So, you need a financial advisor for retirement planning and personalized guidance. Where to look? Research would suggest the odds are good you’ll start with a Google search. Consider:
- 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine
- Google processes about 63,000 search queries per second, 5.6 billion searches per day, and 2 trillion searches per year.
- 46% of all searches on Google are for a local business or local service
- After searching on a smartphone for something nearby, 76% of people end up visiting the business within one day
It’s clear that the internet has transformed the way we prefer to locate services and find solutions to our problems. Researching and comparing options has never been easier. However, a web search is also likely to pull up an overwhelming number of results, and it can be hard to identify the financial advisor that will be right for you based off of a website alone.
Here are a few ideas to help you evaluate your options, identify a trustworthy advisor, and make an informed decision regarding your financial future.
Sign up for a local retirement planning course
.jpg?width=371&height=248&name=pasted%20image%200%20(1).jpg)
It’s not unusual to feel like you can’t trust a sales pitch. A blind consultation with each advisor on your Google search might be productive, but those meetings can’t be fully authentic because you know you’re going in as a prospective client. The advisor is meeting with you to sell their services.A better way to get a sense of an advisor’s expertise — and to learn a few things on your own — is to take a brief educational course. A local financial education class taught by a certified financial advisor for retirement planning gives you the chance to:
- Meet and interact with a licensed professional in a non-sales context
- Ask questions specific to your wonders or concerns
- Experience a preview of the advisor’s expertise
- Take home valuable insights (whether you choose to meet with the advisor or not!)
If your experience in the course is positive and you feel reassured in the advisor’s knowledge, it may have been the “sneak peek” you needed to make a confident decision and call them to inquire about personal services.
Try a brief online retirement education program
There’s no need to leave your home to get to know local financial advisors in an authentic way. With online communication taking center stage over the last few years, there are bound to be some excellent low-pressure options for virtual, remote financial education. Look for educational content or events put out by licensed financial advisors in your area. This might take the form of a webinar, an online seminar, or even a brief financial education course.
Ultimately, you’re trying to figure out who to talk to about retirement planning, but a few sessions of an online class also provides standalone value. A retirement education course is a worthy investment in your future that’s bound to have a few saving strategies, tax-smart investment vehicles, and lifestyle planning tips you can apply at home. At the same time, you’ve got the chance to get to know a real advisor through face-to-face virtual interactions in an objective, educational setting with unbiased guidance.
Virtual financial education courses are becoming incredibly popular, too. Our figures at the Financial Educators Network show that 20% more attendees are now taking online courses than we had even for in-person courses in the pre-COVID period.
A follow-up session with your instructor
Some retirement planning courses may even include a built-in option for a follow-up session with the course instructor. This is a great way to extend your experience and ask the questions you didn’t get to ask during the course. Everyone has a unique financial situation, so it’s important to have a chance to get insights specific to your concerns.
FEN courses always include (and never require) an optional one-hour personalized lab session so that you can get the most out of your experience. This one-on-one follow-up session is a great way to test drive what it would be like to work with the advisor without the pressure of a consultation. If you’re interested in learning more from the advisor who instructed your course, you could always choose to inquire about their services in a more formal way.
The FEN course locator
If you’re not sure where to look for professional, proven courses, our online course locator at FEN is a great resource. You can filter options by your location and find a qualified, expert financial advisor for retirement planning who is teaching a course right in your area.
Find your course today or get in touch with us for more information on our courses and how you can find the right financial advisor for you.
