A few weeks ago, I shared how much I enjoy working with my financial planner and I also made a quick mention of the financial planner I had been working with prior to him. Let’s just say it wasn’t a good match. While this particular financial planner is fantastic for some people I know, she just, simply put, did not work for me. As women, many of us gain a sense of loyalty to the people that we work with- nail techs, hair dressers, masseuses, financial planners.. 😉 BUT, sometimes it’s in everyone’s best interest to walk away. From my experience, I thought I’d share how I knew it was time to move on. I hope you find it helpful!
S/he doesn’t understand you (and doesn’t even try).
At any initial meeting with a certified financial planner (CFP), they’ll ask you questions about spending habits, investment plans, savings plans, etc. While you should never expect someone to memorize all these things, they should be taking notes, etc. so that when they meet with you again, they’ll have an idea of where you stand.
I told my CFP that I am not a big shopper at my initial meeting. In fact, I mentioned that in several different ways. I kid you not, EVERY time we met after that, she mentioned the importance of having a clothing budget. While I don’t disagree, her mentioning that insinuated that I was spending too much on clothes, when I told her several times that that is not an issue. My “clothes budget” is that sometimes I buy something when I have money left over at the end of the month. That’s it. “But you always look so nice,” was her response. While that might be a compliment for some, I was infuriated.
You feel like you’re managing your money blind.
It’s part of the job of the CFP to help you to understand the investments that you’re making, the accounts that you have, and make you feel comfortable with where your money is. When my dad asked me specifics about my investments and I couldn’t tell him, I knew that that probably wasn’t a good thing. Fast forward to my CFP now, and I feel not only informed but very empowered with my money and investments. It’s a good place to be.
They don’t respect your communication wishes.
I work a traditional 9-5. When it’s not a travel week, three days, I work from home. Two days a week, I’m in an office. I work in consulting. That requires being on the phone a lot. I don’t think this is a very complicated thing to understand for most people, but my former CFP refused to use email and the secure internal messenger. That being said, some things need to be addressed over the phone with a CFP, but NOT all of them. I would literally send her a message and say, “I’ll be on client calls today; please don’t call me…” and what did she do? Uh huh. That was actually the final straw for me, if I’m being honest.
You just don’t click.
While a CFP doesn’t need to be your BFF necessarily, it’s important that you have a good relationship and feel comfortable talking with him/her. There are some personalities that don’t do well with other personalities. That is just a statement of fact. If you find that you, for lack of better terms, don’t like the person you’re working with, it’s totally fine to move on to greener pastures. I did, and it’s been fantastic.