Welcome to my new Finding A Trusted Advisor blog.  I’m a 30 plus year veteran of the financial services industry.  I’ve held many senior positions in the life insurance and investment community and now I’m taking that experience and writing a book on how the consumer can find someone who they can trust – literally – with their life savings.  And unlike so many of my associates in the industry, I’m not writing a book so you’ll see the wisdom in investing with me and utilizing the investments that I manage!

Over the years I’ve always tried to follow a fiduciary standard of putting the client first – most certainly a “do for others what you’d do yourself” approach.  But as you can imagine, this isn’t always the number one thought within a small segment of the investing community! (And this is excepting the likes of Madoff and Stanford.)  And many times it’s not out of malice or greed, but simply not knowing the right questions to ask to get good answers about how things work!

My goal in starting this blog is to share, with the public, what I’ve learned in my many years of being an insider within the financial services community.  My hope is to arm individuals and families with the right questions and tools so they can find a talented, competent financial advisor, or  more likely an advisory firm to assist in achieving their cherished and hoped for financial goals.

Financial service is a very complicated industry, and the dot.com bubble, and the GFD (Great Financial Disaster of 2008) really highlighted, for me, where many of the shortfalls are in this service industry.  It’s not brain surgery or rocket science, but it encompasses both science and art, mathematics and behavioral psychology, and requires a good deal of commitment to stay on top of a huge flood of information.  And a much greater commitment to assimilate the data and assemble it into an action plan that can be implemented and used successfully.  Many of us have other goals in life that are more important, personally,  than becoming a full-time student of finance. Thus I see a real need for members of the public to be well-informed so they can be confident in their ability to find a “trusted advisor” in the financial services arena to work with in planning for a strong and secure financial future.

Investing in the market, with or without a financial planner, may not always be successful.  No one knows what they markets are going to do on a day-to-day basis.  But there’s good evidence that doing certain things can significantly increase you chances of success without devoting your life to the process.  Finding the right professional to help you is a good step – just like finding the right doctor, lawyer or plumber.  And you need to remember that financial services is a business – and a “for-profit” business.  Talent goes where the money can be made, and you should expect to pay a reasonable amount for the education, experience and track record a good adviser will have.  But finding the “right one” can be a challenge!  There are literally thousands of “financial planners” in the phone book and on the web.  There’s a smaller number of individuals that follow the fiduciary path to put the client’s needs first and foremost.  And there is an even smaller number of advisors, in my opinion, that have the knowledge, expertise, wisdom and experience coupled with a fiduciary standard of always putting the client’s needs first that I would want to work with, or share with a friend or family member.

I welcome questions and certainly hearing from you about your experiences in trying to get competent advice in the financial planning area.

Thank you!