Financial Planning Myths Part 3 – An Advisor’s Primary Value is in Managing your Portfolio

Article By Thomas Twombly
Artwork by Daisy Lopez, Staff Accountant

When folks reach out to us it’s usually because they have been handed a challenge. They’re facing a big life decision. Or they find themselves in one stage or another of a major transition, where they suddenly feel unsure of their approach to financial questions that keep popping up. Maybe they want a good sounding board, and patient, objective feedback about how to think through the long-term financial ramifications of what most people regard as primarily non-financial issues. In short, they need competent financial advice that fits comfortably and empathetically into their big-picture life planning.

Contrary to image of high-pressure, greed-driven salesmen Hollywood has cast around our industry as a whole, there are in fact many advisors out there who bring significant value to the wealth and well-being of hundreds of their clients every day. All across this country, trustworthy advisors regularly help people they care about find solutions to all kinds of financial life challenges, many of which have very little to do with the day-to-day management of an investment portfolio.

To be sure, there are also still plenty of advisors whose primary focus is on portfolio management, but that’s a very narrow value proposition that often requires remarkably little in the way of personal knowledge about the lives of individual clients. These advisors often have thousands of accounts they oversee, not hundreds, and many of those “clients” soon discover that their “advisor’s” bandwidth is woefully incomplete for the full range of needs they’d really like to address.

So, if you, or someone you know, is actively looking for an advisor (or for a trustworthy second opinion, for that matter) it pays to define the needs you’re hoping to fill first. Far too many find themselves frustrated and cynical towards all advisors because the one they chose was ill-suited to help them address their needs in the first place.

At Lucien, Stirling & Gray we think of ourselves, first and foremost, as behavioral coaches. Yes, we provide disciplined, time-tested asset management services for our clients. And yes, we create detailed financial plans for our clients. Those are very important. But when all is said and done, the truth for all of us is that it is our personal behavior – the decisions we choose to make, and more importantly, the decisions choose not to make – especially during periods of pressure, stress, and anxiety, that is the most important contributor to our long-term real-life success. Our behavior trumps all.

So before we can build an investment portfolio that serves your plan, and before we can help you create a long-range financial plan that truly serves you and your life, we must start with getting to know all about you as a person. Our entire value proposition is built on establishing and maintaining a deep sense of trust, because without it, we can’t possibly hope to guide someone successfully through periods of unanticipated stress and anxiety. We need to understand your history, your interests, your obligations, and your responsibilities. We need to understand what is most important to you, and why.

That’s also why we deliberately choose to limit our clientele to a manageable number of ideal clients, with whom we are capable of sharing close, safe, personal relationships. Simply put, we couldn’t possibly serve thousands of clients with the kind of professional relationships we value, and there are plenty of accomplished people in the world for whom we will never be well suited. And that’s okay.

The unpredictability of life, and the unknowability of the future means no advisor can control or guarantee outcomes. We certainly can’t. What we can do instead is to focus our professional efforts on the inputs that you, and we, are capable of controlling. And in that process, we can prepare, together, for whatever comes down the pike.

We can be an accountability partner – always following through on our commitments, and helping you follow through on the steps required to fulfill yours. We can be a sounding board when financial questions arise, and an informed, objective voice to guide you through challenging periods. We can provide disciplined, documented oversight of your investments, and regular updates to your long-range planning, making sure that important things get done and crucial details don’t get overlooked. We can keep our eyes on the future, helping you anticipate and prepare for the stages of life that we know will happen, and also adjusting thoughtfully to significant changes in the economy, tax code, or legislative environment that may impact you along the way. In short, we can pay attention. And our entire team is committed to aid and assist in responding to the unexpected and sometimes unpleasant events that are guaranteed to occur in all our lives.

To us, acting as a fiduciary doesn’t simply mean providing prudent fiduciary oversight of an investment portfolio. It means trying to provide that level of care and attention to you, and to your overall sense of wealth and well-being – so you develop the confidence, trust, and determination that no matter what opportunities and challenges the future may bring, you are fully capable of responding to them.

Thomas G. Twombly
President