Can you share how your career path progressed from starting in financial advising to where you are now with NextGen Wealth?

When I started back in 2001, I had no idea what the heck I was doing. Once I passed my licensing exams, I was basically just thrown into the fire. It was awful and probably the worst way to go about training someone (and I’m not sure it’s gotten much better at a lot of the bigger firms)

It took me a long time to figure out what actual financial planning looked like. For many years, it’s was simply about managing investments (and that’s how it still is with a lot of firms). However, I wanted to have much more of an impact than just helping people with their investments. Let’s face it, investing money really isn’t that difficult. Find some diversified index funds or ETF’s and pay the lowest amount in fees possible. Anybody can buy the same investments (for the most part) as most financial advisors. There’s no secret sauce.

With that being the case, I wanted to bring more value than just managing investments. I wanted to truly help people with their entire financial picture and thus the reason I started NextGen Wealth. From helping people with their cash flow to helping them saving money on their insurance (auto, home, life, disability, etc.) to helping them choose the best credit cards, I try to cover everything and more when it comes to helping my clients. My goal is to offest what they pay me on annual basis by helping them save (or earn more) in other areas of their financial life. That’s what I feel true financial planning is all about.

What are the biggest misconceptions that media and personal finance bloggers have about financial planners and advisors?

To be honest, probably a lot of them are true but it is getting better. There are still plenty of commission salespeople and conflicts of interest out there. However, financial planners who truly look comprehensively (not just investment management) a client’s situation are becoming more apparent.

Plus, there are so many other ways to pay these financial planners and not just form a commission or AUM. A number of planners are now charging by a retainer, hourly or monthly subscription. Transparency is definitely getting better but we still have a ways to go especially when it comes to the bigger broker-deals and wirehouses.