7 Mistakes People Make When Hiring a Financial Advisor
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Working with a financial advisor can be a crucial part of any healthy retirement plan. But choosing the wrong one could wreak havoc.
A 2022 Northwestern Mutual study found that 62% of U.S. adults admit their financial planning needs improvement. However, only 35% of Americans work with a financial advisor.¹
While advisors are prohibited from promising returns, research suggests that people who work with a financial advisor:
Feel more at ease about their finances, and
Could end up with 15% more money to spend in retirement.²
Ready to know what to look out for? Check out SmartAsset’s list of seven mistakes people make when choosing an advisor so you can work to potentially avoid years of stress. See all 7 mistakes >>
Sources:
1. “Planning and Progress”, Northwestern Mutual (2022)
2. "Journal of Retirement Study Winter" (2020). The projections or other information regarding the likelihood of various investment outcomes are hypothetical in nature, do not reflect actual investment results, and are not guarantees of your future results. Please follow the link to see the methodologies employed in the Journal of Retirement study.
This article contains links to SmartAsset's financial advisor matching tool, which may or may not match you with the firms mentioned in this profile. The matching tool does not include all available advisors and firms and matches based on specific criteria (investable assets, geography, and willingness to work with a remote advisor).
This is not an offer to buy or sell any security or interest. All investing involves risk, including loss of principal. Working with an adviser may come with potential downsides such as payment of fees (which will reduce returns). There are no guarantees that working with an adviser will yield positive returns. The existence of a fiduciary duty does not prevent the rise of potential conflicts of interest.
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