0:00:00 - Speaker 1

Discussions in this show should not be construed as specific recommendations or investment advice. Always consult with your investment professional before making important investment decisions. Securities offered through registered representatives of Cambridge Investment Research Inc. A broker-dealer member, FINRA, SIPC Advisory Services through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. A registered investment advisor Cambridge and Greenway Wealth Advisory are not affiliated.

0:00:20 - Speaker 2

It's time to dive into some insider secrets of investing and retirement planning To make your retirement as smart and as elegant as possible. This is Money Chic with Sherry Rash. Welcome into another edition of Money Chic Women and Retirement with Sherry Rash from Greenway Wealth Advisory and myself to talk about grass being greener on the other side. The topic of the conversation really this week is, you know, we were thinking about that aspect of maybe looking for a new financial professional or maybe just trying to find a financial professional period. But you could kind of look at it either way, I suppose, and you know, you just kind of kind of weighing these things and sometimes we make moves, as we know in life, whether it's jobs or maybe relationships. We kind of leave something thinking it's going to be better over here and then maybe it's not right. So we're going to kind of look at the pros and cons of grass as a greener on the other side, or is it? That's the topic this week, sherry? What's going on? How are you?

0:01:16 - Speaker 3

doing All right. Looking forward to talking about this because it definitely crosses people's minds. Of issues come up or questions you start to second guess, so I'm looking forward to diving into these topics and discussing it with you, yeah absolutely, and it's.

0:01:33 - Speaker 2

We're in November, so you know we just got done with the elections, so thankfully the ads are over with, so we're not getting barf-arded by that on the regular basis. And you know now we have another whole cycle to go through later on. But it's easy to do when we start thinking about our money, because money is obviously super emotional just much like this election cycle has been in the last couple of years and there's certain things we get really amped up about right, and money is certainly one of those. That's one of the reasons we do the podcast. So I've got a kind of a series of different scenarios here where I want to bounce these off of you and talk about whether it's is it the time to go looking someplace else, or are we viewing this, you know, maybe from the wrong lens? First, one's kind of tough to defend a little bit here, but maybe the advisor made a mistake and they admit it, right, hey.

I goofed up, I did something incorrect. Whatever the case is, and it costs you money, is that an automatic like time to go shopping and looking for a new professional, or is there degrees to this? Or you know how do you view it.

0:02:36 - Speaker 3

You know, I think the biggest thing using this example is that the advisor admitted it. So, hey, I made a mistake, here's what it is. And unfortunately, yes, it did cost you something. I think that's a good thing, right, that the advisor admitted it and tried to gloss it over or hide it from you. Even worse, I would say, if they tried to hide it from you, that would be a reason to fire an advisor.

But if it costs some money, you know mistakes in our industry can be easily quantifiable, right. If you have less money than what you started with due to a mistake, but did working with the advisor did the mistake lose all the money you've ever made with that advisor over your entire relationship? So are you still plus through your working relationship with that advisor? If for all of these years, everything has been great and you've made money, you've made smart financial decisions, they've helped you tax wise with recommendations, they probably have saved you or made you a lot of money over your relationship. So if you like the advisor, you trust their advice, you appreciate the fact that they were honest with you and were forthcoming with the information that they made a mistake. I think it can be forgivable where human mistakes happen.

0:04:00 - Speaker 2

Yeah, I think the severity right of the issue certainly going to play into that. Obviously, if it's something you know that was easily fixable, that was just missed and it was a you know a very, very costly mistake, obviously everybody's going to be different right, there's going to be kind of degrees of you know, of whatever the issue might have been. But yeah, mistakes are going to happen in the industry in general and sometimes that could just be something as simple. As you know, the indicators all pointed this way and it just didn't happen right. And some people view that as a mistake on the advisor's part and we'll get into some more of that in a minute. But I don't know that that's definitely not fair, I don't think, especially in an industry that is very speculative a lot of times. So, Just kind of bearing that in mind, alright.

So number two maybe the advisor's business has grown, okay. So this, I think, comes down to when you're shopping for a professional, maybe you're looking for something specific. Some people might want a boutique firm right, something a little smaller, where they feel like they're the individual and they're actually talking with the owner and they get that kind of rapport going. Others want to go to a larger firm where they feel like, hey, they must have a lot of clout or they have a lot of clients, that means they do a great job and they've got a big building and a bunch of employees, that kind of thing. However, sometimes that boutique firm grows into one of those bigger firms and the client may wind up feeling like it's not the right fit anymore, because they no longer see the original advisor, they no longer feel like, I guess, family, they feel more like a number. That might be time to consider shopping around.

0:05:33 - Speaker 3

Yeah, growing pains happen in every business. Sometimes you can feel when the company or the person is just getting too big and do they need to make changes or bring on more staff, or have they brought on more staff and you're not getting that one-on-one attention that you were used to. What I would say is do you like the new associates that you are meeting with instead of the advisor? If you do, that may be okay. Just because you're not meeting with that advisor, it's likely he or she are training their associates to think and to operate very similarly to them.

0:06:14 - Speaker 2

And still overseeing them? Probably yeah.

0:06:15 - Speaker 3

And still overseeing them Right. So your experience could be very, very similar. You're just not meeting with that advisor anymore. The associates may also be their succession, so they may be taking over the advisor's business when he or she retires in 10 plus years. So it's actually a good thing to have associates come in, get to know you over this time so then when that advisor does retire or take a step back, it's seamless. So I would say be upfront, ask you know what is as far as the associates go. Ask the advisor what is their role. Where do you see me as your client going forward? How are we going to work together? It's not necessarily a bad thing that you're meeting with the associates. It could be. You know, it always helps to have fresh set of eyes look at things. So I wouldn't necessarily take that as a negative. But if you feel like you're getting ignored due to the business getting too big, that could be a cause for concern.

0:07:16 - Speaker 2

Yeah, and I think we have to ask ourselves that, as you know, the potential client, right, when we're shopping to begin with, what are you, what do you want, what are you looking for? And, just like, their business may change your feelings about it or your needs may change too. So, you know, just kind of bearing that in mind, and that's why I think, sherry, and all of this and we'll touch on it again at the end of the podcast but that's why so many professionals offer complimentary reviews and things of that nature, because it is a feeling out process, right, it is a chance to kind of come in, you can do your diligence online, you can learn about them, check their designations and so on and so forth, but also then coming into the office or meeting with them and one-on-one kind of gives you that chance to learn more about who they are, what they stand for and if that's the right fit for you. So right, bearing all that in mind, let's go to the, the dinner seminar type of things.

So obviously these are especially in a year like 2022,. Okay, there's a lot of turmoil out there in the industry. There's a lot of turmoil in the markets and the bond markets, so on and so forth, and so one way is to go through. You know, sales pitches and these various different kinds of things dinner events, dinner seminars Maybe you went and you really enjoyed it and you like, really had a great time and learned a few things, and you kind of walk away thinking, hey, I like this person. I don't know if I got that same feeling from my current advisor. It's a grasses greener situation. Did you fall for the sales pitch or was there something to it?

0:08:39 - Speaker 3

Right. What do you want out of your advisor? Do you want to be friends with them and be entertained when you speak with them, or do you want them to do a good job and help you get ahead financially? Sometimes there's advisors that can be both, and that's awesome and your personalities click, and that's fantastic. But at the end of the day, what are you looking for? If you're looking to make the right decisions financially, is your current advisor the person that can help you do that? Just because an advisor is really good at dinner seminars Doesn't necessarily mean they're really good with helping you make wise financial decisions.

0:09:15 - Speaker 2

Yeah, and I think there's got to be a likeability factor too, right. So clearly, when you're in the interview process, you're going to have to take that into account. Our gut goes a long way in that, because you're going to be meeting with this person and if they're doing a great job, that's fantastic, but you still, I think, want to have a rapport with them and there's a likeability factor that plays into that. I think about the medical field, for example. Typically we think of surgeons, sherry, they probably don't typically have bedside manners very well, right, we think of that more of the nurses and the general doctors and things like that. But surgeons, they're very specialized, right. So they're typically they've got to get in there, they got to do very serious work and they probably don't have a very good sense of humor, you know. So we kind of have that kind of preconceived notion and what you guys do is very, very serious as well. But because you're dealing with people's retirement money, but you also have to have that likeability component, so bounce that out.

0:10:08 - Speaker 3

I just yeah, I just finished a blog post actually called Seven Questions to Ask when Interviewing a Financial Advisor, and so this is very timely, this discussion we're having, but one of the points I brought is can you see this person going through your life changes with you Marriage, divorce, births, deaths, changing jobs? Can you see that person being the resource, one of the phone calls that you are making? Obviously probably not the first one or the second one, but it might be one of the handful of calls of hey, my life just changed, I need your help with it. If you can see that advisor being that person for you, then that's who you should be working with.

0:10:52 - Speaker 2

Well, you know, and that's a great point too, because at a certain time in your life that may change, just like the doctor analogy I just used. Right, I know longer. I mean, I'm a heart patient, I see a cardiologist. I no longer see the pediatrician for a reason, you know, because it's totally different.

And you may have been working with an advisor for a number of years. It's done a great job for you, but they don't talk to you about social security strategies and optimization and they don't talk about legacy planning. Maybe they've just spent most. They're just better at the accumulation side and the preservation side is just not their bag, you know advisors, more and more, are having a niche focus of who they work with.

0:11:31 - Speaker 1

Right.

0:11:31 - Speaker 3

So if you ask an advisor and this was also one of the questions I pose in this blog topic is who do you work with? And if the answer is pretty much anyone with a pulse, then odds are they don't have a specialty so, and you could have been working with someone as a 25-year-old in their specialty's retirement.

0:11:51 - Speaker 2

Yeah.

0:11:52 - Speaker 3

Well, there's a mismatch there. Or vice versa. If you are young and working with an advisor that helps you accumulate, can they help you with retirement? Is their business going to evolve as their clientele gets older? Are they going to evolve as well? So it's really who do you see along, going along with you during your life's financial journeys?

0:12:15 - Speaker 2

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think these are definitely some great questions to ask, and talking about this topic this week and you know the for lack of a better term, the remote or zoom revolution, I suppose, to lots of industries has made this next question interesting. I like the advisor, right. I like working with them, but I've moved. I'm moving to another state and they're not there, right? So does that relationship change? I think prior to COVID, probably right, but more people are definitely more comfortable with the idea of working with a professional who's located in a different state. But I think part of that starts with the relationship. If you just started three or four or five or six months ago, maybe it's worth looking for another professional in the new state. But if you've got a 10 year relationship and things are going great, why not just do the remote thing?

0:13:02 - Speaker 3

Thoughts. I think I have clients in 30 different states, Some I've obviously have never met before, and others that have that live a mile from me and I still have never met them face to face. It's always been on zoom, Interesting, so yeah. So if that doesn't matter to you, if going to their office sitting down with them shaking their hand, is all of that really necessary, If it's not, then why change? If they're willing to be licensed in the state you live in, if they're willing to meet with you on zoom and they it's an easy process to meet, they know you, and why not stick with them or at least give it some time? It's not the first thing you have to do after you move right. Moving is stressful enough. So give it some time, let it shake out and odds are you're probably overthinking it and everything will continue seamlessly.

0:13:56 - Speaker 2

Okay, that's a great point, though I like that vantage point as well. Final one here on the five items that we were going to cover this week is going to be a market downturn, and we are in an optimal time to discuss this, sherry, because 21 was basically straight up, 22 has been moved into bear territory and then it's flopped all around. It's been very volatile, and so if you're thinking about changing kind of back to this first, the very first one I brought up solely because you've lost some money, your portfolios has done poorly Is that really the advisor's fault or is it your fault? Or is it a combination of both? Because you were fine with the risk allocation more than likely last year, when things were up, and you didn't do anything about it because greed was on your shoulder, and then now, 2022, it's been down right, same risk allocation and you didn't make any changes. Again, who's fault?

0:14:50 - Speaker 3

One or the other, or maybe both, for not communicating and if the market's crashing, there's not much we can do about that, right? I mean, we don't want to sell when everything's going down Sure. So we have to make sure that we are allocated appropriately in a well-diversified portfolio, and that's our job. As an advisor myself, I look at all of my clients' portfolios and their allocations and I look at their allocations and how they perform versus a benchmark, and a benchmark is what you measure against, because a conservative portfolio is not going to perform the same way as an aggressive portfolio upside and downside, right, so it's not an apples-to-apples comparison. A conservative portfolio in the market goes up 20%, is not going to go up 20%, but is it performing the way it should be, based on the risk and the investment objective? And instead of the market crashed and I lost a ton of money, did my portfolio perform as expected? Should be the question for the advisor.

0:15:52 - Speaker 2

Nice okay.

0:15:53 - Speaker 3

What's the benchmark? What are you measuring me against? Yeah, that's what. And if? When advisors manage their own money for their clients, it's really hard for an advisor to fire himself, right.

I did a bad job with the portfolio and odds are, the advisor is not going to admit that they did a bad job managing it. But when you use third parties, you could say, well, this strategist did not do too well, they missed the mark. Let's see if there's other options out there for you when things start to recover. So there needs to be checks and balances. How is the portfolio being measured and reviewed is most important.

0:16:30 - Speaker 2

Yeah, and this is the point of annual reviews, or even more than annual, depending on your needs, right, because you've got to take each other's temperature, for lack of a better term, and you're also going to take the temperature of what's happening in the world. Right Now, there's tea leaves that are out there that you can read and you're never going to get it exactly right, right? No, the crystal ball works, but it's easy enough to have those conversations and say, especially for the time horizons, you factor that that's another factor to this, where you're like, okay, you know, we've been taking a lot of risk for X number of years, let's say, but we're getting older, we need to be allocating and pairing some of that back. And that's all part of that strategizing and working with the professional and having that rapport and that relationship that you were talking about earlier, because you're going to be able to monitor these things through the years.

0:17:16 - Speaker 3

Yeah, and I would say the market crashed. Are you hearing from your advisor?

0:17:20 - Speaker 2

No, that's a good point.

0:17:21 - Speaker 3

Are they contacting you? Are you getting emails? Are they requesting meetings? I would say it's more of a concern if the advisor is hiding under their desk and avoiding everything if the market's crashing. So that's something else. Are they keeping up communication explaining what's going on in the market and how that affects your portfolio?

0:17:43 - Speaker 2

Yeah, and you know, as clients we were obviously hiring professionals to help us with the things we don't know. But at the end of the day, it is still our money and I've always been a firm believer that it's not the advisor's job to care more about the portfolio than we do. You're going to care, it's your job, but you shouldn't care more than we do, right, because it's our money. So we have to have that equally vested peace in there as well, even though we don't know the technicals and the ins and outs, and we're turning to professionals for that help. You know, you have to have some of that onus on ourselves to make sure that we're keeping an eye on things as well. That's my take.

0:18:15 - Speaker 3

Any thoughts I do. There is some nights I wake up and if I think of something or I'm nervous, oh, of course, because you care about your job, oh yeah.

0:18:23 - Speaker 2

No, don't get me wrong. I think you know. Hopefully you get what I'm saying there.

0:18:26 - Speaker 1

It's like yeah, but it's not the end of the day it's still.

0:18:28 - Speaker 2

it's my money, right, I should care the most about it. And then this person that cares the second most would be you, right? Well, when?

0:18:33 - Speaker 3

you go to the doctor because I know you love doctor analogy you go to the doctor, they tell you to cut out, you know, red meat and red wine. It's then up to you to do it right, Thank you. They can give you the recommendation, but it's up to you to implement it at the end of the day.

0:18:48 - Speaker 2

Thank you. Yeah, they're not going to sit next to you across the table going, hey, don't eat that. Well, good, Good stuff. Well, thanks for hanging out. Sherry is always in chat with me. Good conversation. Check out that blog as well. You can find it on Sherry's website, Greenway WealthAdvisorycom. I'm sure that's where it's at right.

0:19:05 - Speaker 3

Yep, there's a link for blog right at the top of the website webpage. Yeah, there you go.

0:19:10 - Speaker 2

So kind of works a little, maybe kind of hand in hand a little bit with our conversation today. Greenway WealthAdvisorycom is where you can find lots of good tools, tips and resources, information on Sherry, and you can get in contact with her and schedule some time and chat, and all that good stuff. You can also subscribe and find the podcast. You can catch past episodes as well as future episodes. We're on all the major platforms Apple, google, spotify, all that good stuff. So just either search out Money Chic Women in Retirement or stop by the website GreenwayWealthAdvisorycom. Sherry, thanks for hanging out, have yourself a great week and I'll talk to you soon. Thank you, we'll see you next time here on the program. Folks, and don't forget to subscribe to Money Chic Women in Retirement with Sherry Rash from Greenway WealthAdvisory. Thank, you.