6 Real Reasons Why You Need to Hire a Financial Advisor
When you make the decision to hire a financial planner, you are entering a long-term relationship with a person who will know almost everything about your personal and financial life. It is nearly impossible to know who to trust with your money and we have all heard the stories of the occasional advisor who is only looking to line their pockets rather than offer the best advice. A good financial advisor can bring your personal finances and financial security to a higher level. With everything happening in the world, now is probably a good time for you to take the next step in your investing journey and ditch DIY investing by finally hiring a professional. Below is a list of reasons we think you should stop “Doing It Yourself” and look for the right person to help you make financial decisions.
A financial professional can help you avoid the many pitfalls of DIY planning, including:
1. Removing the Urge to Trade on Emotions
As humans, we are all emotional. You've probably become more than a little emotional when you think about your money. And when it comes to investing, listening to these emotions more often than not can end disastrously. It takes a particular type of person to put aside feelings and be able to make the right decision based on evidence, not emotions. A financial advisor provides an outside perspective free of any emotional attachments and is able to choose whatever action is best for you.
2. Failing to Employ a Disciplined Process
Hunches and tips rarely work out in the long run, but having a defined process and sticking to a proven investment strategy does. As financial advisors, we have years of investment experience to use as a guide, and will never risk your money over a gut feeling or a rumor, rather we use the “weight of the evidence” approach.
3. Not Putting in The Time
Most DIY’ers will put in a minimal amount of time into analyzing their portfolio, their individual positions, and all other potential investments in the current investment landscape. A professional will spend exponentially more time looking at current positions and opportunities. Having a process to identify new opportunities as well as knowing when it’s time to diversify away from former winners will play a major part in your success over long periods of time.
4. Selling When the Market Gets Scary
Getting out of the market is easy but knowing when and how to get back in is entirely different. Let’s say: The market is down for the second week in a row, and the value of your portfolio is dropping like a stone. Are you going to have the guts to stick with your investment system? Most DIY investors don't and wind up not only selling their investments for a loss but missing out on the very lucrative rebound. Financial professionals don't get scared by adverse market conditions. That is not to say we believe in “buy and hold” strategies, more so, it’s about the process of mitigating risks and re-investing when market volatility subsides to take advantage of market rebounds.
5. Trying to Call Tops and Bottoms
You have heard it a thousand times, "buy low, sell high," but calling market tops and bottoms is a loser's game and can cause you to lose out on a lot of profit. A professional investor knows that being involved in the majority of the trend and avoiding the majority of a downtrend is far more important than picking the top or bottom.
6. Sleepless Nights
Investing on your own is stressful. If the market is up, you will most likely be wondering how long the ride will last, or should I take your profit now? But if the market is down, it is even worse. You are terrified your investments will never recover. Why do that to yourself? Do your due diligence, hire the best financial professional you can, and rest easy.
Why make investing harder than it has to be? Take your life back and build a stronger portfolio by speaking with a financial professional today.
