While we monitor investment portfolios year-round, we proactively meet with our clients twice a year during the winter and fall. During each meeting we focus on different areas of your financial health, provide advisory services, and update your financial plan accordingly. We are available for other meetings or communication throughout the year outside of these regularly scheduled meetings.

Our advisory platform is based on an asset under management (AUM) model. This is a fee-only approach where our management and financial planning fee is based on a percentage of the total assets we manage. This aligns our interests with yours. This is one of the most common ways of billing in the financial industry. This is opposed to a commission-based billing model which can pose conflicts of interest.

Unfortunately, these terms are often used interchangeably, but there is a big difference. Another title that is often included in this conversation is Investment Advisor. All three terms are actually different, and a financial planner offers what the other two provide, but then some.

An investment advisor focuses on investment management. They’ll ask questions about the purpose of your portfolio, your timeline, and how comfortable with risk you are. They’ll build and manage a portfolio based on this discussion. A Financial Advisor takes this a step further, and will offer advice outside of your portfolio, but in isolation. An example might be a discussion around when to start Social Security. In a vacuum, they’ll provide education on this topic, tailor it a bit to you, and make a recommendation. While helpful, the answer provided may be incomplete without reviewing and making projections for your entire financial picture.

A financial planner does all of this, but dives deeper. Every financial decision you make impacts another area of your finances and life. A financial planner will put your entire financial picture together, document it, and run what-if scenarios, stress tests, and projections to help optimize your decision making and ensure you understand how everything is working together. According to a Michael Kitces study (a leading financial planning research source) 58% of financial professional offer true planning services. This leaves 42% who do not. It is important to understand if your current advisor or future advisor is offering planning services.

Campbell Financial Services has a team of individuals who have both the Series 7 and Series 66 securities licenses as well as being insurance licensed. This means we are not limited in the financial products available to us. It’s important to know if the professional you are working with has more limited licenses. To a hammer, everything is a nail. If you’re working with someone who is only insurance licensed, for instance, their solution will always be an insurance product. With our licenses, we are in a position to review your needs and only recommend products and strategies that make sense.

You will have a dedicated financial advisor at Campbell Financial Services to build a relationship with who will understand which investment strategies are best for you, design your financial plan, and who you will meet with regularly. Our team of advisors coordinates with our back office of Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA®s) who design and manage our portfolios. The CFA® exam is one of the most difficult professional exams, and focuses entirely on investment management. By working with a professional team of CFA®s who focus solely on portfolio management, our team of advisors can dedicate their time to your planning and relationship to allow for proactive planning and guidance.

Creating your own investment strategy, financial plan, and keeping it updated and current is a lot like choosing to be your own general contractor when building a home. You could do your own research, establish the relationships with the various professionals you’ll be working with on the project, and monitor the job to save money that would otherwise be spent on hiring it out. While this could be fine for some, this option may result in delays and stress, take a lot of time and effort, and you won’t know what you don’t know until the issue presents itself, which could result in lost opportunities.

Working with a professional allows you to know your planning and investment strategy is being handled appropriately, removes stress, provides accountability, and frees you up to focus on what really matters most to you.

Recent studies have also shown that emotional biases prevent most investors from making smart money management decisions. According to a Dalbar study, over a 30 year period, the average investor might earn 7.13% compared to an S&P 500 index return of 10.65%. This 3.52% earnings gap is largely attributed to behavioral biases. This is now considered a major component of investing; So much so that the CFP® board introduced psychology of financial planning into the curriculum in 2021. Working with a financial professional will help you stay on track and avoid the subconscious biases you have that influence your financial decision making.

Finally, working with a professional will allow you to establish a relationship with a trusted source who can assist you if cognitive impairment becomes an issue at some point in your life. Studies have shown that about 23% of individuals over 65 have mild cognitive impairment and an additional 11% have dementia. By working with a trusted financial planner, they can help you and your family navigate your finances if and when you are no longer able to do so on your own.