You might assume that financial planners and advisors are only in business to help rich people manage their investments. You’d be wrong, though. I started meeting with a financial planner at a very precarious and far-from-rich point in my life, and I credit this move with helping me to turn my finances around entirely.
Here’s how meeting with a financial advisor can have a positive impact on your budget and overall finances — even if you’re not wealthy.
You can get help with the basics
Managing money doesn’t come easy to everyone, especially if you were never in a position to learn about personal finance — after all, it’s a subject that most of us don’t learn much about in school.
Luckily, financial advisors are often grounded in the basics, such as budgeting and paying off debt. They might also be able to give you advice about which types of financial accounts to choose — I opened my high-yield savings account on the advice of my financial planner.
You can learn how to plan for the future
If you’ve got a fairly good handle on day-to-day cash management, a financial advisor can still help you — even if you’re not rich. Saving and investing for retirement or other future goals can be quite intimidating, but offering this kind of guidance is often a financial advisor or planner’s bread and butter.
An advisor will be able to offer tips for the best brokerage account for your needs. They might also give you useful tax-planning suggestions to ensure you’re saving for the future in a way that costs you the least in taxes along the way.
My own experience with a financial advisor
I owe my financial planner a debt of gratitude for the positive impact he had on my financial life and my personal outlook a few short years ago. When we first started working together, he encouraged me to keep pursuing a side hustle to increase my income. I had recently changed careers but was stuck still earning the same too-low salary, thanks to undervaluing myself when I got my first job in my new field.
He also realistically evaluated my too-optimistic plan to buy a home the following year, without laying the financial groundwork to make this a good idea. He offered advice for what I should do first. Namely, make my rental apartment a better place to live so I would be able to stay there longer while I was paying off debt and saving money toward a home purchase.
Finally, he gave me the encouragement I needed to cut the strings on W-2 employment and become a full-time freelancer in early 2023. I was enjoying my freelance work but struggling to find a new W-2 job that would pay me well enough to be worth the hassle of a fixed schedule.
Sometimes, you just can’t see the forest for the trees — and a neutral third party like a financial advisor or planner can really be a big help.
How do you find a financial advisor?
I think everyone can benefit from talking to a financial advisor, no matter your income. To find a good one, check out the search tool offered by the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors. You can also ask family and friends for recommendations.
It’s a good idea to find out if an advisor you’re considering hiring is a fiduciary. This means they are legally and ethically bound to act in your best interests, not their own. A financial advisor can do a lot of good for your money management skills, even if you don’t have a lot of money to manage — perhaps with their help, you’ll end up in a better financial situation.