Money management isn’t rocket science. You just have to do your homework and participate in and understand what your financial adviser is doing. You can’t just hand over money to a financial advisor and assume that he or she will take care of everything for you.
Women do it all the time in marriage. It isn’t smart there either, but at least, it’s understandable. Love and trust are the basis for marriage in the first place. But choosing an adviser requires a different set of guidelines than choosing a husband.
The fine print in any advisory situation, whether medical, financial or legal, is that there is no guarantee of results. A doctor can provide give you probabilities and statistics; a lawyer has the option of an appeal process. A financial advisor can only offer “past performance is no guarantee of future results”.
Particpating as a partner wih your financial adviser means reading your reports and statements, understanding what the numbers mean and comparing them with the previous ones so you can track change. You need to meet or talk with your adviser on a regular basis. You need to ask questions if you don’t understand something.
Remember: A question is never dumb. It’s about getting information about something you don’t understand that requires an answer you do understand.