Fee-Only
The term “fee-only” as used in our industry refers to our objective approach to client decisions. A small percentage of financial professionals have spent years acquiring the knowledge thy need to help their clients achieve their financial goals—while there are hundreds of thousands of so-called financial planners in the U.S., there are fewer than 3,000 fee-only financial advisors. The remaining advisors have focused on acquiring the sales skills that they use to market investment products. We are fee-only financial planners committed to a fiduciary relationship with our clients.
As fee-only advisors, 100% of our compensation comes directly from our clients. Neither FiscalWise, nor our employees, receive any compensation from any other source.
Most financial advisors sell financial products. Like any other sales professional, their job is to convince investors to buy the product they are selling. Whether or not investors achieve their financial goals is secondary to the advisors’ needs to meet sales goals and maximize personal incomes.
Unfortunately, these advisors camouflage their role by describing themselves as financial experts. This creates a substantial amount of hidden risk for investors who must determine who the real professionals are – experts who have the knowledge to help them achieve their goals, or sales reps who want to sell them investment or other financial products?
Most advisors use their personalities and sales skills to convince investors they are trustworthy experts. However, they don’t provide any documentation to prove they are the competent, ethical professionals they say they are. Unfortunately, personalities and sales skills are unrelated to competence and integrity. Lower quality advisors prefer verbal presentations that give them maximum flexibility to use their personalities and sales skills to win assets. They may provide glossy brochures and pamphlets for hot investment products, but they provide little or no documentation of their professional credentials or business practices. They may omit or misrepresent information that could cost them sales.
As an unbiased (fee-only) firm, FiscalWise only priority is our client’s best interests and success.
We avoid all conflicts of interest. We have no products to sell. Our promises are clearly spelled out in our Client Advisory Agreement.