I am grateful to Jean Chatzky for her selection of this blog as her top pick among investing blogs in a recent piece for AARP Finance Blogs You Should Read.  In her write-up she generously calls me “An entertaining writer prone to football references…”  With that said I could think of no better way to start a piece about your financial advisor’s definition of success than with a mention of the University of Louisville’s rehiring of Bobby Petrino as their head football coach.  To this college football fan, Louisville’s definition of success is clear and unambiguous.  Is your financial advisor’s definition of success just as clear?

Just win baby

The short story is that the University of Louisville rehired Bobby Petrino as their football coach to replace Charlie Strong who had left for Texas.  Petrino was highly successful at Louisville from 2003-2006 before leaving for greener pastures.  Petrino’s alleged lack of character and morals typify everything that critics point to as being wrong with big-time college sports, however I’m pretty confident that none of that was a factor in the decision to hire him.  He is a talented coach and a proven winner and Louisville needs both qualities as they move to the ACC next season to compete with the likes of Florida State, Clemson, Miami, and Virginia Tech.

As the late Al Davis, founder and owner of the Oakland Raiders, said, “Just win baby.”

For those of you who read this blog on a regular basis you know that I am a fan of openness and transparency in the financial services industry so I have no issue with Louisville’s motives for this move, though I did razz my friend, NAPFA study group mate, and UL grad Greg Curry immediately (Greg is an outstanding Louisville-based fee-only advisor).

Just as Petrino was clearly brought in to win, many financial advisors sadly seem to be in this business with the primary motivation of winning, which I am defining here as earning a whole lot of money for themselves.  Why else would sales training be such a big part of the orientation programs at many firms?  Why else would there be sales contests with nice prizes such as trips to luxurious destinations for selling certain financial products?  Don’t get me wrong I’m not against earning a good living, just not at the expense of the people whose interests are supposed to come first and foremost.

For more on Petrino and Louisville check out this piece on the CNN/Sports Illustrated site by Andy Staples and this one by Michael Rosenberg. 

Is your advisor a wolf? 

In keeping with our tradition for fine family entertainment on Christmas day, this year’s family movie outing was The Wolf of Wall Street.  Watching the film made me wonder what I’ve been missing by being a fee-only advisor all these years (just kidding).

Clearly I am not insinuating that if your financial advisor earns all or a substantial portion of their income from commissions and product sales that they also participate in dwarf tossing, consumption of mass quantities of drugs, lewd sex acts, or other forms of debauchery.  I do wonder if their measure of success is the same as that of the characters portrayed in the film, namely money.  Specifically money that inures to them from selling financial products to you.

While many advisors who sell financial products are competent professionals motivated by their client’s best interests, you always have to wonder if a particular investment, annuity, or insurance product is being recommended because it is the best product for you or rather because it is the most lucrative for the advisor.

As long as some financial services firms run sales contests for advisors and incent sales production this conflict will always be there.

My definition of success 

My definition of success is simple.  I am only successful as a financial advisor if my clients achieve success. 

I would venture to say that my closest circle of financial advisor colleagues, my NAPFA study group, would wholeheartedly agree with this definition.  My guess is that the bulk of my fellow fee-only NAPFA colleagues would as well.

If you are looking for a financial advisor to start off the New Year right check out this guide from NAPFA. 

Make sure that you clearly articulate your goals and your definition of financial success to your current financial advisor or to any advisor that you are considering working with.  Clear and open communication is a vital part of a successful client-financial advisor relationship.

Please feel free to contact me with your questions. 

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Photo credit: Wikipedia