CHAPTER 2 Do You Need a Financial Planner? A Word About Self-Help Now that you know about the basics of the financial planning process, do you think you can do it yourself? Only you can answer that question, but here are several important factors to consider as you attempt to do so: Financial planning is a lot like preparing your own income tax return. As a matter of fact, income-tax planning is one of the subjects covered by the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) certification examination, so CFP certificants must demonstrate competence in that area. Like income-tax planning, financial planning is a dynamic process that requires the planner to stay abreast of many laws and regulations that may impact the planning result. Retirement income (and other) computations require knowledge and application of time value of money (present and future value) principles. Although you can learn how to apply these principles with the use of a financial function calculator or computer software program, a learning curve is still involved for the average consumer.
18 Chapter 2 Do You Need a Financial Planner? Certain financial planners, like CFPs, must comply with a professional code of ethics that requires them to act at all times in your exclusive best interest. Of course, you will not hesitate to act at all times in your own best interest, but without extensive knowledge of the economic, legal, and regulatory environment in which we all live and work, you may not be aware of what your best interest actually is. Finally, like a New Year s resolution, many individuals vow to get their financial life in order, but due to common, everyday pressures, fail to actually do it. Will you be the exception to the rule? Assuming you have made the decision to seek the assistance of a professional financial planner, the question becomes a matter of when you should seek assistance. That question, like so many others in financial planning, has no definitive answer, but one determining factor is the complexity of your financial life. Generally, the more money people make, the more complicated their financial life is. This is certainly true of corporate executives and selfemployed individuals. In addition, higher-net-worth individuals (such as business owners) are more likely to recognize the need to have a financial planner as part of their advisory team. Beyond all that, middle-income America is quickly appreciating the need for more detailed guidance with respect to their financial lives. As you will learn, the two biggest obstacles to a lifetime of wealth accumulation and distribution are inflation and taxes. Although the former is a fact of economic life that the average Joe (or Jane) can do very little to prevent, a professional financial planner can help to minimize the deteriorating effect of inflation on your overall portfolio return. The latter (income taxes) can also be managed with the assistance of a skilled professional. One significant warning: seeking professional assistance does not absolve you of responsibility for your own financial future. It is your financial life, and the goals you establish are your financial goals. A financial planner can ideally direct you on a path to wealth (in the fullest sense of the term), but you must still make the necessary decisions with respect to your financial well-being. Types of Financial Planners You should seek a financial planner you trust and with whom you can establish a rapport. From a compensation standpoint, there are three types of planners in today s marketplace.
Plan Your Financial Future 19 The first type of planner is paid solely by commission from the sale of financial products. These products include insurance (usually life insurance), mutual funds, stocks and bonds, and fixed and variable annuities. Typically, the commission received by the planner is taken off the top of these products and, at least to you, is invisible. However, it does add to the cost of the product you are buying. Commission-only planners are prevalent at banks, broker/dealers (securities firms), and insurance agencies. There is a great deal of controversy within the financial planning profession with respect to whether a commission-only planner can be objective. In other words, does the planner have an inherent conflict of interest? After all, the more the planner sells of a particular product, regardless of whether it is actually suitable for your needs, the more money they make. This question has no definitive answer (inherently, just because a planner is paid by commission only, that does not automatically mean the planner is not acting in your best interests), but it is something to consider as you decide what type of planner to work with. The second type of planner is a fee-and-commission planner, sometimes referred to as a fee-based planner. These planners are paid in two ways. First, for their planning activities (an example would be the preparation of a statement of personal financial position), the planner charges an hourly or fixed fee. In addition, they receive a commission for any products you buy from them, such as mutual funds with a service charge or load. Some fee-and-commission planners offer investment advisory services based on a percentage of the amount of money they manage for you. This fee, known as a wrap fee or advisory fee in the trade, typically ranges from 1 percent to 2.5 percent of the money managed annually. Although arguably the fee is not a commission, because it is paid by you to the planner and does not come off the top like a product sale, you will likely think of it as constituting a commission all the same. The third (and rapidly growing) type of planner is a fee-only planner. These planners typically do business independently and accept no commissions. Rather, they charge an hourly fee for financial planning advice and, usually, a fixed fee for developing a comprehensive financial plan. Like fee-based planners, they also charge an annual percentage fee for assets under management (again, 1 to 2.5 percent annually), but they do not sell securities and are not normally employed by or associated with a broker/dealer. As such, the feeonly planner works only for the client. Historically, this type of planner has tended to work primarily with high-net-worth or higher-income clients, but recently these planners are reaching out to more middle-income clients. As you will see in the list of questions to ask a financial planner provided later in this chapter, one of the things you want to know before engaging the services of a planner is how they are paid. However, more important than this is your level of comfort with the planner and defining the scope or range of
20 Chapter 2 Do You Need a Financial Planner? services they will provide. Many a professional engagement or relationship has been made more difficult by not reaching a clear initial understanding of the respective responsibilities of the client and the planner. Remember, this is your financial life and future, so use the planner as an advisor and not as a substitute decision-maker. The Certified Financial Planner Professional and Other Financial Planning Designations Although other financial planners have distinguished themselves in today s marketplace with one or more professional designations, probably the bestknown financial planning credential is the CFP certificant. Individuals who have achieved this credential are subject to a mandatory Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility that is enforced by the Board of Professional Review, a subsidiary of the CFP Board of Standards responsible for awarding the CFP license. As a part of this code, the planner must agree to assume a fiduciary duty under law, meaning they must act at all times in the exclusive and best interest of the client. In addition, a planner who achieves this credential must participate in mandatory continuing education in the specified subject areas of financial planning, as well as complete a separate refresher course in the principles and rules of the ethics code. CFP planners must also have graduated from college, have at least three years of financial planning experience, complete a formal education program covering specified financial planning topics (including, beginning in 2012, comprehensive case studies), and successfully pass a rigorous, comprehensive, ten-hour examination in these topics. Another meaningful credential for a financial planner is the Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC). This designation is awarded by the American College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, to individuals who have completed an eight-course curriculum, some of which can substitute for the CFP educational program requirement. The American College was originated and first funded by the life insurance industry, so its education probably tends to emphasize insurance matters more than broad-based financial planning. However, the designation is well respected among financial planners generally. A third highly recognized financial planning professional designation is one available only to Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) and is offered by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). A CPA who also holds the designation of Personal Financial Specialist (PFS) has passed a written examination covering the personal financial planning subject matter and also has practical experience in the area. Currently, there are only approximately 6,000 CPAs with this designation, although personal financial planning is a much-sought-after service requested by clients of CPAs.
Plan Your Financial Future 21 In addition to these three broad-based financial planning credentials, there are a number of other specialized credentials in today s marketplace. These other credentials indicate that the financial planner has completed some particular course of instruction and commands specialized experience, such as in retirement or estate planning. You may wish to consider including a CFP certificant or other financial planning professional among a team of financial advisors. (High-net-worth individuals and small business owners have been doing this for years.) Specifically, financial advising teams have traditionally consisted of a financial planner, a life insurance or property and casualty insurance agent, an accountant (usually a CPA), an estate-planning attorney, and, sometimes, a bank trust officer. Each fulfills the following roles: The financial planner: Typically, this individual has the broadest knowledge of your financial life and as such is often considered the quarterback of the financial advising team. They often prepare paperwork and financial documents used by other members of the team in properly advising you, the client. The financial planner also normally handles money management and investments for the client. The life insurance or property and casualty agent: Because separate state licenses are required to sell life insurance and homeowners/automobile insurance policies, you often need to contact two different professionals to buy each respective policy. The life insurance agent or broker can obtain needed life insurance protection, and the property/casualty agent can do the same with respect to protecting your important property. Sometimes insurance agents have both state licenses, but not often. The accountant: Normally, the accountant performs income-tax-related tasks, including the preparation of your annual income tax return. However, this professional can also work closely with your financial planner in advising how best to organize and operate a small business and when it may be most appropriate to sell assets (such as appreciated stock and mutual funds). The estate planning attorney: The role this professional fulfills as a member of the financial advising team is in their title. The estate planning attorney is responsible for the proper drafting of wills, trusts, and power-of-attorney documents with respect to your financial life, as well as certain business-planning documents if you are also a small business owner.
22 Chapter 2 Do You Need a Financial Planner? The bank trust officer: This member of the financial advising team is generally only involved in the event that you (a) have drafted a trust with the assistance of the estate planning attorney/team member and (b) have elected to use a professional trustee to manage and distribute the trust assets. However, you may also be the beneficiary of a trust established by someone else and might interact with the bank trust officer in this manner. It is possible that any of these professionals may perform several roles. For example, many accountants not only advise clients with respect to taxes, but also have broadened their services to include traditional financial planning advice. To provide both services, they must hold and maintain not only the CPA state license, but also the CFP professional credential. Questions to Ask a Financial Planner As you can likely appreciate by now, if you choose to work with a financial planner, selecting the planner is not an easy task. This is complicated by the fact that, unlike that for doctors and lawyers, there is no formal licensing, and accompanying regulation, of financial planners. Right now, anyone can call themselves a financial planner even a taxicab driver in New York City! If you work with an unqualified advisor, your financial future may be at risk. How do you protect yourself against this possibility? One answer is to work only with someone who demonstrates considerable financial services experience and expertise, such as an individual with an advanced business degree or a well-respected financial planning designation. However, in addition to this preliminary screen, you should also ask the planner or advisor certain basic questions, such as those listed next from the Financial Planning Association (FPA), the major professional association of personal financial planners. The FPA s website is www.fpanet.org. The FPA suggests that you ask the following ten questions of any prospective financial planner with whom you are considering working. I have added commentary to each to assist you even further in deciding which planner might be best for you: 1. What experience do you have? Experience in any industry or profession is important, but in the rapidly changing world of financial services, such experience may be considered invaluable. If the planner has not spent at least five years advising and working with clients, you may wish to keep searching until you find a planner who has. 2. What are your qualifications? Qualifications mean educational and professional designations that you can trust with respect to expertise in the financial planning process.
Plan Your Financial Future 23 3. What services do you offer? In most instances, a financial planner offers investment advisory services when implementing the financial plan for a client. Therefore, they must either have a Series 65 or Series 66 Financial Industry Regulatory Association (FINRA) securities license or have been waived from this requirement by virtue of earning an approved designation, such as the CFP certification. In addition, most planners offer additional services that may require separate state or federal licensing. 4. Can I have your engagement agreement in writing? The first step in the personal financial planning process for the professional planner is to establish and define the clientplanner relationship. As a part of this step, the planner should offer to define for you in writing the scope of the engagement, which is the universe of services that the planner and client agree is necessary and appropriate, and that the planner is qualified and willing to provide. A CFP certificant must define the scope of the engagement in writing. In mutually defining this scope, the client and planner may agree to only parts of the financial planning process (segmented financial planning or goal-specific planning) or the completion of a comprehensive financial plan. 5. What is your approach to financial planning? This question usually involves a discussion of the planner s investment approach (for example, does the planner adopt a more conservative or aggressive approach when investing a client s money?), but some planners adopt more of a financial life planning approach than others. Financial life planning is difficult to define but generally tries to anticipate life events and prepare for them at a point much earlier in time than does traditional financial planning. Financial life planning also explores more fully the psychology of money and attempts to complement more completely the merging of an individual s financial goals with their lifestyle needs. 6. Will you be the only person working with me? Like any professional, the practicing financial planner usually has staff who work in the same office. These individuals may or may not have the same expertise as the planner, not to mention the same rapport with you. If this is a concern to you, you should ask the planner how much time they will personally spend on your particular case file. In addition, if the planner works as a member of a financial planning advisory team, you may wish to ask for the names of the other team members and investigate their qualifications and background.
24 Chapter 2 Do You Need a Financial Planner? 7. How much do you typically charge? The total amount that the financial planner will charge for their services depends on the nature and extent of those services. Nevertheless, the planner should be able to provide you with an hourly fee (if they charge in that manner) or flat fee or the percentage of commissions or investment assets under management that is standard for their practice. 8. How are you paid? As discussed, financial planners are paid on a commission-only, fee-and-commission, or fee-only basis. As a part of the written engagement letter that the planner should provide at the beginning of the relationship, the planner should explain how they are paid. Some planners also provide an estimate of the total amount of fees or commissions that will be due. 9. Have you ever been publicly disciplined for any unlawful or unethical actions in your professional career? This is a very important question to ask. Although public discipline of a planner is a matter of record, you probably do not know where to find such information. If you know (or ask) what licenses are maintained by the planner, you can check the records of those particular regulatory bodies or agencies, but it is better to have a simple conversation with the planner about any past disciplinary problems. If the planner objects to this conversation, it may be because they have, indeed, incurred regulatory sanctions. If the planner provides investment advice and is registered as an investment advisor with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the state securities commission, under securities law they must provide you with a disclosure form entitled SEC Form ADV Part II or the state equivalent. If the planner is employed by a securities firm that is registered as an investment advisor, the firm s disclosure form must be given to you. 10. Can anyone other than me benefit from your recommendations? (Stated another way: Do you have any potential or current conflicts of interest?) Another big question! This is perhaps even more important than the public discipline inquiry. If a planner has a current conflict of interest (for example, if they are on the board of directors of a company whose stock you are considering purchasing), it should be disclosed to you initially preferably, in writing. In addition, if during the course of the engagement a potential conflict
Plan Your Financial Future 25 of interest arises for the planner, it should be disclosed to you as well. An advantage of working with a CFP certificant is that, under their applicable code of ethics, both current and potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed to you in writing. It is then your decision whether you wish to begin working with (or continue working with) the CFP certificant. In addition to these questions, I would ask two more: 11. What is the typical net worth and annual income level of your clients? Unfortunately, many financial planners and investment advisors prefer to work with individuals who have already made money or accumulated assets and want to increase their net worth even further. If this is not you, do not despair. More and more planners are focusing on middle-income Americans and their need for financial security. When searching for a financial planner, ask the candidates you are considering to draw you a mental picture of their clients with respect to income level and net worth. You may want to ask about the financial goals and life-cycle status of a typical client and compare their situation to yours. If there is a great disparity, or you feel condescended to in some manner, you may wish to consider another planner. 12. Do you construct an investment risk profile for your clients? And, if so, can you explain to me in simple terms how you evaluate and use this profile? It is likely that among the first issues you will address with the planner is how to build your wealth through investment in real or financial assets or both. To properly analyze this issue, it is necessary to determine your tolerance for assuming investment risk (your risk tolerance). This is a complicated determination for many individuals. Many people consider themselves conservative investors and expect their investment advisor to know what this means. Skilled financial planners and investment advisors know how to probe for the real meaning of the term conservative (and its polar opposite, aggressive) by providing real examples of investment situations and asking how you would react if these situations happened to you. For example, consider this question: If you had $50,000 invested in the stock market, how much of this amount could you tolerate losing and over what time period and
26 Chapter 2 Do You Need a Financial Planner? still sleep at night? If the answer is none or a very small amount, you are likely a conservative investor. However, be aware that this answer means your investment return (reward for risk) is also likely to be very small. Generally, as we age, we become more conservative in our investment outlook, although as you will learn later, this does not mean you should avoid investment risk altogether. Indeed, there are many forms of investment risk, and just because you may avoid the risk of loss to the principal of an investment, you may instead assume the loss of future purchasing power due to inflation. A skilled financial planner can assist you in determining what level of investment risk you are comfortable with and, accordingly, how well you are able to sleep at night. Since the recent severe decline in the stock market (or bear market, to use the most common description) beginning in October 2007, many investors have come to more properly appreciate their assumed level of risk. Until October 2007, many younger investors had never experienced a market in which a consistent decline in the market value of securities was the norm. As a result, some investors are reevaluating the allocation of their portfolio and moving into financial assets that are deemed to be safer (defined in the investor s mind as shorter-term U.S. government securities). As such, we now have the somewhat illogical result of investing in securities whose nominal or stated rate of interest is less than the accompanying inflation rate. In normal circumstances, this is not a prudent rule of investing, but such is the behavior of individuals who fear for the future value of their portfolio and the ability to satisfy their financial goals. The next chapter addresses personal financial planning and the wealth management process. Wealth management is an extension of personal financial planning and focuses on high-income and high-net-worth clients. Wealth management also emphasizes the investment process within financial planning, because high-income clients typically have a larger amount of discretionary income than middle-income investors. This book is designed to show you how to reach the status of a higher-net-worth individual by increasing your current wealth.