Healthy, Wealthy & Wise

Healthy, Wealthy & Wise

Think about it: You would never work with a doctor who did not have the proven intellectual capability to make an accurate diagnosis. Similarly, you would probably not work with someone who lacked the emotional intelligence to understand the thoughts and feelings that could affect you during your treatment.

Why should managing your wealth be any different from managing your health? Actually, the process and emotional journey involved are remarkably similar.

Often, it starts with a simple thought: I need help. And a choice: Who do I turn to?

For some, the experience that follows can be emotional. A practitioner is found for a consultation. A full assessment is given. A diagnosis is provided, followed by a prescription and advice of things to do differently.

Regardless of the outcome, the process evokes a degree of soul-searching: Will my family be okay? Have I achieved everything that I want to? Have I made enough of a difference? Where do I go from here?

If done right, the practitioner is a trusted expert. The consultation is personal. The assessment is comprehensive; the diagnosis, intelligent; the advice, holistic; and the prescription, clear and effective. What’s more, questions you inevitably have are explored comfortably, confidently, and without judgment.

Just as each body has a different genetic code and is subject to independent pressures, influences, and decisions, so too an individual’s wealth has an entirely unique construct. Wealth is created in myriad ways and driven by personal hopes, fears, needs, beliefs, and aspirations. This complexity requires careful treatment.

And yet, typically, individuals do not invest the same amount of time in finding the best-suited wealth advice as they do when looking for someone who can address their medical concerns. With tens of thousands of wealth advisors across North America, the question “what are the defining characteristics of the premium client advisor?” is an increasingly important one for private investors to consider.

An advisor’s quality is his or her grasp of both the practical skills required and the external forces that can affect a client’s wealth. Investors want to work with someone who understands the intricacies of decision making and the pathways to sound outcomes. 

In other words, advisors must have technical expertise, or IQ, to understand the dynamics of different financial products and solutions and how they can be integrated into a strategic financial plan. But they must also have emotional intelligence—or EQ—empathy, and a solid grounding in behavioral finance. This awareness can steer through the human impulses that affect decision making and can derail progress towards objectives.

Source: The Value of Premium Wealth Management for Investors, The CFA Institute