I’ve heard that the worst thing about being an author is that everyone else thinks that they can write a book too. Everyone has a story, everyone reads…so everyone thinks that, ipso facto, they are an author.
The years of study, thought, toil, constant revision and drafting are taken for granted. The lack of income, the low chance of being a commercial success – none of these are given a second thought. I mean, you can write an email, a book is just a bit longer, right?
As a financial adviser who runs a profitable practice, I’ve been feeling a lot like those authors lately. It seems everyone that has even a passing interest in money knows better than me how to provide quality financial advice. Each day I read politicians, research houses, Treasury officials and David Whitely telling me how I should run my business and advise clients. When I should contact them, what I should say, what and how I should charge – the opinions are never ending. It’s easier to get information from an ISN call centre than it is to make sense of them all.
Despite their opinions being more conflicted than, say, a consumer advocate taking mortgage referral commissions, they do all have one thing in common: they’ve never been a financial adviser. Sure, everyone has money and an opinion, but that doesn’t make you a financial adviser. Follow that logic, and we are all proctologists.
I’ll love to see these experts interact with a variety of people, understanding their hopes and dreams, adding up their savings and their income. Let’s see them not only come up with a plan that allows for markets, tax structures, cashflows and risks, but then explain that comprehensibly on paper. Can they describe complex structures in everyday language and encourage people to make the changes they need, to live the lives they want?
And not only do this once, but year after year.
No, easier to be an expert than to actually write the book.
Patrick Canion is a CFP financial planner and CEO of rmg financial services. He is currently a candidate in the FPA board elections.
Follow Patrick’s blog at www.patrickcanion.com or on Twitter @patrickcanion