Then, maybe 4 years later, it all imploded. My husband and I had some cash we wanted to keep liquid because we were doing a renovation. ... Our advisor recommended a move that was supposed to be pretty conservative. But a few days later something happened in the market and we lost thousands of dollars. So my husband called to talk about what had happened and the advisor said: “If you don’t want to listen to my advice, we’re done.” He fired us. READ MORE

In the beginning we’d meet in person, either in his office or mine. That was a big waste of time. We’d just shoot the breeze—anything but a practical discussion about how to better manage my money—never a conversation that was productive. It got annoying. READ MORE

We realized we just didn’t have the kind of money he was looking to invest and his only concern was if he could make a sale. I thought a financial advisor was about what’s good for the client, not what’s good for himself. Also, there was a big disconnect on goals. The conversation was always around retirement, but we never discussed that I might not want to focus on retirement. What if I like what I do and I’ll work until I die? For him, that was putting a square peg in a round hole. READ MORE

But another advisor came with him. As it turned out, the person I met first was really the understudy and that this other guy led the meeting. So there was an immediate disconnect. My wife and I didn’t like the new guy’s style. It felt like a sales pitch, not a consultation. At the time, he was more focused on selling the next meeting than giving us valuable information. Even when we went over their services, he got on the topic of life insurance. I told him I already had some, but he kept pushing. READ MORE

From the get-go, I thought that our meeting was really boring [laughs]. And in some ways, I thought, “well, maybe that’s just how it is.” But at the second meeting, I realized we were running over a lot of the same old ground and not trying anything new or pushing forward with ideas, and it was more like he was stuck in this time capsule of how he did things and there was no new way of approaching it. So, I started to look for other people willing to do that and found a group that I was very comfortable with. READ MORE

I never considered optimizing the value of the Starbucks rewards program until I sat with Rick. It’s a lesson in saving money—extracting the most value from a reward—and a reminder that it’s good to have someone so invested in value on my team. READ MORE 

He’s very inexperienced and that’s the problem. I found I knew more about the process of rolling over my 401(k) than he did. ... Initially, he took me through a verbal quiz to see whether I’m conservative or moderate in my investment preference. He determined I’m more of a moderate-risk person, so he got me into more moderate investments. It seems his method is to funnel my information to the firm and then offer me advice based on the firm’s playbook, as if he’s reading from a script. READ MORE

The other was a place I learned about at a dinner. They talked about their quality control standards and how they evaluated their fund managers. A number of people from my old employer also came away very impressed. I started working with this one advisor and I thought he gave me good advice. READ MORE

Really, it’s kind of frustrating to see what goes on with advisors. If you contact, say, an attorney, under the law the individual has to work in your interest. But these financial advisors, it seems like they often serve themselves at the expense of the client. READ MORE