investment advisory with good advice.
Financial advisor with competence & integrity. Clearwater is a fiduciary Financial Advisor. See FAQ below.
What should I be asking my financial advisor?
Ideally, your advisor has insight into the technical and fundamental data related to risk in each of the major liquid asset classes and understands that data as a harmonic set of flexible nested cycles with dynamic patterns arising from emotional reactions and clustering behavior of the herd, motivated by common feeling or mood that arise at almost regular intervals, but not quite. This insight is very different from what nearly everyone understands.
Also, there is significant complexity stemming from deceit, evasion, and concealment that is parasitic on investors, but the media (and government) have supported the need for an optimistic investment environment, thereby enabling conditions fertile for both speculative manias and investment fraud throughout history. The advisor should see fraud a mile away, not enable it to prey upon you.
An outstanding advisor should provide consistent analytical reasoning and lead you toward the correct decisions, convincing you with reason rather than relying on emotion or on authority figures who may have a conflict of interest.
Your advisor should inform you about everything and leave nothing unsaid or unexamined. He should be the expert and not repeat the company line or the media narrative. He must be independent, and you should not have to ask him anything other than to dig deeper into a fascinating and dynamic world of investments and finance.
Also, there is significant complexity stemming from deceit, evasion, and concealment that is parasitic on investors, but the media (and government) have supported the need for an optimistic investment environment, thereby enabling conditions fertile for both speculative manias and investment fraud throughout history. The advisor should see fraud a mile away, not enable it to prey upon you.
An outstanding advisor should provide consistent analytical reasoning and lead you toward the correct decisions, convincing you with reason rather than relying on emotion or on authority figures who may have a conflict of interest.
Your advisor should inform you about everything and leave nothing unsaid or unexamined. He should be the expert and not repeat the company line or the media narrative. He must be independent, and you should not have to ask him anything other than to dig deeper into a fascinating and dynamic world of investments and finance.
What is a fiduciary financial advisor?
A fiduciary responsibility (or fiduciary duty) is the strictest legal and ethical obligation to act solely in another party's best interest.
Will financial advisors become obsolete?
No, humans are highly social; many are willing to believe anything if the marketing is good enough and the timing is right. Ponzi schemes and extreme enthusiasm are both enabled by potent marketing that aims to trigger human emotions of greed and the need for simple solutions, appealing to the desire for a product that doesn't require cognitive effort or create anxiety. Good advisors will never become obsolete in a dynamic world where lies are spread 10 times faster than truth.
Plato's allegory of the state and the choice of a ship's leader at sea are similar to finding an advisor with integrity and navigational competence.
"In the metaphor, found at 488a–489d, Plato's Socrates compares the population at large to a strong but near-sighted ship's master. The quarreling sailors are demagogues and politicians, and the ship's navigator is a philosopher. The sailors flatter themselves with claims to knowledge of sailing, despite knowing nothing of navigation, and are constantly vying with one another for the approval of the master, offering wine and gifts. In truth, the sailors care little for the master's wellbeing, and desire only to gain captaincy of the ship and access to its valuable food stores. The navigator is dismissed as a useless stargazer yet is the only one with the knowledge to direct the ship's course safely." Wikipedia
Plato's allegory of the state and the choice of a ship's leader at sea are similar to finding an advisor with integrity and navigational competence.
"In the metaphor, found at 488a–489d, Plato's Socrates compares the population at large to a strong but near-sighted ship's master. The quarreling sailors are demagogues and politicians, and the ship's navigator is a philosopher. The sailors flatter themselves with claims to knowledge of sailing, despite knowing nothing of navigation, and are constantly vying with one another for the approval of the master, offering wine and gifts. In truth, the sailors care little for the master's wellbeing, and desire only to gain captaincy of the ship and access to its valuable food stores. The navigator is dismissed as a useless stargazer yet is the only one with the knowledge to direct the ship's course safely." Wikipedia
How much is a financial advisor?
Fee-Only Fiduciaries are paid directly from the client; they do not accept commissions, reducing structural conflicts of interest. The investment management fee of 1.00% of Assets Under Management is so common that it is almost standard. But breakpoints that lower the rate at higher asset levels vary, so that's a difference you want to look at. At Clearwater, 1% on the 1st $500k and 0.75% on assets above is an attractive rate for high-quality advising.
The public buys the most at the top and the least at the bottom; it's important to keep that in mind. A good advisor includes that truth in client strategy.
Here's a video I made not that long ago, and it's still relevant.
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Established in 2012
About Ron
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RONALD O. GRANBERG
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