12:43 AM
Financial advisors (FA) should teach people to make more money than to constantly harp on investments and savings and retirement and then they take 50% of that for their commissions and then tell you that financial freedom will take time and planning. Typically, you'll only start breaking even at the 3rd year of any investment instrument.
I say that because having being in the financial industry myself, those are crap advice.
Savings and investments are for those that is already earning a medium to high income and with extra surplus or cashflow to go around. A family of 4 (A) with monthly income of $1500 monthly and a similar family (B) who brings in $3000 monthly assuming they live in the same type of flats, eat the same kind of food, everything else the same except income, family B will be the one with the surplus cashflow and thus have the ability to save or invest. Family A will can never consider the long term benefits of financial planning because they are busy trying to make ends meet. This is a fact which is why you will have FAs who will prospect only the medium to high income because the low wage earners have no surplus. Standard of living is expensive nowadays, they affect everybody. Pity for family B because having to allocate their surpluses to insurance premiums, savings and investment accounts, are left to compromise on living a life they dream of because financial freedom takes time to materialize. Welcome to Bora Bora, you are 100 years old!
I'm not saying that saving is not important. I dont need an FA to tell me that, my mom can tell me that for free plus she'll lock up my cash stash without the maintenance fees. I'm also not saying that you shouldn't make your money work for you by not investing or that you don't need insurance.
I am saying that our FAs MUST teach people to earn more money. Let's face it, there are FAs out there that is struggling to earn a decent income themselves. How do you teach you people about finance when you yourself are not really "financially free"? You must teach people about money and how to get more, NOW. Start with an extra 100 a month and then 200 and so on...you don't have to paint a 'Be a Millionaire' kind of picture. Set the right expectations. That extra money can go off to pay debts, mortgage or even add in a trip or two.
What do I mean by earning more money? Teach people to find ways to make more money! What way? Any way!
Help people to ask for a raise at work. Or by getting a promotion.
Tutor or freelance during your free hours or weekends.
Set up a business. If you don't have a time, do it part time. If you don't have a huge capital, do network marketing. Or an online business. There are plenty of opportunities out there. Thinking that you need huge capital to start a business is a myth. Businesses are set up everyday with little or no capital at all.
Help people find clients to get started.
Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera...the lists are endless.
I personally believe it is easier to earn an extra $100 dollars a month than to save $100 dollars a month.
Think about it, if it is really that easy to save why do we need FAs in the first place? People would just line up in front of the banks and open up whatever investment and savings accounts they need. Now you know why they earn half for their commissions?
How would you rather pay your FA,
50% of $100 that you earn extra every month?
OR
50% of $100 that you are saving? Money that you will not see 10 or 15 years later and then you are only getting half of it.
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