How to Find the Right Financial Advisor for You

So you’re ready to find a financial advisor? This can be a great move, especially if managing your finances and knowing how to plan for your future is a slightly grey area for you. 

With the sheer number of financial planners out there, I’d really encourage you to do your research when asking how to find the right financial advisor for you. And I don’t just mean credentials!

Why?

Well, because like any partnership, you have to think about what you desire the energy of that person to be and the dynamic of the relationship. How you want to feel in their presence.

Be Intentional & Always Ask Questions

When someone asks me for advice on how to find the right expert for them, there are usually 3 categories these fall into. I call them Normal, Tweeners, and Esoteric experts. 

These are professionals with special knowledge and techniques who can assist you in your financial, work, personal, family, and spiritual life. The first category are those resources I consider “Normal” options in the traditional financial world. 

These are mainly the popular and socially acceptable professionals. They can be certified public accountants (CPAs), certified tax preparers, bookkeepers, or even TurboTax software. 

You might also speak with business attorneys, estate planning attorneys, employee benefit specialists, mortgage brokers, qualified retirement planning specialists, and real estate brokers. All of these can help you out with very specific financial areas. 

Your choice of financial expert will mainly depend on your habits, choices, and purchasing decisions. 

So never be afraid to ask questions!

When asking yourself what to look for when choosing a financial advisor, put your own desires first and stand in your personal power. Your relationship with your financial planner should be taken as seriously as any other partnership. 

There are many financial advisors who like to follow the more traditional, inside the box, standard models of financial planning, but if you’re reading this and familiar with my Julie Murphy work, perhaps that doesn’t quite land?

If you’re someone who is tapped into your heart, who desires to do things a little differently from the traditional methods, a financial planner in that category I’ve just described might not be the best fit!

Aligning with What you Want to Create 

Instead, you’ll want to look for someone who can offer solid financial advice while meeting you where you’re at. Many of my own clients have seen previous financial advisors who look at things purely from the perspective of the financials. 

The advice they’ve given might be sound, but somehow it hasn’t resonated because the expert hasn’t approached the money piece on an emotional and holistic level. 

People often come to me feeling constrained to a budget, overwhelmed with investment advice that isn’t aligned or despite having their money taken care of, are still deeply unhappy with a part of their life. They might still have leaky financial containers that are rooted in an unfelt need and emotion. 

Remember, your money is a result of everything else going on in your life. So when I work with people, this is often where we start because then, the tactical parts of money management, investment decisions and retirement fund options flow in alignment with what the client wants to create. 

Tune Into Your Heart & then Bring in the Smarts

When considering what to look for when choosing a financial advisor, I encourage you to have conversations with a few experts in the field. Look at their credentials, testimonials and find out the type of people they’ve worked with. 

Take into account what they say while consulting your own feelings and thoughts. Tune into your heart and then bring in the smarts. 

Both people involved need to understand the “why” behind what you are doing. 

What are your intentions? Does the type of advice and process your potential financial advisor offers and follows align with those intentions? Check to see if what they recommend fits your intentions for what you want to create, then think about what’s right for you. Avoid any knee-jerk reactions or quick fixes!

If you’re someone who like many, the word ‘budget’ makes you contract and always seems to backfire, set the intention to find a financial planner who can help offer you advice that meets your financial needs and desires, and who can find ways to implement money management that gets you the results you want and still makes you feel safe and empowered about your financial choices. 

Or, let’s say you’re uncomfortable with the amount of money in your retirement fund, consult with an expert in the field for more options that align with what you want to create in your retirement years. 

Are there Emotional Blocks that Also Need to be Worked Through? 

Where I’m a little out of the box as a financial planner, but has become a core part of how I get my clients living the life of Real Wealth they desire, is that I’ve developed strategic relationships with professional healers who assist in other areas that all play into the financial piece. These can include overcoming blocks, breaking behavioral patterns and working through health-related challenges. 

Your money is a result of the energy you’re vibrating at in all other areas of your life. This is why you need to build that safe container around you, feel through your feelings and break the suffering patterns that are showing up in your money - and your actions around money.

Perhaps you have leaky financial containers and so working through your unmet or unfelt emotional needs can pinpoint why. Once this part is addressed, your financials can shift radically! 

These are all things you can consider when knowing how to find the right financial advisor for you and when thinking about managing your unique bigger financial picture.