You’ve worked hard your entire life and saved responsibly for retirement, but how do you ensure that your nest egg will continue to meet your needs? Who should you ask to help you manage your money in retirement? Financial expert Pam Krueger is going to answer these questions and more. Enjoy the show!

Retirement is an important milestone in life that brings many changes in the way we live, the way we think, and the way we spend. We may have had success preparing for retirement but still be unsure how to navigate through the transition.

Starting Off on the Right Foot

Pam Krueger is a financial expert, PBS co-host, author, and founder of an amazing online tool called WealthRamp which connects consumers to financial fiduciary advisors. She knows that retirement isn’t the end goal, it’s only the beginning.

Multi-millionaires may be able to afford to make a few big mistakes with their savings but most of us need to be extremely cautious in the financial decisions we make. Pam says that there’s no better time than the beginning of retirement to find someone reliable that we can trust to collaborate and give us advice on financial issues.

Weeding Through Financial Advisors

There is so much negative talk about financial advisors. It’s hard to know who is a good, competent, well-educated, seasoned, honest advisor and who is really more of a salesperson interested in getting you to buy their products.

According to Pam, the best way to weed through the mass of self-described financial advisors is to divide them into two groups.

The first group would include those salespeople who are really brokers and insurance agents working under the title of a financial advisor. These individuals work for firms that do not accept fiduciary responsibility for the advice they give.

Their goal is to sell you products that will give them the biggest commission and kick-back. Your success is not their end goal. Unfortunately, this group makes up 80-90% of all financial advisors.

In the second group we find fiduciary financial advisors. These independent advisors aren’t trying to sell you anything so they’re usually not as conspicuous as those advisors that invest in advertising. Pam says they “hide in plain sight”.

Advising vs Selling

Fiduciary financial advisors are independent advisors and they are held to a higher legal standard. This standard is called the Fiduciary Standard and it requires advisors to accept full fiduciary responsibility, putting their clients best interest before their own.

These advisors don’t try to sell you products because they do not earn a commission. Instead, they have a set fee (usually around 1% of the money you will have them manage) that they are required to disclose from the very beginning. They are obligated to put their fiduciary oath and every fee in writing from the beginning of your agreement with them.

Understanding the Role of a Fiduciary Advisor

When you cross that starting line into retirement, your attention is focused on one thing: cash flow. You need an advisor who will sit down with you, look at your current situation, look at your spending habits, consider your goals, and then help you form a reasonable plan.

The goals of a fiduciary advisors are aligned with the goals of their clients. Simply put, their success is tied to your success. They work directly for you.

Finding a Fiduciary Advisor

If these amazing fiduciary advisors often hide in plain sight, how do we find them? This is where Pam’s financial expertise shines. After hearing countless retirees ask this same question and finding herself unable to give a suitable answer, she decided to do something about it.

WealthRamp is currently the only online tool that helps match clients with the best fiduciary advisor to meet their needs. Using an algorithm similar to those used in dating websites, this platform considers the needs and desires of each client and scientifically pairs them with a list of vetted fiduciary advisors that are best suited to meet their needs.

Knowing Your Options

Of course, not all retirees want or need the help of a financial. Many choose to continue managing their own money and do so very successfully.

Some retirees want to have a reliable advisor that they can consult with from time to time. They need a sounding board or someone to look into new information for them, but they want to remain the one in control at all times.

Still others are more than happy to place the weight of responsibility in the lap of an advisor so that they can simply enjoy the fruits of their labor and not worry about the decisions that need to be made along the way.

All of this information is collected and considered using WealthRamp’s matching system so that each client is paired with advisors that will serve their unique set of needs and wishes.

Were you already aware of the differences between both kinds of financial advisors? Are you currently using a financial advisor? What unique circumstances do you face that might make it beneficial for you to find a “perfect match” using WealthRamp? Join in the discussion below.