According to USA Today, there is a startling phenomenon among the financial planning community: their clients simply don't heed the advice they are paying to receive. A financial planner's role is to learn about the goals of their clients, consider all factors such as income and debts, and then formulate a plan to help the client reach those goals within a particular time frame. Although the advice is in their best interest, the client is unfortunately not obligated to actually do what they say.
Investment Advisor clients can focus on anecdotes like "my father always swore by muni bonds." This feels truer to people than statistical evidence. People also confirm their own beliefs when they do research on investments. So, if they are interested in those municipal bonds, then information about them will be noticed more readily because they are, in a sense, already looking for it.
Rick Good spent ten years in the newspaper business, including with The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) and The Greenville News (Greenville, SC). He co-wrote, with Melinda Coleman, Rutledge to Riley: Governors of South Carolina, 1776–Present (Published by The Greenville News), and is the author of Mind Games Trivia #1 (Amazon). He has recently spent 15 years creating original trivia content through Sounds Good Mobile Entertainment and continues that with his new company, SGME Software. He edits The Smart Reader’s money, real estate, and business coverage.
