Financial advisors need to be fired too…

You’ve probably gone to great lengths to screen through several financial advisors before settling for one, but your responsibility and role doesn’t end when you end up hiring one. If you feel that Johnny (let’s assume his name is Johnny) isn’t up to the mark, you should simply cut him loose and get someone new. There are, after all, several fish in the pond and picking a new one from several financial advisors is not that difficult. But how do you know the time has come to go your separate ways? Perhaps when you feel that the advisor is looking out for his interests more than he is yours, it’s time to say adios and do a Trump by screaming “you’re fired!!”

All too often, we end up giving money to people without running a background check first. What’s worse is the fact that they believe they’re not getting full value for their money but do nothing about it. Here are the warning signs you should look out for.

They don’t know what you want

If your financial advisor doesn’t know what you want, how will be able to guide you along? Imagine heading into a surgery without letting your surgeon know what the problem is. Every problem, to be solved, needs a diagnosis. If this doesn’t happen on the part of your financial advisor, chances are that he has his own interests in mind over yours.

They don’t let you about payments

Financial advisors can make money in many ways, but knowing whether he is fee or commission based is important. If he takes commissions, I’d be wary of him since he’d be keen to sell you something you might not want or need at some point in the future.

He pushes you along

If you feel rushed, push the advisor away and get someone else in. You don’t want to be stuck with someone who’s pushy and doesn’t respect your needs or wishes.

They lump everything together

Not diversifying your investments is dangerous business, so when an advisor doesn’t do this the alarm bells should start ringing. Diversification is the most basic mantra of the financial advisor and if your advisor wants to put all your eggs in one basket, something wrong is afoot.

Changes? What changes?

If you aren’t informed in advance of changes to your holdings, change advisors. You don’t want to find out about this by reading the papers or news; you want to be told about it directly by your financial advisor, so make sure he doesn’t drop the ball.

Checks made out directly? I don’t think so…

Never write a check out for the advisor, and if he asks you to do so show him the door. If you don’t listen to this simple piece of advice, you could be exploited and you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.

Where’s my advisor?

If your advisor doesn’t return your phone calls at all, there’s a problem. There’s no reason you should wait any more than 24 hours for an answer. If your advisor is a procrastinator, get rid of him, now!