You work hard for your money. If you’re smart, you set a little money aside for retirement. One day, you hope to have enough of the nest egg saved that you won’t have to work so hard.
Investing in your future is a very responsible decision. However, if you don’t know what you’re doing, you may not get the financial growth that you need in order to retire comfortably. This is why it’s a good idea to consult an investment advisor now. An investment advisor will review your financial well-being, help you set long-term financial goals, and develop a plan for meeting those goals.
Some people think that investment advisors are only something that wealthy people need, not teachers and blue-collar workers who don’t have millions of dollar to manage. However, a good investment advisor can help someone of any walk of life achieve the financial goals they need to retire comfortably.
Five Signs That You Would Benefit From Talking to an Investment Advisor
- Your biggest paycheck of the year is your tax refund.
For many middle-class Americans, filing taxes results in a refund of thousands of dollars. By all means, receiving a tax refund is better than having to pay Uncle Sam!However, if your tax refund is thousands of dollars, that money might be put to better use elsewhere. Sometimes people get tax refunds because of federal subsidies like Earned Income Credit, but sometimes they get text refunds because they are overpaying throughout the year. While Uncle Sam is holding onto your excess payment, it doesn’t grow one copper penny in interest or dividends. This is called “dead money.” Instead, talking to a financial planner will help you determine the correct deduction so that the IRS gets just with they’re owed throughout the year, and the excess is put into an investment that actually makes you money.
- You don’t know how much your investments are costing you.
Most people do not realize that any investment they make is costing them something. The institution that handles their money is not a charity; they are making money somehow. Even if your financial investments are employee benefits, such as a 401(k), the institution that is handling your 401(k) is charging you something in order to make a profit themselves. One of the first steps in making the most of your investment is understanding how much of your investment is paying for fees or administrative expenses, and in what ways you can minimize that. - Your investment doesn’t include a safety net in case of a market downturn.
You might remember the the dot com boom in the 1990s that suddenly went belly up, and cost some people every penny they had. Still, as if we never learn, when the inflated housing market in 2008 suddenly burst, once again, many people lost every penny they had. Historically, this happens once or twice a decade, yet many people do not diversify their investments in order to protect it in case of a downward market. This is an incredibly important part of safeguarding your future that an investment advisor can help with. - Your investment contribution is not based on meeting your long-term goals.
Many people do not take their investment planning seriously until they’re within 10 years of retirement. At this point, it is too late to make such significant changes that you will suddenly have enough to live on without working. The best thing you can do for your retirement is to calculate how much you want to retire with 20 or 30 years before you actually retire. This is a valuable service an investment advisor can help with. - You do not have a plan in place in case something happens to you.
It is an unfortunate fact that sometimes unexpected tragedies occur. If something were to happen to you, what would happen to the people who rely on you for their livelihood? Your investment advisor can make sure that you have made the investment choices that will provide for your loved ones if anything were to happen to you, and the correct legal documentation is in place to manage it for them.
Do you use an investment advisor? What changes have you made to your financial planning as a result? Please share in the comment section.
