According to a new report profiled in “DOL Rule May Force Advisors to Abandon Small Investors,” U.S. investors with less than $100,000 in assets may soon have an even harder time getting a financial advisor.
“We’d love to help small investors, but we can’t afford to.”
We’ve heard that before. However, that may not be the worst thing in the world.
Maybe the solutions advisors are offering large investors don’t work for small investors.
And maybe simpler, less risky solutions are what small investors need.
And maybe, just maybe, by educating small investors, they’ll be smarter consumers of advice.
In “Baby boomers rush to fill retirement savings gap,” the author suggested that increasing lifespans mean that Baby Boomers may have to work longer in order to ensure they have enough retirement savings to cover their financial needs for the rest of their lifespan.
“The irony is that while many advisers are able to help clients prepare for the future, it seems that they are ill-equipped to deal with their own transition plans.”
This quote says it all about the field of advice.
If your advisor is not going to be there for your entire retirement, should you adopt a retirement plan that you may not fully understand nor can manage on your own?
The key to a good retirement plan is one that depends less on outside “money management” skills as you age and more on “life management” expertise.