Page 12 - March April Bulletin

Bene t Provider
Bad Products or Bad Advice?
Joseph Yagar, MSFS, CES, RIS Yagar_Joe@nlvmail.com
to be advised, not sold.
A er thousands of conversations and planning sessions over 23 years as an advisor, few are the same. Common goals, concerns, and anxieties exist, but our state of mind before, during, and a er are unique. All too o en, those who come to us for a consultation are at a point where they don’t know whom and what to believe. ey want a fresh unbiased approach with no pressure to believe one thing or another. ey wish
for disaster. Unfortunately, it is all too common a practice. It’s the advice that leads a product to be placed where it sometimes shouldn’t be, and what potentially causes some to meet their ob- jectives and others to miss by a mile.
Keep in mind that occasionally even the best advice may yield a less than perfect solution. A conceptually ideal solution may not have an ideal product to t every aspect of it. e objective is to discover, together, the solutions and supporting products and strategies that would provide the best chance for success. e hardest part for you is knowing when you are getting the right advice and feeling good about it so that you can make the com- mitment and take action. Without commitment and action on your part, nothing will happen.
So, when seeking advice, don’t let products dominate the con- versation. If you feel that you are being led down one path regard- less of the challenge you seek to overcome, walk away. A caring and competent advisor will listen carefully and keep ideas simple and conceptual until the challenges and objectives are clearly un- derstood. He or she will take the time to carefully think your case through before presenting a roadmap you can understand, and which clearly addresses your challenges. If the advisor comes to the table with no other agenda other than to help you, and you follow through with commitment and action, the likelihood of success is exponentially increased.
At Legatus Group our philosophy is simple: True and transpar- ent advice and to never do harm. Is that how you feel about the advice you’re getting?
Joseph Yagar is a Registered Representative and Investment Ad- visor Representative of and o ers securities and investment advi- sory services solely through Equity Services, Inc. 675 3rd Avenue, 9th Floor, New York NY 10017, (212) 986 0400. Member FINRA/ SIPC. Broker/Dealer and Registered Investment Advisor a liate of National Life Insurance Company, Montpelier VT. Legatus Group, LLC is independent of Equity Services, Inc. TC97022(0817)1
e Legatus Group serves as an HCMA Bene t Provider. For more information about the Bene t Provider Program, please con- tact Debbie Zorian, HCMA Executive Director, 813.253.0471, or DZorian@hcma.net.
Our belief is that every product is created to ful ll a need due to demand for a solution to a growing problem. Every product has those who experience success with it and those who don’t. ink about your experiences with the various investments you have. Real estate, stocks, bonds, annuities, life insurance, pre- cious metals, wine, art, cars, horses, business venture, etc. Some have likely met or even exceeded your expectations, and some have likely not. Your next-door neighbor, colleague, friend, or signi cant other may have the opposite experience investing in the same. How can that be?
Ask yourself, “Does a legally parked car intentionally cause an accident?” en ask yourself, “What causes a car to cause an ac- cident?” e answers are “No” and “Driver” respectively. e same applies to every “investment” you choose. And please don’t let anyone tell you that a particular investment comes without risk. We believe that any investment made in the name of prog- ress carries an inherent risk. Even if the word GUARANTEED is attached to it.
Using the analogy above, products being the car and driver be- ing the advisor (any person, including yourself, that in uenced the decision-making process), it may be easier to see that prod- ucts in and of themselves cannot harm you unless the advice be- hind your decision to take a risk on them is acted upon. ere- fore, we believe that there is no bad product, only bad advice.
e fact of the matter is that products should not even be part of the initial consultation. Products are a dime a dozen but have no place in the conversation until we, as advisors, can present the solutions you seek conceptually, without a predetermined agen- da, and in line with your core values. Making a solution t a spe- ci c product, regardless of whether it really does or not, is a recipe
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HCMA BULLETIN, Vol 63, No. 6 – March/Aril 2018