Have you ever asked yourself: Is my financial advisor truly working in my best interests, or just earning a commission?
As someone who spent years behind the curtain as a financial advisor, I can tell you most of what you’ve been taught is flat-out wrong. And if you don’t ask the right questions, you could be setting yourself up to work longer than you want, living paycheck to paycheck, or even running out of money in retirement.
The Harsh Truth About Financial Advisors
I’ve been there sitting in a suit, licensed not to make clients rich, but to sell products. That’s what most advisors do: they’re incentivized to move your money into funds and products that earn them fees. They’ll tell you to set it and forget it, dollar-cost average, and hope that someday your 401(k) will magically get you to retirement. But guess what? Fidelity’s own data shows less than 2% of 401(k) holders ever accumulate $1 million and even that only produces a measly $30,000 per year if you follow the so-called “safe withdrawal rate.”
The Seven Questions You Must Ask
If you’re serious about retirement planning and don’t want to end up like my dad who, despite saving diligently, realized he couldn’t retire without outliving his money you need to ask your advisor these seven questions:
- Experience: How long have they been advising? Have they lived through downturns, not just the recent bull markets?
- Fee structure: Are they fee-based or commission-based? Commission-based advisors have built-in conflicts of interest.
- Risk philosophy: Do they parrot “high risk creates high returns,” or do they understand how to minimize risk and still grow wealth?
- Cashflow focus: Are they helping you improve your cash flow now, or just telling you to sacrifice and save for a future that may never come?
- Team of experts: Do they have a network of specialists tax pros, attorneys, insurance experts or are they pretending to know it all themselves?
- Financial independence: Could they live off their investments today without earning a dime from you?
Why Passive Income Trumps Everything
I became financially free twice before age 40, not by maxing out a 401(k), but by building passive income streams that covered my expenses. That’s the real path to financial freedom having your money work for you today, not 30 years from now.
Most advisors won’t show you how to create income now because they don’t know how or they fear you’ll take money away from the assets they manage, cutting their fees. But I want you to see what’s possible, because once you get cash flow coming in, you can choose whether you work, how you work, and live life on your own terms.
Take Control of Your Future
Stop believing the lie that packing money into retirement accounts and hoping the market doesn’t crash is the only way. Start asking the tough questions. Demand advisors show you how to create cash flow today. And remember: it’s your money, your life, your freedom take control and don’t settle for anything less.