| The fudging of expertise is appalling in our business. | | | | back on it, who was I to feel so superior? It's not like I |
| Believe me, I know. I am 35 years old now, and have | | | | learned how to plan someone's financial future in my |
| been in the financial services business 13 years now. | | | | "Western Culture, 1865-present" seminar at UT.Think |
| When I was 22, fresh out of the University of Texas | | | | about that, though. Customers were entrusting their |
| with a History degree, my first job was with Fidelity | | | | retirement plans to kids. If you go to Fidelity, Schwab, |
| Investments as a mutual fund adviser. I passed the | | | | E*Trade, TD Waterhouse, Ameritrade, T Rowe Price, |
| Series 6 exam in a matter of days. After a few | | | | Ameriprise, or any of the other purveyor of mutual |
| weeks of training, most of which was listening to one | | | | funds, and click on their links to "talk to an adviser", it is |
| of the more tenured reps (by "tenured", I mean | | | | usually accompanied by a smiling, healthy, slightly |
| someone with six months experience), I was on the | | | | graying middle-aged man with great teeth and his own |
| phone taking calls from all over the country, advising | | | | corner office. In fact, you are more likely talking to a |
| people on how to take care of their financial future. If | | | | very young, underqualified, underpaid call center worker |
| you had called an 800 number on a prospectus or an | | | | who barely has a cubicle and is definitely NOT |
| advertisement, you would have been speaking with | | | | smiling.Of course, it is true that it does not take grand |
| someone like me. Dozens of reps like me fielded calls, | | | | expertise to do what they do. Back in my day, we |
| and not one of them had more than three years | | | | were given a script to inquire of a customer's marital |
| experience. I, myself, only lasted a year and a half in | | | | situation, age, risk tolerance, spending goals, and that is |
| that job. Call center work has a way of burning you | | | | it. With that information, there was (wait for it) a Fidelity |
| out.In the 1990's, Fidelity was undergoing rapid growth, | | | | fund that met their needs. This is how it works at most |
| and they could not keep the place staffed. They had | | | | firms. You need what they are selling. Financial planning |
| planned on staffing to a level where no more than five | | | | requires more than that.All investment products should |
| customers were holding at any given time. Shortly | | | | be discussed in the larger context of a person's life -- |
| after I arrived, we were constantly on "red alert", which | | | | not just financial life, either. If you take no other advice |
| meant that 30 people or more were holding all the | | | | from me, take this one tidbit. If a "financial adviser" is |
| time. So, they relaxed their hiring requirements. They | | | | selling you a product from which he is getting paid a |
| had previously insisted on a college degree for their | | | | commission, he will not have your best interests at |
| newly hired reps. Soon, I was sitting next to | | | | heart. Period.Mark Brandon is the managing partner of |
| pimply-faced 18-year-olds who had been in a high | | | | First Sustainable ( a registered investment advisory |
| school classroom only a few months prior. Looking | | | | catering to socially responsible investors. |