Financial Consultant or Financial Insultant?
They were going through the usual stuff I think – personal income, plans for the future, jobs, coverage needed etc. But the comments he made was simply out of hand.
First and for most, you don’t insult your clients when you talk to them about their financial planning. The poor girl was clueless about insurance and had a whole bag of similar policies I think. So he was saying that a lot of money has been wasted doing so and her parents ought to be more discerning in the first place. And he was saying aloud that he wondered why she did not read up about it in the first place. BASKET! Now perhaps that’s why she’s sitting down with you in the first place? To get some advice?
Secondly, don’t insinuate people that they are dumb. Thinks like “I am surprised that a university graduate also dunno about unit trusts” or “You mean your dad just bought this stock? The market is going down you know?” or *faints* eyes rolling kind of body language. The more I hear, the more I want to retort over. So what if you have taken some financial planning exam and passed? Or that you are pursuing CFA currently very big izzit? It’s precisely the bankers that caused this financial mess now. What lousy advice people were given to buy a “capital-protected” funds or nonsense?
It is precisely such financial ‘insultants’ who give the industry a bad name. I know of some planners who are really really good but others just rub dirt into the big name insurers. (oh yes, this guy is from a prominent company but let’s not put it here). As I understand, the industry is really reckless recruiting any Tom, Dick or Harry into the financial planning line. Sometimes I wonder about the quality of people they are bringing into their ‘business’, judging from the resume requests I get from JobsCentral.
Financial planners ought to have a sensitive heart and be willing to be patient with their clients. The reasons why people go to you because they don’t know. Don’t insult them because they lack knowledge. If everyone is so smart, you’ll be out of business.
At the end of the day, I just let this go and hoped that the girl would (1) find a better financial planner and (2) let nature take its course. My guts tell me that if that financial insultant continues to be like that, he won’t be successful in the long run. I figure the number of quality clients will be a testimony of that.
Praying for: all my friends who are in this line
Thinking of: how to be more discerning in financial planning
