Deciding to invest with a financial planner is a big step.

It means entrusting a trained professional with money that was earned over many years. But before taking on new clients, good financial investors will want to know a few things.

“I ask: ‘What are they saving for? What’s the goal? Have they thought about that in detail? Because a lot of times people don’t have that in mind when they’re starting out,” said James Ferguson, a Certified Financial Planner and managing partner with Roan Capital Partners.  “They know they need to invest and grow money, but what are they saving for?”

By understanding a person’s goals and what they are trying to achieve, it allows financial professionals to pick the right avenues for investment based on that information.

Because financial planning isn’t money planning, it’s life planning.

Almost every decision a person makes is a financial decision. Planning out those decisions and drilling down on how a person wants to utilize the money is the best way to achieve overall success.

“Are you saving for something five years from now or is it something 15 years from now?,” said Joy Garland, a Certified Fund Specialist and managing partner of Roan Capital Partners. “Is this really for retirement or is this for a vacation you want to take when you retire?”

Some people may think they are saving for retirement, but they are not. Some know exactly how much they will need to retire. Others may not save for retirement, but want to save money for children, a charity, or a church.

Retirement is going to mean different things to different people. Some will want to save up for a home on the beach while others will want to spend more time with their children or grandchildren. Those choices are financial decisions and would impact an investment strategy.

A big part of a financial planner’s job is helping clients figure out those goals and working with them to achieve it. Having an objective planner take the long view on investing not only helps the client achieve better results, it also provides a steady hand when the market fluctuates.

“The worst thing that can happen is somebody saves for two or three years and then the market is down by six or seven percent and they come in saying they are scared to death and want to sell everything. You’ve locked in a loss at that point and that’s the opposite of what we want to do,” James said.

Roan Capital offers a few tips to get started on the road to investing.

Cut down on expenses

It may sound simple but cutting down on expenses is a crucial step towards financial security.

Some items to think about when looking at cutting expenses could include:

  • Selling a vehicle if you can get by with one car. This will help eliminate costs like insurance, gas, and maintenance.
  • Reduce your tax bill by spacing out withdrawals from a traditional 401(k) and individual retirement accounts to avoid a large tax bill. Prepaying income tax using a Roth IRA or a Roth 401(k) can help avoid a big tax bill.
  • Avoid retirement penalties by paying attention to important retirement deadlines. People can be penalized by signing up for Social Security early or delaying signing up for Medicare Parts B and D.

Be diversified

Diversification helps investors reduce risk by spreading investments among different avenues. Practicing this technique aims to maximize returns while reducing loss as much as possible.

Say a person invests all their retirement in technology companies. If the tech industry experiences a significant downturn, the person’s portfolio will see a dramatic decrease in value. But if the same person invested finances in not only the technology sector but also in the transportation industry, the portfolio would not be affected nearly as much.

People should diversify across different types of industries and different types of assets, such as bond and equity markets.

Trust your financial advisor

Roan Capital Partners spends a considerable amount of time with potential clients before signing on to become their financial advisor. They do this because trust between clients and financial advisors is of the utmost importance.

“Trust is important because a lot of our clients don’t want to worry about their finances, so they turn it over to a financial advisor,” Joy said. “You wouldn’t give that to just anybody, so you’ve got to make sure that trust level is there. But also, they have to have peace of mind to sleep at night.”

James and Joy have several in-depth conversations with people before signing them as clients. They want to make sure potential clients understand what they can offer and if their firm is the right fit for what the client is looking for.

Get more information

If you are interested in finding out more about investing and Roan Capital, please visit our website at www.roancp.com or call James at 423-631-5756 or Joy at 423-631-5786.

Roan Capital Partners (“RCP”) is a registered investment adviser offering advisory services in the State of Tennessee and in other jurisdictions where exempted.  Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. The presence of this website on the Internet shall not be directly or indirectly interpreted as a solicitation of investment advisory services to persons of another jurisdiction unless otherwise permitted by statute. Follow-up or individualized responses to consumers in a particular state by RCP in the rendering of personalized investment advice for compensation shall not be made without our first complying with jurisdiction requirements or pursuant an applicable state exemption.

All written content on this site is for information purposes only. Opinions expressed herein are solely those of RCP, unless otherwise specifically cited.  Material presented is believed to be from reliable sources and no representations are made by our firm as to another parties’ informational accuracy or completeness.  All information or ideas provided should be discussed in detail with an advisor, accountant or legal counsel prior to implementation.