One Stop Shopping for ALL Your Financial Needs!! (Sure)
Posted on August 10, 2010
Filed Under 401K, Mutual Funds, Personal InvestingSpecialists are better than generalists. Almost always.
Whether for home repair, medical needs or legal advice, the person or firm that specializes is more likely to give satisfaction than the jack-of-all trades.
It’s the same in my profession.
Here’s an on-line ad I came across. I’ve seen similar ads many times, in many places, and you have too.
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If you require assistance or would simply like more information on the following services, please contact me at the address above to set up a consultation:
-Life insurance,
-health insurance,
-long term care,
-disability,
-auto insurance
-401(k) / IRA rollover,
-annuities,
-life-time income annuities,
-mutual funds,
-college savings,
-retirement concepts,
-mortgages,
-realtor services, and
-homeowners insurance
We offer personalized and reliable service to all of our clients and offer ideas on how to earn money in a down market. Please contact us today.
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Each one of those bullet points represents a wide field of study. While some services, such as certain insurance needs, can safely be lumped together, I would be wary of selling my home (“realtor services”) or setting up a 401(k) through the same person who sold me my life insurance. And I certainly would question the expertise of this person when it comes to crafting a portfolio of mutual funds.
Yet most full-service insurance firms offer mutual funds, so we can safely assume a very large number of Americans have bought funds from these firms. After all, the average person is intimidated by financial topics, and so the person with any expertise at all is seen as, well, the expert.
But …
Will the insurance broker do a thorough and competent assessment of the current and future financial needs of each client? Will he or she be fully versed in the makeup and behavior of the hundreds of different types of mutual funds? Will the recommended funds be the best for the client, or will the commission paid to the broker influence the decision? Will the broker provide on-going oversight of the portfolio?
Take a guess.
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