Welcome to Just Build Wealth

Think differently. 
Consult differently. 
Execute differently.

You are one of 300,000 financial advisors and planners in the United States.  How do you set yourself apart? During that next interview with a prospect, what will they say about you after the meeting?  The public perceives that everyone is the same, that it’s simply price competition. How do you get that conversation after they meet with you to begin with, “well, he/she was different!”

Of the well over 100 financial professional credentials recognized by FINRA, the three most prominent are the CFA, the CFP, and the ChFP.  Look at their investment curriculum, all endorse global diversification of investments. They are all outdated, but professional inertia prevents these august authorities from making the appropriate changes.  When global market indices are tightly correlated, do you really need to take currency and political risk by investing outside the United States?  Only if it is an extremely unique set of circumstances and you have hedged away obvious risks.

Over three-quarters of financial advisors are compensated using assets under management, despite the fact that they deal with tax, legal, and insurance issues. Almost all institutional portfolio managers are paid salary and bonus.  Given the breadth of non-investment work financial advisors do, why aren’t they also paid on a fixed fee or salary basis?  Talk about being more objective! 

If you want to explore these subjects, bookmark this website.  We will post regular content that questions industry norms and helps you differentiate yourself.

My goal is to help individual investors and professional financial advisors use stories of both past successes and failures to improve their financial results.

Michael Ross