Key takeaways
- A catch-22 is a situation that keeps you from attaining your goals due to a set of inherently illogical rules or conditions.
- Younger, success-minded people need professional advice as they accumulate wealth over time.
- The majority of the professional advice available for success-minded individuals—at the beginning of their wealth building years—is either far too expensive or consists of a completely digital (non-human) system that offers no personalized advice.
- There are a few advisors out there who understand the need and are willing to stand in the gap to help.
- Look for advisors that offer a small subscription-based fee and basic personal advice, as well as a very small fee for any money management needs.
Back in 1970, there was a movie called Catch-22, adapted from a book of the same name published in the early ‘60s. Believe it or not, Art Garfunkel played a pilot in this movie. His character tries desperately to get out of the war (the movie is set in World War II) because he’s in a terrible catch-22 situation.
As you might expect from a movie set in wartime, the pilots are required to fly very dangerous missions. The catch-22 arises when the number of missions they have to fly before going home keeps increasing. No matter what they do, they keep getting assigned additional missions, flying into imminent death every day. There’s no way out. Those in charge continually raise the bar by adding new flying missions.
The professional advisor catch-22
From a financial advisor perspective, I sometimes think there’s a catch-22 situation when we look at the current movement toward helping young people with their finances. Basically, it’s as if the entire industry has forever said to young success-minded individuals that unless they already have an abundance of money, the advisors aren’t interested in working with them.
In response to this obvious issue, robo-advisors began to pop up everywhere. They advertise very low prices for financial services and generic financial advice, making them accessible to those still learning about handling their money and growing wealth. The problem with robo-advisors is evident in the name—the relationship with the “advisor” is entirely digital with no advice or help based on the client’s individual needs and goals.
Ultimately, when we are successful in growing our wealth, we need an outside individual to help evaluate our thinking because the whole process becomes more complex. There are many different mindsets around how to deal with money, so you need this advice early on—before you have the money. You develop your mindset over time and it’s essential that you have access to an objective professional to bounce ideas off of and who can identify problem thinking as you go along. Which brings us to the catch-22: No one wants to talk to you until you have money, but you can’t actually get the money until you learn how to go about it. It’s a tough situation.
Get the advice you need before you have the money
For a while now, there has been a counter-movement comprised of advisors who actually charge an affordable monthly subscription fee for personalized financial advice and, possibly, a small amount for investment management. It’s become more affordable for advisors to offer this model and that makes these incredibly valuable services accessible to success minded people without money.
It’s my opinion that these subscription services, provided by good and solid professionals, can help you get clear about your thinking and move toward successfully growing your wealth over time. This allows you to benefit, in advance, from individualized financial advice just like those who already have wealth. You’ll no longer be trapped in a catch-22 and can have success around money at a much younger age. Until next time, enjoy.
Gary