What exactly are financial advisers? A financial adviser is an independent professional that provides financial advising services to clients according to their individual financial status. In most countries, financial advisers are required to complete certain educational training and obtain registration with a relevant regulatory body in order to give advice on financial issues. An experienced adviser can assist you in establishing a sound long-term financial plan, and develop strategies to help you deal with problems that may arise as you reach the end of your life.
Financial advisers offer a wide range of financial products to their clients. Some advisors provide comprehensive investment advice, while others specialize in only certain areas, such as savings and investment, equities and bonds, or commercial finance. Most financial advisors work independently from firms that employ them, and provide the same types of services offered by brokers. Brokers provide access to a large number of stocks and other financial products, whereas financial advisors are paid only for advice given.
There are many different types of financial advisors, including those who provide a general overview of investments and retirement planning, those who work with clients to design individual investment portfolios, and those who provide structured settlements and annuities. A financial advisor can also be a pension and insurance planning consultant. Some specialize in estate planning and asset protection for seniors. Financial advisors also work with people who have poor credit ratings or bankruptcies, as well as people who are seeking to buy, sell, or trade exotic assets like foreclosures, stamps, coins, and others.
The most common financial advisors are retail planners, or those who work in firms or provide limited services to private customers. While they have a wide range of financial products to offer their customers, there are some types of advice that they cannot provide. If a client wants to trade in a particular investment, for example, he or she should not hire a robo-advisor. Retail planners can offer general, accountancy-type advice to their clients about which investments to choose and how to manage those investments.
As the retirement age is rising and so is the number of people suffering from financial difficulties, the number of people seeking financial advisors will also increase. The number of people entering the job market and finding financial advisors to hire will also rise, and the number of firms that offer such services will grow. Financial advisors may become harder to find. As a result, competition between financial advisors may grow.
A certified financial planner can help his or her clients make the right decisions for their retirement savings and investing. A financial analyst can also help his or her clients with basic investing and retirement planning. But when it comes to robo-advisors, Harris says, “The people who need the most help with financial issues are those who don’t know where to get started and are desperate.” Those clients will inevitably end up losing money, he said. Therefore, as much as possible, clients should seek an investment counselor and financial advisor who is certified.