Your alarm goes off in the early morning hours. By the time you hit the shower, your mind is already running full throttle through the list of decisions you need to make just to get out the door: What should I pack the kids for lunch? How do I get them to hockey practice? Do I need to leave work early? Should I reschedule my last meeting?
You get dressed, get the kids ready, and shuffle everyone out the door. You do the daycare drop-off (did I remember to send toilet paper rolls for that school project?) and the commute to work (should I turn left here to bypass traffic?).
Over the course of the day, you will consciously and subconsciously make thousands of decisions about your work and your life. Thirty-five thousand, in fact, if you trust the all-encompassing wisdom of the Internet. (Cornell University researchers say we make around 227 daily decisions about food, alone.) No wonder most of us end up too mentally drained to make the most dreaded decision of all – what to have for supper. It’s exhausting!
But if the hectic daily hustle leaves us unable to choose what to eat, how are we supposed to find the time and energy for the big decisions in our lives? I mean the ones that have a lasting impact, like big ticket choices about our careers, or our families. About where we want to live, and who we want to be.
And about what we do with our money.
The trick to making better (and easier) financial decisions
Many high-performing people use tricks to free up their decision-making power. Steve Jobs famously (or infamously?) wore the same outfit every single day. Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Work Week, sticks to a repetitive morning routine, right down to eating the same daily breakfast. If neither of these tricks sound appealing, or even feasible, to you, then you’ll likely do what everyone else does: ask Google.
The Internet abounds with (helpful?) advice. A quick Google search will link you to pages of tools and websites geared toward DIYing your finances. And if that fails, a five-minute scroll through Pinterest will place an abundance of money-management hacks at your fingertips. They make it sound so easy. Except … you don’t know what information to trust. And some of it is contradictory. And some of it doesn’t make sense. And after spending hours sorting through it all, you end up back where you started.
You need real help.
As it turns out, seeking personalized, professional advice from an actual person does more than just free up our mental space. It has a seriously positive impact on our long-term financial success. A 2016 CIRANO study by Claude Montmarquette and Nathalie Viennot-Briot found that Canadian households who sought financial advice saw significantly higher returns than those who didn’t. By working with a wealth advisor, they were able to make better savings and investment decisions based on their personal circumstances and risk tolerances, all while increasing their financial confidence and peace of mind.
Who doesn’t want that?
Making the most of your money
The CIRANO study found that households who worked with a wealth advisor over a 15-year period accumulated nearly four times the wealth (290%) of their unadvised peers. Four times! Just imagine what that kind of financial growth could mean for you.
The study also found that households who worked with a wealth advisor saved at a rate 20% higher than those who didn’t. Like most people, you probably have good intentions to save. But maybe those intentions get sidetracked by more immediate needs (or the occasional want).
Well, what if you had someone who was dedicated to helping you apply a more disciplined approach to reaching your savings goals? Whether you’re saving for your kids’ education, a dream home, or an early retirement – a 20% boost in savings will get you there faster.
Protecting your wealth, now and in the future
If you’re still on the fence about seeking professional financial advice, let’s consider the other life decisions we never want to make. The ones that arise when bad things fall upon us, like if we get hurt or sick. Or lose our job, or our home, or our spouse.
In a worst-case scenario, your finances are the last thing you want to think about. But what if you put a plan in place, now, to make sure you didn’t have to?
A wealth advisor can help with that. They’ll work with you to figure out how much and what type of insurance you need to protect your current lifestyle and the future you envision. And they’ll also help you plan for the legacy you want to leave behind.
Choosing the right wealth advisor
When choosing a wealth advisor, credentials are certainly important. You want to work with a professional who has proven expertise, like a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®).
But credentials aren’t the only thing that matters. As the CIRANO study showed, the longer you work with a wealth advisor, the more your wealth will grow. So when it comes to choosing a financial partner, don’t think of it as a casual date or a fling – consider it a long-term relationship.
And like any long-term relationship, you want to choose someone you trust. Someone who listens to your needs and understands your goals. Someone who is committed to your financial journey and able to adapt to your evolving priorities.
You don’t need to wait until you’ve saved that magic number to invest. Or until you’ve had a chance to brush up on your financial lingo. The right wealth advisor will meet you where you are now, and get you started on the path to where you want to be.
I know you still have thousands of decisions left to make, but this one should be easy.
