BA Q&A: Do I Need A Financial Advisor?

Brown Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com. Now, I'm not gonna lie because we keep it one hundred on this show. Your girl is on top of having a brand new baby and a crazy toddler. YO. Why do they not talk about the toddler stage everyone talks about, not the toddler stage, the three and four stage. No one talks about that. They only talk the newborn stage being exhausting. You know what, I would take twelve newborn sometimes over

my three and a half year tantrum. But on top of that, y'all, I am writing my very first book and it has been so rewarding and so challenging, and I feel incredibly privileged to get the opportunity to do that, but the level of focus that it requires when I get into that book cave and I get into my groove, I had to pull myself all the way out of that cave to come here and to answer these questions y'all. And I am grateful for y'all giving me a chance

to actually talk to people again besides babies. And I'm just saying, I'm going to do the best I can to answer these questions. But if I got to search for words or start over, just blame not mom brain, but like mom brain plus book brain. Okay, well, we're going to get it going for y'all. We have two juicy questions. I'm going to do one money question because I thought it was very interesting, and then a second

one about a career. Okay, so career question from someone who's feeling like, at forty nine years old, their career is a little bit more janky than they wanted at this point. And then we're gonna take I'm gonna take a money question from someone who's wondering if it's worth spending money on a financial planner because her husband, as husbies do, is not listening to her okay, so let's jump into it. Question number one comes from a listener who would like to remain anonymous. She says she or he.

I'm just gonna assume it is she, they say. I experienced burnout working in the school system, and I left at the end of twenty twenty two. Towards the end of my time there, I landed a remote, part time turned full time position working in a completely different field from my field of speech pathology. I really enjoyed the change and the job. It also offered me the quality of life that I wanted. But out of the blue, about eight months later, I was let go at the

end of twenty twenty three. Anyway, I fell back to my degree, but this time I work with adults in the geriatric population through a staffing and contract agency. Overall it's been fine, but now I just found out the facility will soon break ties with my staffing agency. So the rug has gotten pulled out from under me again. But at least this time I've got some advanced notice at forty nine years old. Though this is not how I want the rest of my life to look. I've

got responsibilities and bills. I'm okay with doing this current job, and they seem willing to hire me as staff and possibly negotiate some things. However, thinking about it, I don't want to stay here for the long term. Can you give me some advice on how to move forward at my age? All right, Anonymous, listen, forty nine, I want you to sort of like throw that number out of

the window a little bit, because I'll be blunt. I think that we use our age to put ourselves in a box sometimes, and to put ourselves in a box that feels like this is where I should be, this is what I should be doing at this age, and it really doesn't serve us. In fact, it makes us feel really crappy. Like the way that you're feeling right now is I'm forty nine. Shouldn't I have something steady

and stable by now? Shouldn't I not be having to deal with the ups and downs of a career that at forty nine should be all figured out by now? You took a chance and you tried something different a couple of years ago because you were feeling burnt out, Like you said, so, you you know switch from speech that the switch from speech path path. Why can't I say I told y'all, mom, and freaking book cave brain? What are words? How do you talk out loud? Let me try theick in. So you took a pivot. You

pivoted from speech that pathology, I said it. And you got into a different field, right, or did something a little bit different, And that's great. I'm glad that you did that. All right, Listen, you made a choice that was best for you. You got burnt out, so you shook

up your career. I think that's awesome. Here's the thing, Like when people sometimes make changes in their careers, which I think we should be allowed to do at any age, sometimes the road will not be super linear and you may have a setback and you may need to readjust to move forward. And that's sort of what's happening now. Like you changed, you want a different path, and now you're getting back into your you know, the space that you've been in, which is speech pathology. Lord that word,

let me not say that ever again. And now you're working for an agency and yeah, this agency is about to maybe potentially lose its contract with the facility that you're working at, and now you've got to figure out sort of what your next move is. But I would say that this is just a normal symptom of someone who's changing up their career a little bit. You know,

you left the school system. Now you're working for it sounds like a private contracting firm, so it may be that you're going to feel some growing pains with this opportunity. I want you to stop thinking about at this age you should have this figured out, and instead think of, Wow, I am sort of starting a sort of a new chapter in my career, and it's going to give me. I'm gonna have some groin pains. It's going to take a little while for me to get everything smoothed out

and figured out. And that's okay, Okay. Now, what you're learning about yourself is you really don't like like no one does. Really, you really don't like being or feeling like you're at the mercy of another company to sort

of get your access to jobs. Right. So you're working for a staffing agency, it's you know, you're relying on them to get relationships with other facilities so that you can be one of the workers that works for that facility, and then if they lose their contract, then you're, you know, out in the cold. I think what would be great is if you started to develop your own relationships with some facilities and then on your own, independently you could

have your own contract. You can get hired full time and sort of cut out that middleman of a contract

or staffing agency. Now, even this is not necessarily going to give you like the perfect smooth path, because of course, the pros of having like a freelancing or contract agency is that they're going to help you find your next client, right, and I'm assuming even if they lose their contract with this place that they would help you get placed somewhere else, right, So you're going to lose that little bit of I don't know, safety net by having a contract sort of

having a staffing agency work with you. On the other hand, if you were fighting for your own place at these facilities as a consultant or as an independent contractor, then maybe you could negotiate higher rates than whatever the staffing agent and see could negotiate for you, and maybe you could negotiate longer contract terms. Take things you know into your own hands a little bit. I just again, just to like reiterate, I just don't want you to think, Okay,

I'm forty nine and this is unacceptable. I think that we need to see different versions of how careers can be playing out at every age. Okay, and at whatever age you're at. Nothing can beat the power of networking when you need to get new information and learn a different approach. So what I want to say to you right now is now you're forty nine, and we love to put ourselves in the box of I'm too old

to make new friends. But if you're going to be pursuing this, you know, this career in a different way a speech pathologist independently, then I need you to whether it's join a professional association, you know, locally where speech pathologists can network, where you can talk to other people who have your own practice. You know, how are you finding how are you finding gigs? How are you finding work? You know? What does it take? Do you know any

better contracting or staffing agencies that you've worked with? You know, and be open to that, be open to kind of figuring things out in a new way. And you don't have to think about it as like I'm starting all over. You're just learning and everyone should be learning and growing,

you know, even at whatever age you're at. I don't want to say middle aged because there's so much you know, negative connotation with that, but anyway, at a mature age, right, So be open to learning, be open to getting new ideas, be open to networking, because I think that sitting down with other people who are doing the thing that you want to be doing is probably going to reinvigorate you and make you more excited to continue on this path because you're going to see like, Okay, these people are

doing it and they have bills and responsibility just like me, and they're making it work. And then you'll have sort of that support system baked in as well. So that's what I would have. That's what I would say. God, I hope that made sense. Thanks so much for someoning your question. I'm going to take a quick break and I'll be right back with our next question, which is a little juicy one about managing finances with a spouse. Don't don't don't. All right, y'all, we are back and

I am back with my next question. We dumpantly dig into the money bag real quick. The money questions. All right, This is from listener Melissa. Melissa says, I am a longtime listener and lover of the podcast. BA has really helped me get on track with my finances and career. My question is, my husband and I are bringing in way more than we were before. We want to purchase a home, invest more, and laid down a great financial future.

We reached out to a financial advisor who was fee only, and while we are making good money, I don't think it's enough to make a financial advisor work with it. While I am confident in my financial prowess, my husband often needs to hear things from someone who isn't me. What do you suggest as another place where we can

find help slash advice at a reasonable rate? A reasonable rate? Okay, Well, it sounds like you went to one financial advisor, a fee only financial advisor, and you got a quote and it was more than you know, than you expected to pay, than you want to pay. I would say, get a few more quotes. When I was shopping around for my

financial planner several years ago, I got it. I interviewed three or four different planners, and for me, it was yes, to compare the rates and the costs and all of that, but also to get to know the person and make sure that it was a good personality fit. Now, if you're looking for someone who can, you know, maybe not manage your investments for you, but help you and your

husband sort of like I did with my husband. Have a financial planner that you can call up on big occasions when you guys have like a big financial moment, like like you said, buying a home, laying down a financial future, which wouldn't you know, involve things like maybe

a state planning and wealth building for your future. Then you can have a financial planner just to come in at those key moments and sort of play yes, financial advisor, but then also sort of like marriage counselor Then I think it's worth the money if you look at it that way, like you're gonna be paying whatever you're gonna be paying for that, maybe a few hundred dollars or whatnot.

It may seem like a lot of money, but think about the time and the stress that you could be saving not having to argue with your spouse about the decision that you're gonna make and get them to see your point of view. Y'all know, Tiff and I have talked about, you know, being like the money person in the relationship. It does not mean that your partner, even though they love you, is gonna always take your advice. Now, y'all love to listen to our advice, and that is

a blessing, But family and friends not so much. I don't know what it is. Don't know what it is. So if you just think of it that way, you know, I'm going to be not just hiring a financial advisor to help us through this moment that I really know enough about that I could probably do it myself. But instead you're thinking about a financial planner an advisor as someone who can smooth out this process for you and get you guys pass the finish line together as a team.

Then think of it that way and maybe it will become worth it to you. And if you're listening and you're wondering, like, what is a fee only financial advisor and how can that differ from you know, someone who's you know, working off of commissions or things like that. When they're fee only, they you typically have a flat rate, whether it's hourly or they may sell a package. You know, we'll do all this financial planning, you know, we'll do your retirement plan, We'll I don't know, we'll do some

stuff budgeting, whatever. Here's our package and here's what you get out of it, but you know what you're going to pay, and you pay it upfront, whereas maybe a more like old school advisor may take a percentage of money that they're going to invest with you or a percentage of your assets they may charge you. So whether you're looking at someone who's fee only or more of a traditional advisor model, just make sure that you understand how are they going to get paid, and don't be

shy about asking that. And then when it comes to you feeling like this is a good use of my money, stop thinking of it, like I said, as a replacement for what you could be doing yourself, Because yeah, you say that you're confident in your financial knowledge and all of that, and I'm sure if it was just you by yourself, you have no problem buying a home or

investing now that you've earned more. But you need, or at least it sounds like you need, just like I did, someone who can sit down with you and make you and your partner go together as a team towards those goals. And one of the best benefits I would say of having a financial advisor for my partner, my husband, and I is that it really helped me. I mean not

be so critical of his values and his goals. You know, for him, owning a certain type of car or having a certain size garage for a house is really fundamentally important to his own happiness. And those are maybe not my same core values. But a financial planner can sort of show you that the plan that we're putting together will probably help you guys, get both of what you value.

And yeah, so playing that role as a mediary, intermediary, as a mediation person, as a you know, like a monkey in the middle, like helping you guys work through your challenges and speak better to each other and understand each other. I think that it's hard to put a price tag on that. Okay, So Melissa, my advice would be to rethink whether this investment in your relationship and your marriage and your future happiness as a partnership as

a team, and maybe it is worth it. And even if you still feel like, ah, still, this is pretty high, then go back find some other fee only planners and continue to get quotes until you feel like the services they're offering you are matching for you anyway, how you

value it and how much you want to pay. And I also will say as you're starting to earn more, and TIF and I have talked about this as well, like you don't always feel like you're really earning more, right, So I don't want you to be making more money but be stuck in this like I'm operating from a place of what I was earning before. All right, So it's like you're still playing small when you've got the money. Now,

you've got the resources. Now it's time to like ratchet it up a little bit and spend that money that you're earning. And don't think of it as money lost again. Think of it as money that you're investing into your own long term happiness and the long term happiness of your marriage, of this precious partnership. Right, Okay, I hope that was good, Melissa. Thank you so much for sending your question. Riba fam again. I'm Mandy aka Mandy Money.

Thank you so much for submitting your questions. We'll be back next week. Every Friday, we are here answering y'all's questions through the ba QA. If you want to submit your question, you can hit us up in our DMS at Brand Ambition Podcast. You can also email us Brand Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com. Until next Friday. Bye