Helen is a Financial Advisor with one of the largest financial advisory firms in the country. She walks us through the lifecycle of a client, from the initial fact-finding listening session to evaluating the different investment strategies and options available. Although the field heavily involves financial knowledge, Helen says the most important tool of the job is listening to the client.
Transcript
My name is Helen Curtin. I'm a financial advisor with a large brokerage firm. Well, the first meeting with a client is always, or prospective client, I should say, is always a getting to know you meeting. The most important thing that we can do is to get to know and understand what's important to the client, and listen. So the first meeting is 100 percent always a getting to know you meeting, and see if there's a meeting of the minds, and a meeting of the personalities. I'll answer any questions that the client might have. I'll examine their risk tolerance, their financial goals, I'll do a full intake evaluation, but most importantly I want to hear what's important to them, and the goals that they want to reach. So, what we would need to know first is what assets are on hand. And that would be a full evaluation from what's in cash, and money market, and the savings account or checking, to what might be in the brokerage account or 401k. So, we can get a global picture of where the client stands. Then we need to know what short term goals they have. Is there anything coming up in the next three to five years that they have to have money stocked away for. And what does it cost them to live? They need to have three to four months cash on hand in case of emergencies before I'll even talk to them about investing any money. So it's really important to know that, you know, that their short term goals are met before we start planning for the long term. Having said that, we work with everybody, from people who can only afford to put away 50 to 100 dollars a month, which is really a wonderful way to get started, because you're actually dollar cost averaging, buying fewer shares when the market's high, more shares when the market's low, and you know, it's amazing what you can accrue over a period of years, especially if you start early. So we work with everyone from people who are investing 50 to 100 dollars a month in an IRA, to people that have come in with several million dollars that need to work out plans not only for themselves, but legacy plans for their children. So we need to know what resources are available that will suit the individual's goals, and the individuals I work with, they are serious long term investors, either individual people or small business owners. And, I'm lucky enough to work with a fortune 500 company that has the resources to... To vet all of the companies that make these financial products because we don't make any products, it's our job to vet the companies, the management, and then the products that these companies offer. So, they're fully vetted before they get to my office. And then it's my job to know how they all work together.
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