Wealth Strategist vs financial planner
What is a Wealth Strategist?
I believe there is a one size fits all financial strategy for everyone right now regardless of your financial position in life. There are the advisors that are great on getting a financial trainwreck back on course like a Suze Ormand or a Dave Ramsey. But who is the advisor for the person who has acquired some net worth and is high paid busy professional? There really isn’t one. This group of people is really underserved by the financial industry. These people usually get told to put their money in a 401k tax deferred plan with very little if any, advise on tax or estate planning.
Unfortunately, the 401K has only been around since 1984 so this “social experiment” is only a few decades old. What most people don’t realize was the 401k was never meant to be the sole retirement plan for Americans. Not too long ago the average person used to depend on their own common sense when addressing and finding solutions to their money and investments but now that person relies on “the experts” in the financial field i.e., “a financial planner” or “401k administrator” to direct them to the solutions rather than learn it themselves. The problem with the so-called “financial experts” is that they are incentivized to serve the financial institutions to lead you to a solution and not letting you truly see all of the options before you.
In my new book “Shattering Money Myths- How the Wealthy Invest” chapter 2 I go over the:
4 rules of Financial Institutions:
Rule 1 They want your money
Rule 2 They want your money systematically
Rule 3 They want to hold onto your money for a long time
Rule 4 When the time comes, they want to give back as little of your money as possible
If this sounds like your 401k retirement plan this is no coincidence. My goal is not to turn the financial institutions into the enemy. But if you fail to acknowledge the simple fact that the financial institutions have designed things to mostly benefit themselves, then you may find yourself never living the life you had envisioned. The game of finance is just that-a game-and successful players take the time to understand the rules and make the rules work to their benefit.
This is where I come in as a wealth strategist.
I empower my clients to take control of their financial future while acting as a guide throughout the journey. I challenge them to change their mindset about money and introduce them to several concepts that are outside of the box. These strategies outperform by many times what is promised in traditional financial planning. In this partnership with my client, I help to educate them on how to mitigate risks, reach desired goals and create a legacy of wealth. I incorporate tax and estate planning into my plan for them.
Most of the time I will come up with several different investment strategies for each client. I will outline each option and explain the differences, potential benefits and any attached risks. I act as a coach helping the clients to make the best possible decision while remaining neutral. Ultimate financial decisions need to be the clients’ though I serve as an invaluable resource and guide. I am an expert in financial strategy. I reverse engineer solutions based on what is possible for my clients. And by the way this is what the very wealthy do in their financial lives.
A wealth strategist is involved in proactive tax strategy and estate planning, as the largest eroder of wealth is, taxes and inflation. My relationship with my client doesn’t end once a strategy is in place. This relationship is a lifelong one.
How is this different than a financial planner?
I think you might know that answer intuitively already. Financial planners generally have a predetermined pool of financial products that they offer their clients. They do not look outside of these market related options to other products or strategies because they are compensated by the amount of their clients’ money they manage.
They take their fee regardless of how the market performs. They don’t offer much in terms of tax strategy other than defer your taxes until you retire. They build your plan around risk and growth. They believe the more risk you are willing to take the more volatile the investment will be.
That couldn’t be further from how I look at risk. My goal is to keep you in very low risk investments that have an asymmetric return. In other words where your return is much higher than the risk you take.
Many people understand that wealth strategists are only for the very wealthy. And it is true most wealthy people take advantage of using a wealth strategist.
