It’s Saturday night and you’ve decided to stay home, watch a Netflix travel documentary, and order a pizza. You will be reminded of the best pizza you ever had on a beach vacation last year hundreds of miles away. But of course you settle for your favorite pizza place nearby that will do just fine tonight.
What does ordering pizza have to do with hiring a financial advisor?
For most people, their financial advisor also happens to be only a few miles from their home, but unlike ordering a pizza, the best financial advisor for you may be hundreds of miles away AND easily accessible.
In this article, we’ll introduce you to the burgeoning trend of hiring a “virtual” or “online” financial advisor who can help you create a personalized plan to achieve your money goals based on who you are, where you are. also lives.
What is a Virtual Financial Advisor?
A virtual financial advisor offers its clients primarily or entirely online and telephone financial planning services. You may also hear these financial professionals referred to as online financial advisors.
This means that no matter where you or your financial advisor live, you are always just a Zoom call away from a face-to-face meeting.
Slideshow: What is a Virtual Financial Advisor?
The benefits of hiring a virtual financial advisor
Virtual financial advisors have been steadily gaining popularity for several years now and for a variety of reasons.
One of the first reasons people started working with virtual financial advisors was to reclaim their time by not having to get in the car and sit in traffic to meet their financial advisor whenever a phone call or Zoom meeting works just as well.
For people who travel frequently or plan to move to another part of the country (or live abroad), working with an online financial advisor also ensures that your relationship is not disrupted wherever life takes you. .
Perhaps the most significant development accelerating the trend toward virtual financial advice is the ability for financial advisors to specialize in serving a niche that simply wouldn’t be practical if they were limited to working with clients in their hometown.
For example, many counselors now specialize in working with clients in a particular profession (e.g., physicians, small business owners, technology workers, educators), with specific family needs (e.g., children with special needs, student finance), or life priorities and values ( eg early retirement, religion), among many other niches.
What this means for you is an opportunity to hire a financial advisor who truly understands your individual needs based on their education, experience and commitment to helping people like you.
What to Expect When Working with a Virtual Financial Advisor
We asked financial advisors to help us understand what it’s like to work with them from around the country and to share examples based on their own experiences.
The technology that connects clients in the US to their advisor in Kentucky
Daniel Czulno is a certified financial planner based in Lexington, Kentucky. Although its independent consulting firm Joule Financial is small, the technology and tools they use with clients allow them to offer virtual consulting services to clients in more than 30 states. For example:
Fully online financial planning and document vault that enables collaborative planning whether clients are local or nationwide. Streamlined booking of Zoom or telephone appointments through Calendly, including the ability to book a virtual financial plan presentation with multiple members of the Joule Financial team. Interactive Zoom calls with clients and prospects that align with educational webinars with Q&A.
“The above solutions have allowed us to expand our local client base to include clients across the country who have never set foot in our office and are able to serve completely virtually,” said Czulno.
A widow in Illinois found her ideal financial advisor in Pennsylvania
Stephanie McCullough is the founder of Sofia Financial, a financial planning firm based in Berwyn, Pennsylvania that specializes in helping divorced, widowers, and single women in their 50s and older.
Stephanie has many clients she’s never met in person, and others like this she’s only met once, offering all subsequent financial planning services virtually:
“About three years ago, a friend introduced me to her sister-in-law who lives in Illinois. We met in person when she came to visit, but we’ve all traveled long distances since then. She had worked with 3 other advisers since her husband’s death 10 years earlier and was not satisfied with any of them. We work wonderfully together and luckily the distance is not an obstacle.”
Snowbirds keep warm while working with their financial advisor in Minnesota
Dan Murphy is a financial planner at Greater Good Financial, based in Minnesota. But in Dan’s 13 years in the business, most of his clients have lived on the West Coast.
Dan considers comfort and convenience to be one of the main reasons he hears from clients who enjoy working with him remotely.
“The convenience of virtual financial planning means you can make an appointment anytime, anywhere. This also gives you a comfortable location to yourself rather than a cramped office that can be intimidating to some,” Dan said.
“In particular, I have a handful of clients who are hibernating or clients who are retiring and moving to a warmer location. Being virtual means they can keep the same advisor wherever they live.”
Double career couples from Hawaii to Florida turn to nation’s capital for financial advice
Ami Shah is a wealth advisor at Hemington Wealth Management based in Washington, DC. She specializes in helping couples with dual careers and can better serve her busy clients wherever they live.
“Over the past few months, I’ve taken on clients from Hawaii to Florida — distance is no longer an issue,” Ami said.
“These clients have hectic lives: running businesses, combining two careers, looking after new babies. A visit to the office would probably have been off the table for them. But we can now meet early morning, late evening and weekend times that suit them. working, and having the chance to meet their little ones too, which automatically builds a lot more confidence. Screens don’t have to be a barrier, but a gateway to a more intimate part of their lives.”
Preparing to hire a virtual financial advisor
Whether you plan to hire a financial advisor in your area or a virtual financial advisor hundreds of miles away, it’s important to interview a handful of advisors to learn how they work with clients and ensure you feel comfortable. feel comfortable talking to them.
Many of the questions you might ask a virtual financial advisor are the same questions you would ask when interviewing an advisor to work with in person. Including:
Do you work with clients whose circumstances are similar to mine? What services do you offer? (eg financial planning, investment advice, etc.) How do you calculate your services? What is your experience and background as a financial advisor? What financial certifications do you have?
Questions you might ask a virtual advisor include:
How long have you been working as a virtual financial advisor? What do your customers like most about working with you virtually? How often will we meet? What technology and tools will we use to meet? (eg Zoom, visual aids, etc.) Can you describe a typical meeting? How often can I expect to hear from you outside of our meetings? How do you ensure the confidentiality of information shared between us?
Whether you choose to work with an advisor in person or virtually, your goal should be the same when deciding who to hire. You are looking for a reliable financial professional who has the professional training and background to help you achieve your financial goals.
Are you ready to hire a virtual financial advisor?
With many virtual financial advisors today specializing in helping clients with specific occupations, family needs, or life priorities, you’re more likely to find your ideal financial advisor by expanding your options to advisors across the country.
Of course you can still meet in person if you are in the same area. And you may find the best financial advisor near you, offering you the flexibility to meet online whenever you want.
But in the new world ushered in by the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the technology and tools that allow us to meet online wherever we are, it’s time to rethink how you can find the ideal financial advisor for your individual needs. (or time for a check-up to make sure your current financial advisor is still the best one for you).
How do I find a virtual financial advisor?
The Wealthtender Directory of Virtual Financial Advisors offers a diverse mix of financial advisors on Wealthtender who offer their services online and over the phone. You will discover financial advisors with a wide range of education, experience and specializations to help you find your perfect match.
How do I know if my financial advisor is a good fit for my needs?
We encourage you to interview multiple financial advisors to ensure that both you and the advisor you decide to hire are a good fit. Most financial advisors offer an initial meeting for this and may even require this before getting started.
Recommended Virtual Financial Advisors on Wealthtender
📍 Click on a pin in the map view below for a sample of XYPN financial advisors who can work with you to develop a personalized financial plan.
About the author
Brian Thorp
Brian is CEO and founder of Wealthtender. He and his wife live in Texas and enjoy the diversity of Houston and the vibrancy of Austin.
With over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, Brian applies his experience and passion at Wealthtender to help more people enjoy life with less money stress.
Connect with Brian on LinkedIn
This post What Is a Virtual Financial Advisor (and Why You Should Consider Hiring One)
was original published at “https://wealthtender.com/insights/money-management/working-with-virtual-financial-advisors/”
