ROSEVILLE, Calif., June 27, 2006 — Paladin Registry, LLC (http://www.paladinregistry.com) released additional results of a recent survey that showed that millions of investors fire financial planners and advisors every year because they did not receive the results and services they expected. More than 91 percent of the investors subsequently hired replacements hoping the new advisors would be better than the ones they fired. The survey also showed that 96 percent of investors used the same selection process for the new advisors as they did for the advisors they fired.
Jack Waymire, Paladin founder and author of Who's Watching Your Money? The 17 Paladin Principles for Selecting a Financial Advisor (ISBN 0471476994, John Wiley & Sons, 2003), said, "Paladin Registry professionals communicate with thousands of investors every month and many of them have fired two or more advisors in the past seven years. They tended to fire more advisors in flat or down market years and fewer advisors during years when markets were producing positive returns. Less than 14 percent of the investors blamed their selection processes for the high advisor termination rate."
Waymire went on to say, "High turnover is the direct result of investors hiring the wrong advisors for the wrong reasons. Two primary problems contribute to the exceptionally high turnover. First, advisors are not required to disclose important information about their credentials, ethics, and business practices. Second, the lack of disclosure forces investors to know the right questions to ask to determine advisor quality. Paladin's survey shows less than 8 percent know those questions."
Waymire added, "This information vacuum allows sales representatives to use their personalities and sales skills to market themselves as financial experts and win relationships with investors. Unfortunately, these traits and skills have nothing to do with advisor competence and integrity. Consequently, investors ended up hiring advisors for the wrong reasons and were eventually disappointed enough to fire them. It's pretty apparent that when you combine the sales culture of the financial services industry with lack of disclosure there are going to be major problems that negatively impact investors."
How can investors protect themselves? Waymire said, "They must learn enough to identify competent, ethical advisors who are paid to help them achieve their goals versus sales representatives who are paid to sell them products. It's much easier to learn a new selection process than it is to acquire the financial knowledge of high-quality professionals. The new process must be objective, focused on credentials, ethics, and business practices, and not be influenced by advisor personalities or sales skills."
There is a free resource on the Internet that provides information that helps you avoid bad advisors and select high quality professionals. In case you don't know the right questions to ask, the website (http://www.paladinregistry.com) also provides a free questionnaire and an interview guide that you can use to obtain information from advisors. Don't be shocked when advisors refuse to answer your questions. Many of them have a lot to hide.
About Paladin Registry, LLC
The Paladin website, http://www.paladinregistry.com, provides free public services to investors who use the services of financial planners and advisors. Its Tips-4-Investors is an educational resource that helps them avoid the risks and consequences of bad financial advice and helps them select high-quality professionals. The Registry's two consultant-driven search processes help investors find competent, trustworthy planners and advisors in their communities. And, its profiling service documents advisor answers to many of the most important questions that investors should be asking advisors before they hire them.
Paladin Contact:
Jack Waymire
Paladin Registry, LLC
877-719-2022
Email
http://www.paladinregistry.com