Houston, TX 01/16/2007 In an environment where most financial representatives earn commissions from the sales of products, financial consumers are often left wondering if they are receiving advice or a sales pitch. In his new book, The Wealth Management Manual, Mark Diehl and 14 top Certified Financial Planners educate investors on the questions to ask and the qualities to look for when hiring a financial advisor.
Complete Disclosure
High commission products like annuities and permanent life insurance can influence the product recommendations of sales representatives. Consumers deserve complete fee and commission transparency, yet insurance-based products are often the worst culprits when it comes to complete disclosure.
The future of social security benefits is certainly in question and the traditional retirement plans of our parents are now a distant memory. Retirees and investors cannot afford to make mistakes with their money and deserve to know any factor that could influence the recommendations of their salesperson or advisor.
Registered Investment Advisors are required to fully disclose their fees in Form ADV Part II. However, when a product is being sold by a financial salesperson, the consumer usually never knows the compensation arrangement. If one annuity pays the salesperson a 5% commission and another annuity pays the salesperson a 10% commission, an obvious conflict of interest exists.
When consumers sit down with an advisor or salesperson, they will be asked to sign several documents. The insurance company or investment firm will request quite a bit of information. Consumers deserve to be able to ask some questions and request a signature or two, as well. A document has been created that can help gain full salesperson and product disclosure. This document is available free of charge at http://www.advisor1990.com
Because Mark Diehl, CFP, ChFC believes this is such an important issue for financial consumers, he is offering a FREE downloadable 28 page excerpt from his new book. The free book excerpt is accessible from the home page of http://www.advisor90.com .
The Wealth Management Manual
The Wealth Management Manual addresses the four main areas of financial planning: wealth protection, wealth accumulation, wealth distribution, and finally wealth transfer. In this 376 page book, Mark intervews 14 of the nation's top Certified Financial Planners. Readers benefit from 15 different opinions on key financial issues facing all investors.
Mark Diehl, CFP, ChFC
With over 15 years of financial services experience, Mark is a champion of financial literacy and financial consumer advocacy. Mark is also founder and Chief Investment Officer for Preferred Wealth Management, LLC, a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor based in Houston, Texas.
