Usually in my blogs, I highlight tips & case studies to help my readers achieve financial independence and move towards living a balanced life. My information stems from 15  years  of experience as a Financial Advisor & Money Manager.. Throughout these years, I’ve engaged in uncountable conversations with prospects and clients regarding different facets of goal setting, money management, and investment planning.

But for this blog, I decided to take a different approach: I want to highlight the top five lessons I’ve learned as a financial advisor to help you avoid mistakes when building your bright future.

1. Habits & Tendencies

Money is a sensitive subject for everyone.

If you’ve been following my blogs, you know how strongly I encourage everyone to invest: there is no other path to financial success.

However, what people fail to understand is that investment is not just about buying stocks or financial products. It requires a plan, careful asset allocation, setting financial goals and discipline.

More often than not, I’ve witnessed most people make emotional decisions. Panic, greed and excitement take over the better part of these investors.

A staggering amount of people also follow financial media, social media, friendly tips etc. and then make their investment decisions with their hard earned money.

Emotions make us human, but aren’t necessarily the best tool for managing money.

Always remember this:

Be aware of your emotions, but don’t let them cloud your judgment when investing.

 Explore: 5 Principles Of Money Management To Follow

2. The Conversation about Fees

Why do you invest?

• To grow your wealth
• For a financially secure future
• To ensure your money doesn’t lose value over time

Most people also agree that money is an important, if not the most important aspect of their lives.

But most do not understand why you should pay a fee for Advice on how to achieve your financial goals.

Paying a fee means you ensure the following:

• You control how much fees in total you end up paying.
• The clarity ensures the advisor works in your best interest to continue receiving the fee.
• Helps the conversation now focus on performance and goals rather than constantly being about costs only.

The last few years in the stock markets made investing seem easy. The easy access to capital drove pretty much every stock up, with or without reason.

Now however, a prudent asset allocation will determine how your portfolio performs through a turbulent market, and only a qualified individual can help you do that.

My recommendation would be to treat our fees as a service you’re paying for.

This approach will help you quantify whether the money spent was ‘worth’ it (it will be!).

 Explore: 6 Key Areas To Thrive With A Financial Advisor’s Guidance

3. Bank Vs. Financial Advisor

Traditionally, we’ve perceived banks as the safest investment vehicle where people earn a fixed interest with minimal risk. Automatically, they extend this comfort into believing that the banks will best ‘manage’ their money.

Let’s revisit the bank’s role here: It’s to ensure liquidity in the system, i.e., take deposits, lend them for greater use and make money from the process. So why do you always assume that they are also equipped to give sound financial advice and sell exotic products to you. The latter is what most of them only do.

While I agree that some banks have excellent investment arms, not all banks are  equipped to be your wealth managers for life! So next time you find someone confused between a bank and a financial advisor, here’s what you should advise:

Qualify a bank’s wealth management department with their performance history, quality of advice and research, means, and knowledge to consider making them your financial advisor of choice.

4. Insurance Is Non-Negotiable

It’s good to live in the present, but it is crucial to plan for tomorrow.

This is why insurance products exist, to protect what you have and provide financial security for you and your family. Unfortunately, frequently people ignore or don’t include insurance in their financial plans because all they see is an expense.

An insurance cover is more than just a monetary death benefit. With numerous features available (also called riders), your insurance policy will protect your dependents, ensure financial freedom in case of a critical illness and buy you time to figure out your life in case of an unfortunate event.

If you’re curious to explore case studies where my clients have found relief through insurance under different situations, check out this blog: Benefits Of Life Insurance Policy In UAE.

Remember:

It is on you to make the lives of your dependents easier in your absence. So plan and explore insurance plans that best meet your needs.

5. Discipline Is The Ultimate Key

After spending 15+ years in the industry, I can say that investment is not an art or a science.It is discipline. First, you need to save more than you spend. Then you need to protect your financial assets, your ability to earn an income and then invest regularly.

You also need to be extremely self aware, not letting emotions get the better of you when you are handling money. There is also a constant need to upgrade and understand what you are doing. Take the help of your financial advisor to do so, and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

This is a lot of work for people with a day job and other commitments.

Investing doesn’t yield immediate results, the process will test your patience and demand you to follow a set discipline.

If you would like to know more about how you can be a successful investor, you can contact me through this form & my team will get in touch with you at the earliest.