Rich Snail

First time here? You may want to read more about Rich Snail or even receive regular updates via a RSS feed reader or by email. Good read!

Everyday I meet people who want get their money to work for them. Most of them realize they need help and they are looking for the right adviser to guide them. They are looking for someone who will listen, understand their needs and objectives, and help them achieve their dreams. Sometimes the dreams are reasonable; other time they are quite grand. What is common is the fear of making the wrong decision - especially when it comes to choosing an adivser. How should one go about selecting his adviser?

A little market research

It all start here. It certainly is not the fun part, but you need to go out there and start checking the current market - selecting the good apples from the bad ones. I’m currently working in Malaysia. I can say that the Malaysian offshore industry has a crap reputation. There are many many advisers out there who are in for a quick buck. Not all apples are rotten though - if you look carefully and ask around you can find some good advisers who will give sound advice and work with you over the long run. To find such a gem you’ll need to (A) Be Lucky - (B) Do the following

• Ask around and get recommendations - This is the single best piece of advice you will find in this article. The best recommendations always comes from your friends & trusted ones. It will help you narrow things down quite a bit.
• Meet a few advisers before making your decision - by sitting down with more than one you will tremendously improve your chances of finding a good adivser. This also is a good learning process.
• Ask questions and check their market knowledge - you’ve got many blogs around with very sound financial advices. By taking an hour or two browsing them you should be able to get your basics up to standard and start asking questions.
• Never sign straight off. The hard-closing ones usually are in for a quick buck. They tend to listen very little & just talk about how much money their method made them (usually on their clients’ back).
• Do a quick search online to check if the adviser you met has some kind of track record. Most of them won’t - but it is worth a try.

A personal relationship

At the end of the day, investing is all about the strategy you set in motion. A good adviser will help you define your strategy by listening to your goals and objectives, helping and guiding you through this process, and then work his magic. You will need to trust him/her with very personal stuff - sometimes things you don’t even tell your loved one. It is a very special and personal relationship - so take a bit of time to select the right financial partner !