0:00:00 - Speaker 1
Discussions in this show should not be construed as specific recommendations or investment advice. Always consult with your investment professional before making important investment decisions. Securities offered through registered representatives of Cambridge Investment Research Inc. A broker-dealer member, finra, sipc Advisory services through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. A registered investment advisor Cambridge and Greenway Wealth Advisory are not affiliated.

0:00:20 - Speaker 2
It's time to dive into some insider secrets of investing and retirement planning. To make your retirement as smart and as elegant as possible. This is Money Chic with Sherry Rash.

0:00:31 - Speaker 3
It's time for another edition of Money Chic Women in Finance, with Sherry Rash joining me to talk investing, finance, retirement and some common complaints that we hear in the retirement planning industry. So we're going to go through some situations and things that are fairly common out there and see which ones are well founded, which ones are maybe have misconceptions, and hopefully offer some insights into better ways to navigate those a little bit. So we're going to have that conversation this week on the podcast. Don't forget to subscribe to us on Apple, google or Spotify, whichever podcasting platform app you like. Sherry, what's going on? How are you doing?

0:01:05 - Speaker 4
I'm good. I have a complaint, but it has nothing to do with retirement planning. I'm just ready for school to start. It is time. Summer's been good to us, but it's time.

0:01:16 - Speaker 3
It's time for everyone to get back in routine, that's right, you and I were chatting about that before we kicked off the podcast and you're like where is the school days? It's so funny In the weather, school, whatever cycle, summer department. We're so funny as humans. It's the same thing. We go through winter and it's winter drags on. We go. God, I'm so tired of the cold. I can't wait for the summer.

And then summer gets here and it's hot. It gets you know at every year it's hot. It's always the case. We have unseasonably hot summers sometimes, and other times it's not bad. Blah, blah, blah and it's like by the time it drags on, we're going. When's it going to end? I just want cool weather.

0:01:55 - Speaker 4
We're never happy. No, we're never happy. And of course, the same thing with the kids too, right.

0:02:00 - Speaker 3
It's like, oh, I can't wait to spend such great time with my kids. You guys had a fantastic time with your kids this summer, but it has summer drags on. You're like go to school.

0:02:08 - Speaker 4
Go to school, yes.

0:02:11 - Speaker 3
And.

0:02:11 - Speaker 4
I think I'm also more jealous of their summer camps. They're in some awesome summer camps right here. And I just want to go to summer camp.

0:02:19 - Speaker 3
To be honest, I know that's the stuff that my daughter used to, and this was 18 years ago or so. She was doing some of these things and I was like these things were way cooler than anything I got to do in the late 70s or early 80s.

0:02:30 - Speaker 4
Stinker I know they're lucky, they are In a lot of ways they are.

0:02:36 - Speaker 3
But they have to grow up with cell phone error and we didn't, and I think we're lucky that way. That is true, because we got to just go play and didn't have to worry about any of that goofy stuff.

0:02:45 - Speaker 4
The silly things we did were not documented.

0:02:47 - Speaker 3
This is true, this is true, very good. Well, all right, let's get into our financial complaints, and otherwise we could just go the whole podcast and just kind of talk about growing up and differences there, which you know, hey, we can do that too. But let's talk about some financial aspects of things, because that's what you do and we've got some common ones here. So let's kick it off with. My advisor takes too much risk. Now, again, these complaints are typically from the end user, right, the client type of thing, and if you're feeling like, if this is you saying your advisor is taking too much risk, well, you know why is that? Is it because of lack of conversation? Is it because you know you, just you see your account not doing what you want? Like what is going on there?

0:03:25 - Speaker 4
Right. So I would say, if you find yourself having some complaints, first ask yourself compared to what? So my advisor takes too much risk compared to what? Are you talking to a neighbor and their returns? What does too much risk mean? Are you seeing, do you feel like you're seeing, too much volatility in your portfolio? So it really would be. Compared to what? If you feel like you're doing exactly what the stock market is doing with the ups and the downs, then maybe you are, or is that just a portion of your portfolio? So I would say, first compared to what. What is what's the risk? Do you have an idea of how much risk you want to take? Because if, if you're getting the pits in your stomach, then you may not be as aggressive as maybe your advisor thought you were, or the conversation led, or maybe you just need a revision of your portfolio as you get older. You may not necessarily need to take as much risk or tolerate as much risk in your portfolio, as you did when you were younger.

0:04:25 - Speaker 3
Well, you know, I'm going to shift our order here a little bit because on this list I also have this one, so I'm going to put it right next to the. My advisor takes too much risk and that is the. My account didn't grow so much last year and these two to me walk hand in hand, so you might find yourself doing both going. Well, my advisor's taken too much risk, but my account didn't grow, you know much, or whatever the case might be. It's like well, that's probably based on the. Both of these are probably based on how you're weighted right. Your portfolio is set up in a way that you are not getting all the highs. Therefore, you feel like you know, okay, I saw that the S&P, for example, just make stuff up. The S&P was up 20% for last year and I only got 10. Why is that? Well, probably because you were not completely exposed fully exposed to the upside of the risk right, exactly, my account didn't grow much last year compared to what?

0:05:11 - Speaker 4
So if, using your example, right there with the S&P, well, if the S&P was down 20% you also didn't lose right.

You also likely didn't lose as much if your portfolio was set up appropriately. So, just following what the indices are doing, you're going to end up confused or overwhelmed or with a lot of questions, because you're not only invested in the Dow Jones or the S&P 500, you have a diversified portfolio, which is good when those two, for example, those two indices don't do too hot. So that's why diversification is our friend. But again, what are we comparing to? We want to make sure it's an apples to oranges comparison, and one thing that I'm speaking to my clients about is the concept of a benchmark.

So, so if you were to compare a 100% stock portfolio to 100% bond portfolio, that's not a fair comparison. They're completely different apples and oranges. So investment portfolios should have a benchmark. So how can we compare the performance of the strategy based to how it maybe should have performed, based on the different indices? So understanding, did your portfolio beat its benchmark? Was it way underperforming the benchmark? Understanding that, because that's a real, that's as apples to apples as we can get to compare performance and how your account grew or didn't grow appropriately.

0:06:40 - Speaker 3
Yeah, because often both of these common complaints are tied to the same thing. It's usually miscommunication, or or not rebalancing at the proper times. And that again back to miscommunication, because you're thinking, okay, well, the market's down 20% and I've lost 10, they're taking way too much risk, right? And even though you're only down half of what the market was and that's obviously you hadn't communicated that you're stressing about that, that that's an issue, that that's a concern, or whatever. And so the portfolio did not get rebalanced. And, conversely, the same thing with the you know too high or the you know not growing as much. All right, so that's the first two. How about the? My fees are too high complaint, A fair complaint, for sure. I think many people certainly worry about that. I think the problem with the fees being too high, though, is most people don't realize what they're paying for and what they're getting from it, right?

0:07:28 - Speaker 4
Again, compared to what? So if you're competing, Is this a theme?

0:07:33 - Speaker 3
I'm a trend. This is a theme.

0:07:34 - Speaker 4
Yes, I'm going. I know how to answer these questions right. I've had these before. So if you're comparing your portfolio to a Vanguard account, that you purchased the mutual fund or the ETF yourself, and when you have a question or need something done, take a withdrawal, what have you? You're calling your customer service line. Yeah, you are gonna be paying more money for a customized portfolio with a financial advisor that you can speak to at any point in time when you're concerned about your account. Didn't grow too much, or am I taking too much risk? So, yeah, you are gonna pay more. Right, there's a reason why people pay more money for fancier cars because they feel like they get more value out of it. So, but you should understand your fee. You should understand what you're paying and what you're getting for it, and that might be really what you're looking for versus my fees are too high. It might just be. I need to make sure I'm getting the service that I'm paying for from my advisor.

0:08:35 - Speaker 3
Yeah, I like that. I mean, it's the same analogy you could take down to food, right? You could say I'm not paying $8 for a cheeseburger, right, but what's your alternative? Right? If you pay $3 for a cheeseburger, don't expect what you get. It's probably not gonna be especially right now, it's probably not gonna be that great. So it's all comparative to the kind of level of service or value that you're getting. All right, how about this common complaint? Social security is not gonna be enough to cover my expenses. This is a legitimate concern.

0:09:02 - Speaker 4
Sure, that's absolutely legitimate. I mean, that's just, it's plain math, right? So you know how much you're gonna get from social security, you know what your expenses are, right. And if you're spending more, more than what's coming in, social security is not enough. So that's really, if that is a concern for you as you're approaching retirement or a few years away from retirement, you need to do some proper planning.

0:09:28 - Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah, I mean, when it comes to you know that scenario, I think most of us realize we don't wanna be there. It can happen, certainly my mother's in that situation. But it's one of those things where you certainly wanna make sure that you're taking, you're being aware that it's not gonna be the lifestyle you want, and you're taking the appropriate steps ahead of time. And unfortunately, bad things can happen. And timing can you know, all sorts of weirdness can happen along the way. But you've gotta have that strategy in place to help mitigate these things sooner than later.

All right, how about the I don't understand my financial plan? Again, this one, I think, is a legitimate concern for a lot of people, because they go to see someone like yourself, sherry. They get a strategy put in place and if they aren't honest and they don't speak up and say I don't quite get it or I don't quite understand it, you're not really doing yourself or your advisor in any service, because you're gonna feel like they're not doing a good job and you're not gonna really be able to adhere to the plan the way you should be in order to make it successful, and then it just seems like it's a bad way to go. So it's okay to say like I don't get this right, I don't quite understand. Help me break this down.

0:10:32 - Speaker 4
Yeah, this is one where we can really peel back the layers of the onion and get to maybe the real issue Is the issue. If you don't understand your plan, was it because it was presented to you with maybe not presented appropriately at all? It might've just been like here's what you need to do, let's just do it and okay. Or was it presented with too much jargon or going too deep in the weeds? Sometimes going too deep in the weeds ends up creating more confusion than anything. So just giving a nice broad overview may be enough, and sometimes I'm guilty of it.

I wanna make sure my client knows everything and sometimes I do go too deep, so usually it's coming from a good place. But I always say to my clients tell me to stop if I'm going way deeper than you need to. But if you don't understand your plan, is it because and does that make you like? Does that make your stomach hurt? Because do you trust your advisor? Like many clients may say, I don't understand everything you're saying to me, but I trust that I get it and I trust you.

0:11:36 - Speaker 3
I trust later making the right decisions for me.

0:11:39 - Speaker 4
So do you trust your advisor? Do you trust your plan that it's gonna work out for you? So there's a little bit more to this and you're not gonna understand everything, right. If you're. As long as you're able to repeat it to someone else that's not a financial advisor, and that you both understand it, then you did a pretty good job right.

0:11:59 - Speaker 3
Yeah, have you ever heard of the rule of 11? No, ok, so I love this one. You'll like this one. I should have shared this with you before. So an older advisor told me this years ago I think it's really cute. So you just talked about if you can relay that to someone else, right? So he said the rule of 11 is if you can explain your financial plan to an 11-year-old. It's too complicated for you and I thought that was really cute, right, because it's like OK. So because when you get your plan, yes, there's going to be some charts and there's going to be lots of stuff in there, but fundamentally, like the 10,000-foot view, you should have a good grasp on as the end user, as the client, and be able to relay that to your own children, right, even if they're adult children or whatever the case is. Just be able to relay that to someone else, because it means you also have it, you get it, you're retaining it and you're able to implement it.

0:12:43 - Speaker 4
Right. I mean, there's so many things that we do every day, or services that we pay for, that we can't understand it inside and out right, I go to my chiropractor. They do these scans, I get a report, I get all this stuff and it's like I don't get it.

0:12:56 - Speaker 3
Did you crack my bones? You cracked my bones.

0:12:58 - Speaker 4
Do I feel better when I leave? Yeah, pretty much OK. Good, so there we go. So we're getting your car fixed. Like I don't understand everything you're saying, but it makes sense to me. Ok, I trust you, let's fix it. So I would say ask yourself a few more questions about understanding your plan and then again ask your advisor to explain it.

Hey, I want to revisit this with you, want to make sure I understand it appropriately, and it should be a very easy conversation, and I feel like a lot of advisors like yourself, sherry, who really understand doing the kiss method right.

0:13:32 - Speaker 3
Most of us want the kiss method. We want to keep it simple, right, so that we have a good grasp on it. But there are people that you're going to have clients who do want you you talked about. You sometimes can get into the weeds. You're going to have those that really love that. They want to.

Using that car analogy, most of us know the basic workings of a car, right? We know that we got to put gas in it and we got to put oil in it and we know how to drive it and that's good enough. But there are some who want to know how to take the combustion engine apart and put it back together again right. And so I think the same thing happens with financial clients as well. There are some who want that simple, keep it simple method, and there's others who say, yeah, give me the nuts and bolts and show it all to me, and it's about communication, exactly. Yeah, ok, all right. So the last one here. Then I only hear from my guy or gal when they want me to buy or sell a stock. I don't really get advice on anything else, and this is certainly a common one, and this means to me that you don't have a financial professional. You have more of a salesperson.

0:14:30 - Speaker 4
Right, we could have multiple podcast episodes about financial advisors and all the different services where they use the term financial advisor. So it sounds like you have more of a, not an advisor, more of a stockbroker. I would first understand what type of account do you have? If your person is only calling you when they want you to buy or sell a stock, that's a commission, right, it's a commission, so likely. You do not have a fee based account, so it's in your interest to buy or sell a stock potentially, but it's certainly in their interest, because then it creates buying and selling, creates commission for them.

0:15:11 - Speaker 3
And that might be fine, sherry, right, if that's what you need in your life, if that's where you are in your life and what you're looking for. But if you are not getting advice on, let's say, social security, well then that might be the right fit.

0:15:22 - Speaker 4
Right. If you're seeking advice, then this may not be a right fit. If you like the idea of buying and selling and getting into the different companies and having a resource for that, then that broker is a fit for you. So, understanding what you want out of your advisor and asking them can you provide these services to me? If they can't, then you might need to go find someone that can.

0:15:47 - Speaker 3
Well, and some people want to working with a professional for years, right, and so they have this relationship, they feel good, they like them, they trust them, all those things we talked about, but they start kind of going. You know, they do never really bring up social security they don't really ever bring up like how am I going to do this, that or the other?

And that's because it's just not their discipline. So more than likely you've been working with a type of advisor who's just better off helping you in the accumulation phase versus the decubulation phase, right versus getting ready for retirement and all the different you know nuances, back and forth, and I think a lot of things to consider when you're shopping or looking for someone or whatever Sherry might be also not just what it is that you're looking for, but the firm you're talking to. If they take everybody in as a client that walks through the door, then everybody kind of looks the same to them, in my opinion, right. So a lot of times people looking for more special just like going to a specialized doctor you know there's not not every person, not every client is a fit. They're looking for the ones they can truly help. Does that make sense?

0:16:45 - Speaker 4
Yes, it does Absolutely. And yeah, when you open up the account, that may have been exactly what you needed, but as you age and things change and the industry changes, everything changes. You need to make sure that your investments and your professionals adapt with you and work with you. So it's okay to go, you know, look around and find someone that is providing the services that you now desire.

0:17:09 - Speaker 3
Yeah, I mean some advisors will only work with a specific age group, right? Some work with retirees only, some will work with a wide. I mean you work with a wide age group but you don't try to, you know it's not every single person that walks through the door. You're trying to make a client, you're trying to find the right fit, not only for them working with you, but you working with them. It has to be that good two-way street.

Yes exactly Okay, all right. Well, there you go. So that's some common complaints. And then, of course, the other one is school needs to be back, and it's hot.

0:17:38 - Speaker 4
I didn't complain about the heat. I don't mind the heat too much.

0:17:41 - Speaker 1
Yeah.

0:17:41 - Speaker 4
If humidity doesn't help my hair, but that's another. Everybody else has been complaining about the heat, but it's like folks it's Well, in the July, beginning of August, what do you expect?

0:17:49 - Speaker 3
It's always this hot right Right.

So all right. Well, thanks for hanging out guys. Thanks for checking out the podcast. Good stuff, as always, from Sherry. If you got some questions, if you do need some help, make sure that. If you do have, there's nothing wrong with having complaints, but I think the key today I really like is communication and as compared to what right. So make sure you're asking yourself some questions and, of course, ask your advisor some questions and if you need some help that's what Sherry is here for Reach out to her at GreenwayWealthAdvisorycom. That's GreenwayWealthAdvisorycom. If you're not already working with her, certainly reach out and give her a shout and get on to the calendar. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast Money Chic Women in Finance on Apple or Google or Spotify. You can again, you can find all of that at her website and don't forget to share it with others who might benefit from the message as well. Sherry, thanks for hanging out. Have yourself a great week. Thanks you too, yep. I'll catch you next time here on Money Chic Women in Finance with Sherry Rash.