Do You Need a Financial Advisor?

As a financial planner I get asked all the time whether people really need a financial planner in real life.  Obviously, I get these questions in social settings a lot more often than at the office.  After all, if you actually know someone personally, you feel like you can get a more honest answer from them.  I used to launch into a long pros and cons talk.  Now, I have a one question test that I use to see if someone needs a financial advisor.

Now, this is actually a pretty complicated question, but this quick quiz can answer the question for a lot of people.  Consider this the rule out test.  You know, like when you go to the doctor and they run some sort of test.  They tell you this won't tell you if you do have Kafunamapa Syndrome, but if it comes back negative then we know you DON'T have it.

Want the one question quiz?

1) What are you doing right now to protect your retirement portfolio from the coming recession, and what did you do last year to protect if from the falling housing market and the sub-prime mortgage crisis?

Write it down.

Seriously.

 You are only cheating yourself if you don't. Writing it down will help you make a fair analysis.

Ok, got it?  See how your answer scored.