especially in today's technological environment with the ability to communicate easily and quickly through text messages and emails, there is absolutely no excuse for advisors to leave clients hanging without any response for long periods of time, unless they do not care about losing that client!
Here are a few criteria in choosing an advisor or deciding if it might be time to FIRE your advisor or at least seek a second opinion:
| 1) Your advisor should be in touch with you to offer a consultation and check up with you at least once a year. If this is not the case, rest assured that you are pretty low on his or her priority list. Do not assume that you are simply being left alone because your policies and accounts are in great shape and no improvements are available. A good advisor at the very least should touch base just to give you peace of mind and answer any questions you might have. So whether your advisor is helping you with insurance policies, financial planning, or both, you DESERVE to be contacted at least once a year. Things change so fast in the insurance and financial industries that you need to be updated consistently on what is going on.
2) Make sure that your advisor is a true broker and has access to the many different options that are available for you. It is his job to keep up with the product changes and best products on the market. Most insurance companies are strong with 1 or 2 products and not very competitive with the rest of their portfolio. And many companies that are great at recruiting agents and heavily penetrating the marketplace are not competitive with ANY of their products. If your advisor only works with 1 or 2 outfits it is a safe bet that there are MUCH better options available for you through a true broker. And beware, many of these agents that are limited to one outfit will POSE as brokers, telling their clientele that they have access to all options!
3) Nothing is more frustrating than needing an answer from an advisor and being unable to get a hold of them. If you can't get your advisor to call you back or it takes them a week to call you back, GET RID OF THEM! Either they are not very good at what they do or you are not a priority for them! In either scenario they do not deserve to be making commission from you and you deserve to be a priority!
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I just wanted to take a moment this morning and point out why it’s so essential to let someone know where important documents and files are located. Here are two instances:
1-Life insurance-I regularly talk to people that have experienced the death of loved ones and found old life insurance policies years later out in coffee cans in the tack barn or in a safe deposit box nobody knew about. Just this last April 7,525 individuals in New York found out they were owed money from old life policies. That ended up being over $95 million in payouts. These policies would have helped out the families significantly in their time of need. Financial problems after the death of a loved one can not only cause financial hardship, but also severed relationships between family members that are totally unnecessary. All of these problems would be avoided if the policies and documents were located in a safe place where a few trusted individuals knew where to find them.
2-Financial planning/investments-Very often, only one person in a household will completely handle these matters and the other is left in the dark. That’s the same thing we do in business. It’s called “division of labor”. It is a great principal but we need to be aware of the inherit weakness therein. Even if the person in charge is extremely organized, it will be disastrous if something were to happen to this person. I have spoken with numerous families that have dealt with this very issue as well. After the death of their family member, it took them weeks, months, or even years to figure out where all the investments were, as well as which bills to pay and when to pay them. So it is not only important to have all of this information in ONE secure place, but also to make sure that your loved ones know what that information is and how to access it!
Here are some reasons why it is important to have an annual consultation with your financial and insurance advisor(s):
1-The landscape of what is available in the insurance and financial industries is constantly changing and evolving. It is important that you are aware of the cutting edge products in the industry that could be a significant upgrade from what you have and save you in premium dollars. You may have an older product that is underperforming severely compared to other potential options, but you leave it simply because you are unaware of other options! It is your advisors responsibility to make you aware of the best options for you on a continual basis!
2-A consultation goes a long way in keeping you informed and educated in your knowledge of how your policies work and why they are important now and in the future. This gives you great peace of mind in understanding how you are protected and what your retirement will look like!
3-You need to know that your advisor is still heavily involved in the business and therefore up to speed with all the current best products in the industry
We want to hear from you. Please comment below if you have something to add to this week!
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