Financial Trend Blog

If you’re looking for a great doctor, tutor, ad agency or actor, you’ll find they’re always busy. You have to wait in line. The very best at what they do always attract a following. Word of mouth works exponentially when you do a superlative job or get more profitable results. It’s just a fact of life, some say. Actually, it’s basic economics: when demand is specifically stimulated in one area, it highlights the dearth of supply for similar quality. There are only so many great experts to go around. Why would it be any different with investment advisors? Like architects, accountants, or actors, they come in all shapes and sizes.

The problem of finding and keeping a good one seems to be magnified by how much money one has to invest. It just makes common sense that if an advisor is paid solely by commissions, the more money he or she manages, the more he will earn. What would you do? ‘Follow the money’ is the ancient adage. This is not to say that there aren’t investment advisors who won’t work with you because you don’t have millions to invest. Investment advisors come with different sets of motivation. There are IA’s who would rather work only with women, others who like to specialize with those under 40, those who focus only on professionals, or independent business owners; while others hone in on mature adults, those older than 55. Each of these respective target groups has its own dynamics and challenges.

There are IA’s to fit every single market segment’s needs. However the single driving force in the vast majority of cases is just how much one has to invest; or how much time it might take to service that client’s account. After all, the only two things any IA has to offer are her ‘time’ and ‘expertise’…or access to it. Time is the one constant. Every expert or investment advisor has only so much available ‘time’ to spend on his profession. That means only so much time can be dedicated to servicing and managing a client’s money.

Some are very efficient and make the best use of this scarce resource. Others are not so fortunate. Which one you get depends on how you shop around, how diligent you are in your choice; what questions you ask during your search. Research has shown that one of the ways IA’s greatly improve their efficiency and the accuracy of their work is to use as many digital, automated tools as they can. These tools help them speed up and improve the accuracy of their research and calculations of various equity opportunities, given the prevailing conditions in the market. This is where the advantages of the Internet come into play.

It’s no secret today that the majority of investors use the Internet to research, educate themselves and calculate potential returns on their market moves. One such investor decided to see if he could put together a multiplicity of information sources – in a much different format than usual – so that folks like him could work either by themselves or more closely with their own IA, in the management of their portfolio. He reasoned that this, done properly, would assist investors and investment advisors alike.Initially, he expected that this new ‘tool’ principally would be used by those who contributed to the management of their own portfolio. However, as he discussed his ideas with colleagues, investment advisors and other professionals, it became apparent that both investment advisors and stock analysts would want it too.

As part of his overall research, in late January of this year, he did market research and learned some things that readers may find very interesting. Because he is particularly interested in independence and objectivity – and has geared the web site to adhere to those tenets — he asked the question: “…How concerned are you that your Investment Advisor might not be totally objective – i.e. that he/she might be influenced by other incentives vis-à-vis the investment advice he/she gives you?”

A blog has just been launched where he discusses these research results, as well as the macroeconomic issues related to the web site. It’s worth a visit.

©Copyright, Allister Henry, 2007