Advisor or Adviser? How about neither?

A recent article in Money Sense compared the spelling of the term advisor versus adviser, stating how the slight difference can mean the difference between a financial salesperson and someone who actually has a fiduciary duty to act in the client's best interest.

The key word here is salesperson, which is all most financial advisors are whether they work for a big bank or an investment firm. I love markets and finance, it's a passion and what gets me up in the morning on weekdays. Therefore, to many it would seem obvious that I should pursue a career in finance, however this is not an industry I could sell out for. I did go to a few casual interviews just to test the waters of what I could do, but my knowledge was far too advanced for what they did. They were looking for candidates with lots of connections and willing to take some mutual fund courses, so they could push the firm's funds full of high fees onto everyone they know, for which the advisor gets a nice commission. My morals prevented me from ever even considering sinking to such a level.

Despite the fact that historically 90% of mutual funds underperform markets after fees, these institutions keep pushing them on unsuspecting clients. Add them taking advantage of clients by locking them in to GIC's at 1-2% even though posted yields are higher and I was just too disgusted to stomach even thinking of the atrocities that they do for their own benefit. Instead I started helping manage money and offering some teaching for family and acquaintances. I realize not everyone has a great grasp of financial markets and many don't have the desire or time for them, but just switching out a few mutual funds for some relatively equivalent ETF's can be a simple way to increase your wealth thousands of dollars a year, which after compounding through and entire lifetime can prove to make an immense difference. I offer services to help people learn more about investing and try to build and manage their own portfolios. In my opinion if you do want financial help, and let's be honest we could all use some from time to time no matter how little or how much we know, I think a flat fee based system is the only way to go. Some people get locked into funds for a minimum of 7 years or else they have to pay massive withdrawal or selling fees. Others have portfolio managers who charge as much as 3% for transactions, so obviously they want you buying and selling often and you're immediately down 3% on any trade you do. In the modern world where we can buy and sell assets from anywhere in the world in an instant with the click of a mouse, why let some smooth talking salesman with nothing more than a couple mutual fund selling courses take chunks of your hard earned money. I've taken my lumps in the investing world and I've had some great moments as well. I've learned a lot and I enjoy helping others even when it doesn't benefit me in any way. I guess that means I'm not cut out for any of the companies in the financial industry, but that's just fine by me! Hopefully I can help some of you better manage your money and if there's any more I can do to help, I'm always happy to hear from any of you.

Day Trade Canada

You can read the full article here: http://www.moneysense.ca/save/investing/financial-advisor-or-adviser/