A financial advisor can help you manage your finances and build your future financial goals. The expert can also give you guidelines on how to go about your finances if you want to manage them yourself. This and more answers the question what does a financial advisor do.
They are professionals in the field of managing client’s financial matters. It is not enough if the role they plan ends in managing available finances. It extends to helping clients generate more revenue by introducing other means of income.
Who is a financial advisor?
A financial advisor is a professional in financial matters. Mostly paid to access individuals or clients’ financial needs and help them make wise decisions towards attaining financial goals. Aside from helping clients to make decisions on financial matters, they also give guidelines for making investments.
Making wise decisions includes, advising clients on how to manage their income, and save for urgent situations. Staying out of debt, investing for retirement,, and trying to cope with tax payments.
Sometimes people would say advisor, while some other persons would say advisers. According to Merriam-Webster.com, they both mean the same thing, the only difference is in the spellings. Both are acceptable for someone who gives advice.
The need for an individual or a household to hire a financial adviser may arise resulting from the individual’s busy hours having so many business schedules.
When an individual gets so busy that there is no time to reflect on his monetary transactions, then a financial advisor comes into play to perform the following roles:
12 roles a financial advisor can perform for a client
1. Analyze client’s financial report
From time to time as agreed by the expert and the client. A financial Advisor would periodically consult the client to re-evaluate their financial situation. In addition to this, help them to fill the missing gap to avoid financial lapses. They will also suggest new ideas resulting from market trends and changes in prices to correspond with investment return.
2. Plan for financial short and long-term goals
Individual or household has financial goals. They have objectives they wish to accomplish within a short or long time depending on their desire.
A short-term goal is an immediate or near-future desire, which could be now or perhaps in one year. It could be the desire to save some certain amount of money in other to start up a business. It could be to start up a career, to fund a Child’s education, or to change a job.
On the other hand, a long-term goal is a future achievement, which could be in a year or several years to come. Long-term goals demand patience, planning,, and enough time to achieve. It could be to build a house, set up an industry, or build a relationship.
A financial advisor could guide you on how to possibly achieve either long or short-term goals depending on the client’s motive.
3. Proffer realizable guidelines
A financial advisor can advise you on how possible it is to achieve specific plans by proffering achievable guidelines. For instance,, if you have some investment objectives, first they help you understand your risk tolerance.
Secondly, they guide you in choosing the suitable investment that aligns with your risk tolerance level. Finally,, they assist you by monitoring your investment performance and advise accordingly.
4. Educate clients on the importance of creating a budget
A financial advisor plays the role of advising clients on the need to always create a budget before expenses.
Some household does not believe in the techniques of creating a budget before spending, they carelessly spend the money because it is always available.
When the income starts downsizing they become aware of their reckless spending and maybe it is too late to make amendments.
A financial advisor could help you understand the best method you can use to calculate your overall income and adjust spending.
The first approach could be to separate needs from wants, prioritize your immediate needs, and then, make plans to achieve goals. You also need to assess your budget frequently to keep a balance and steady financial progress.
When the income starts downsizing they become aware of their reckless spending and maybe it is too late to make amendments.
5. Help clients decides on the right insurance policy
Planning to reach financial goals also includes taking an insurance policy, a protection against unexpected damages. Taking an insurance coverage could help protect your finances but it has to be the right policy.
A financial advisor could help you choose the right policy that save your money and give maximum assets protection.
Rather making unexpected expenses resulting from fire, flood and other misfortunes choosing the right policy could help.
6. Help them understand laws regulating tax payments
Tax payment is very important but many individuals usually shun away or try to avoid it. It is a compulsory levy for every income-earning adult.
Some income earners who do not understand how to manage tax payment. They find it difficult handling their financial affairs properly.
As times goes they begin to visualize tax payment as an inappropriate levy or a way of milking their hard earn money.
A Financial advisor could enlighten you on the importance and benefits of tax payment. Better still; give you guidelines on how to budget for tax without feeling the impact when deducted.
7. Give Clients guidelines on how to take loans
A financial advisor also does the duty of giving clients guidelines on how to take loans.
Loans are grants from financial institutions, credit society, group associates, friends or families. Individuals or household can borrow loan in other to fund education, start a new investment, or for anything personal.
A personal advisor can educate you on the best way to take a loan and how to pay back to avoid bad debt. They also advice you on taking a loan that corresponds with your income rate and making sure the motive for borrowing comes into effect.
If possible, the motive for borrowing the loan could be utilized to pay the interest accrued from the loan and also pay back the capital.
8. Give guidelines on retirement savings
Financial advisors enlighten their clients on the need to save for retirement because it is very important. It is a means of saving income at the present while reserving it for the future. When the individual no longer attend to business or work place activities these savings becomes useful.
An individual can save for retirement through investing on profitable project that will yield attractive returns.
A personal advisor performs the duty of enlisting the various types of investments and retirement accounts. They further help in advising their clients on the best method to use.
9. Financial advisors are professionals and as such, they invest their expertise to contract financial plans, this could help their clients expand their financial goals.
10. Install confidence in clients
A financial advisors role includes giving quality advice that will help clients build trust and confidence towards them. The expert will encourage clients to make investments; at the same time also increase investment revenue.
Knowing too well that every investment bears some risk, the professional will advise them to remain positive towards achieving their financial goals regardless of the risk.
11. They can help you manage your portfolio
A financial advisor can take care of a client’s investment portfolio while the client gets busy with other business activities. Thus this move gives the client confidence to entrust all financial secrets and management of all assets.
12. Able to switch options
Financial advisors understand various classes of investments and how to diversify across assets and regions. They understand what risk associates with each one and how to handle market fluctuations.
Therefore the advisor performs the duty of handing the clients over all investment activities and delivering the best.
Conclusion
In summary a financial advisor, is one who is sound in financial matters, able to create a plan for your overall finances. This means as you approach them with your financial goals they assess it and advise you on how to reach those goals. On areas, you are failing short, on the best means of revenue creation.
The best option in terms of saving for retirement and ways to avoid risk of financial mismanagement. Finally, giving you hope of financial increase through investments opportunities.
