How We Are Different
Choosing a financial advisor can be confusing and overwhelming. After a while, they might all start to look and sound the same. But they are not all alike; some are indeed better equipped to help you than others.
It seems obvious, but when you first start thinking about hiring a financial advisor, you're usually looking for a lot more than advice on just investments. You want guidance on substantially all aspects of your personal finance – saving for your retirement, minimizing taxes, making your money last through retirement, passing your assets to your children efficiently, and so on – because, by definition, that's what financial advisors (should) do. That's why they're called financial advisors.
But truth is, most so-called financial advisors are primarily investment advisors.
This is not just a matter of semantics, but an important and substantive distinction that can ultimately matter for your financial wellness. It's true that most advisors call themselves financial advisors (or wealth advisors or wealth managers, or other similar titles that imply that they provide comprehensive financial advice). And most claim to provide "full" wealth management services. But what these well-meaning advisors say they do and what they actually do do aren't always in sync. At the end of the day, most of them are still primarily investment advisors.
Why is that?
It's because most financial advisors came up as investment advisors. Most started their advisory careers at large brokerage firms like Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, where they were trained and rewarded to sell stocks and bonds, and open as many new accounts as they can. Their mission was to build and grow a book of business. They were not trained or rewarded to provide comprehensive financial advice. Thus, they became, perhaps unwittingly, investment-centric and product-centric. And most still continue on that path today.
Our approach is fundamentally different. Our co-founder is a CPA who started his career at a CPA firm where he was professionally obligated to be impartial, intellectually honest and free of conflicts of interest because the public relies on both the objectivity and integrity of CPAs. After he became a financial advisor, it soon became evident that the public was largely underserved by financial advisors who are overly focused on investments, and not enough on providing comprehensive financial advice. To fill the void, he and his co-founders decided to start Cultivant so we can design and implement comprehensive financial strategies that address all of your financial objectives.
To be sure, managing your investments is important; it's integral to sound financial planning. Still, it's only a part of the total picture. There is more to your financial wellness than just investments.
So next time you interview a financial advisor, check to see if they seem overly interested in managing your investments (or finding out how much you have to invest). Or perhaps they are preoccupied with their investment prowess and stock-picking skills. Chances are, they are investment advisors, not financial advisors.
It seems obvious, but when you first start thinking about hiring a financial advisor, you're usually looking for a lot more than advice on just investments. You want guidance on substantially all aspects of your personal finance – saving for your retirement, minimizing taxes, making your money last through retirement, passing your assets to your children efficiently, and so on – because, by definition, that's what financial advisors (should) do. That's why they're called financial advisors.
But truth is, most so-called financial advisors are primarily investment advisors.
This is not just a matter of semantics, but an important and substantive distinction that can ultimately matter for your financial wellness. It's true that most advisors call themselves financial advisors (or wealth advisors or wealth managers, or other similar titles that imply that they provide comprehensive financial advice). And most claim to provide "full" wealth management services. But what these well-meaning advisors say they do and what they actually do do aren't always in sync. At the end of the day, most of them are still primarily investment advisors.
Why is that?
It's because most financial advisors came up as investment advisors. Most started their advisory careers at large brokerage firms like Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, where they were trained and rewarded to sell stocks and bonds, and open as many new accounts as they can. Their mission was to build and grow a book of business. They were not trained or rewarded to provide comprehensive financial advice. Thus, they became, perhaps unwittingly, investment-centric and product-centric. And most still continue on that path today.
Our approach is fundamentally different. Our co-founder is a CPA who started his career at a CPA firm where he was professionally obligated to be impartial, intellectually honest and free of conflicts of interest because the public relies on both the objectivity and integrity of CPAs. After he became a financial advisor, it soon became evident that the public was largely underserved by financial advisors who are overly focused on investments, and not enough on providing comprehensive financial advice. To fill the void, he and his co-founders decided to start Cultivant so we can design and implement comprehensive financial strategies that address all of your financial objectives.
To be sure, managing your investments is important; it's integral to sound financial planning. Still, it's only a part of the total picture. There is more to your financial wellness than just investments.
So next time you interview a financial advisor, check to see if they seem overly interested in managing your investments (or finding out how much you have to invest). Or perhaps they are preoccupied with their investment prowess and stock-picking skills. Chances are, they are investment advisors, not financial advisors.