The term “financial advisor” is an extremely broad term, encompassing many aspects of financial advice.
The advisor can specialise in a range of different fields such as which type of pension should you choose or what type of investment. If you are looking for advice on retirement you would also make a visit to a financial advisor. It’s essentially an umbrella term.
A financial planner, on the other hand, is more specialised in providing comprehensive plans to help you with achieving long-term goals.
How To Choose The Right Professional?
We are going to break down who you should opt for, a financial advisor or a financial planner, in your current situation.
You must first understand your financial situation before you approach any financial professional. This is the very first step. The second step is looking for a financial professional who has experience in dealing with the financial situation you are in.
It can be useful to ask friends and family for recommendations and you can use the internet and do your research into who you should choose.
Remember, a financial planner must be certified. A Certified Financial Planner (CFP) is the best in class qualification in Ireland. This means a financial planner has taken a core curriculum, they have passed a rigorous set of examinations and met full-time work experience requirements.
A list of all Certified Financial Planners is available on the Financial Planning Standard Board’s website www.FPSB.ie.
Two Things To Keep In Mind
When choosing to approach a financial advisor or financial planner keep these two things in mind:
- Write down what your financial goals are. Would you like to be able to put money aside for yearly holidays or come up with enough money to pay for a mortgage? Goals take planning and you need to know what you want to achieve.
- Work out a strategy on how you will accomplish your financial goals. What do you need to sacrifice in order to save for that holiday or mortgage? If you are having trouble on strategising you will need a financial planner rather than a financial advisor.
Are You Looking For A Financial Planner Or Advisor?
At Mason Wealth Management we have been working with professionals in the pharmaceutical, medical, IT, business and financial sectors for over 20 years.
We pride ourselves on putting you first as our core approach. We have full faith in our process which has delivered successful outcomes for our clients time and time again.
We believe it is only through respect, a can-do attitude and being enthusiastic in our work that we can achieve life-long relationships with our clients.
Mason Wealth Management operate an open communication policy and our ongoing full-service financial planning includes:
- Pension and Retirement Planning
- Savings and Investment Advice
- Estate Planning and Inheritance
- Life Insurance
- Income Protection
- Critical Illness Cover
- Succession Planning for Business
One Final Note
We are currently giving away a book titled “Enough? How Much Money Do You Need For The Rest Of Your Life?” by Paul D. Armson.
The author, a financial advisor since 1982, brings you on a path to discovering exactly how much money you need to support a healthy and balanced lifestyle and the importance of making the most out of the time you have right now before it’s too late. We work closely with the author and are part of a Financial Planning group in the UK that share similar views.
We give a copy of this book to all our new clients and the feedback has been extremely positive. It is a 2 hours read and we promise you there are no numbers in it.
For your free copy you can fill out our contact form or email [email protected]. Terms and conditions apply.