The work of a financial advisor can really be broken down under two main umbrellas:

1.) Financial planning
2.) Investment management

The planning is all of the hard work listed on the left hand side of the “What a great advisor can do” page. Investment management is actually pretty simple and takes very little time. A transparent advisor will admit it only takes a few minutes per YEAR. Click buy on a few funds, then leave it alone and let the market do the work.

Yet most advisors charge commissions for selling stuff (like insurance or investments) or a percent of assets under management (AUM). HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?! Why are they charging for the easy part and ignoring the hard part?

That’s why it’s so important to seek out a FLAT-FEE financial advisor. This is someone who doesn’t charge an AUM fee or earn any commissions based on what they sell you. (In fact, they don’t sell anything). They charge a clearly advertised price JUST for the advice.

Flat-fee advisors have been really hard to find, which is why I co-founded @hello_nectarine! It’s a marketplace for vetted fiduciary flat-fee financial advisors. No AUM fees, no commissions, no sales pitches ever.

For what it’s worth, I only stuck with that advisor for a couple years. I was managing some of my investments on my own (in index funds of course) and was watching what he was doing and came to the conclusion back then he wasn’t going to magically beat the market by stock picking.

As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.

-Jeremy