Weekend Reading: Why Most Financial Plans Fail

This article appears as part of Casey Weade's Weekend Reading for Retirees series. Every Friday, Casey highlights four hand-picked articles on trending retirement topics and delivers them straight to your email inbox. Get on the list here.
Weekend reading why financial plans fail Weekend reading why financial plans fail
Weekend Reading

Here’s a shocking statistic: About 70 percent of financial planning recommendations are never implemented.

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Why? The author of this article points to four factors, some of which are a direct result of the advisor you work with, and some of which stem from our natural behavioral finance tendencies. They include:

📌A sales-oriented industry – Sound financial advice can often by overshadowed by the sales-y vibe of the financial industry. Feeling as if you’re being sold, rather than coached, through one of the most important parts of your life, can leave you wary of wanting to follow through.

📌Solutions-centric advisors – When a planning process is more advisor-driven on various financial planning solutions, versus client-inspired on hopes and dreams, the motivation and encouragement to take action is stagnant.

📌Hyperbolic discounting – We are wired to prefer satisfying our needs today, and since most financial planning revolves around retirement, it can be difficult to see how a financial advisor also brings you financial stability now.

📌Emotionally absent – Despite what many might believe, the financial decisions we make are ultimately based on emotion. Therefore, advisors should be well educated in emotional client drivers.

Your ideal advisor: While there is no such thing as a “perfect” financial advisor, you can partner with an advisor that fits you best, and acts as your honest coach. Our industry has been broken for some time, but thankfully, there are some major shifts happening, designed to deliver the value you deserve.