Jure Kozuh`s Blog

When most people go out looking for an Investment Advisor, they tend to focus on the Advisor’s background and credentials. While gathering this sort of information and reading over the Pitchbooks put out by an investment company are important, they shouldn’t be the first step in the process. Rather, you should begin with the most important part, which is figuring out your own needs and expectations?

What are your goals for your money?

While it’s good to have money, money is really just a means to an end. You’ll get better help from an Investment Advisor if you are able to explain what kind of life you want your investments to make possible for you. Someone who wants to retire early and travel the world will have different investing needs than someone who is more focused on paying for the college education of five children.

How tolerant of risk are you?

Investors who are willing to take bigger risks often make better returns in the long run. However, there will be times when they also take big losses. If you’re going to be sick with worry every time the value of a stock that you own drops, the stress of the experience may not be worth the extra returns that a more aggressive investment strategy gets for you. In some cases the stress may even cause Investors to lose money, because they can develop a tendency to panic and sell off their stocks when they’re at a low point even if there’s good reason to believe its value will rise again.

How soon do you need this money?

While most people do better in the long run if they are in the stock market, there are times this isn’t appropriate. The stock market naturally rises and falls over time. If you are going to need a large portion of your money to be made available within the next few years for a major purchase such as a house, it isn’t a good idea to have it in the stock market because that might mean you’ll be forced to sell at a point when the market is down. You need to be able to explain your timeline so that you can get the best advice  possible.

Only by understanding your own investing needs will you be able to find the right advisor to help you work toward them.