You see the headlines; you hear the influencers. They all say, “This is the best strategy.”
But is it really?
What are the things that make a solid plan for you?
If you break down the recommendations you hear online, the truth is that those plans are probably not a good plan for you, and might even cause more harm than good.
Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash
What’s wrong with listening to internet advice?
It boils down to this: How well do those authors and influencers know you?
Chances are, they’ve never met you before. If they’re successful, they’re giving advice to a HUGE audience, after all.
Well, if you went to a doctor, and they gave the same advice to someone who is 20 as someone who is 60, without doing an examination, what would you think?
You’d probably write to the medical board and ask to have their license revoked!
The same principle should apply to finance. One-size-fits-all advice ends up fitting very few.
What kind of personalization do you need?
You are a unique person. And advice needs to take that into account.
So, you need to find information and advice that pertains to you. Otherwise, you could be taking on MUCH more risk than necessary, or missing out on MUCH more growth than possible.
Neither of those are good situations.
Advice should take into account your entire financial picture. Even non-financial factors, like age, emotions, past experiences, and dreams all affect the perfect advice for you. And any advice given without asking for these different factors should be taken with a grain of salt.
Why are all these factors important? It leads to the most important consideration with financial recommendations.
The best advice is the advice that gets done
How often have you made a new year’s resolution – to eat better, lose weight, exercise more, read more – and within a couple of months you were back to the same habits that you had before?
Those are all great pieces of advice! We could all stand to be healthier, to be more well read, to experience life more fully. But if the best advice is not followed through, then it might as well have never been given.
This is where personalization is so important. The best advice is do-able. It’s given in a way that makes you want to do it, and that gives you a great experience the whole way through so you keep on doing it.
What happens a lot with advice from one-size-fits-all influencers is that people start following it, but then discover that it doesn’t apply to them, so they jump to another influencer, until they run into the same issue. And the cycle repeats.
Does that sound familiar to you?
Have you had trouble following through on the financial advice you’ve heard and read?
If that’s the case, then that advice was not for you.
How do you get a personalized plan?
There are two ways to do this:
- Start doing a lot of research. Don’t seek the advice, seek to understand the reasoning behind the advice. Find out how different financial tools work, and why they work. That will tell you what ways you’ll be able to incorporate them into your portfolio.
- Hire a true fiduciary financial advisor. Here the key word is “fiduciary”, so you know that you’re not going to get a salesperson trying to push products on you. These financial advisors have done all that research for you, and will conduct a comprehensive review of your situation to make sure that you’re getting the best financial advice.
If you’re ready for financial advice that works, click here to register for a free Bronze account. A licensed fiduciary advisor will reach out to set up a complimentary 60 minute meeting, and get you started on your way to financial peace of mind.