How To Choose a Financial Advisor

Bette Hochberger:
Welcome to Finance Friday where we will learn how to choose a financial advisor. Today, I have Sarah Broglie, a CFP-certified financial planner. First, I’ll give you a little bio background on her. So, Sarah, from an early age, has a passion for learning as much as possible so she can best help others, which especially within a male-dominated industry, and put a pin on that because I think we have to talk about that too, being well educated is important to her. Sarah takes pride in applying her extensive knowledge to be a warm guiding light through clients, every thought or concern, giving them more confidence to spend their valued time doing what they love. Sarah’s been with Raymond James since 2015, starting on an independent, all-female team in her hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, before relocating to join the Boca Raton office in 2020. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Financial Services from the University of North Florida, tailored explicitly toward financial planning for individuals and small business owners. Those are my people. You’re just an extraordinary person. And you have two doggies.

Sarah Broglie:
Two doggies. The best part was the two doggies, one of them walking around behind me. So he’ll make a guest appearance, hopefully.

Bette Hochberger:
Awesome. Awesome. Okay, so we’re going to talk about how you choose a financial advisor, and there’s a lot out there. So how does somebody even start? Where did it start?

Sarah Broglie:
I think this interest came from when I moved from Jacksonville to South Florida to join the Raymond James office; it took about four months to find a perfect fit. I was being very picky as a young female in Finance. I was introduced to many offices that wanted to hire me as an assistant, a sales assistant, and that would be taking a step back because I’d already been an advisor for a couple of years. And so I said, “No.” So I looked for a long time, and each advisor I talked to did something different with their practice. They had different personalities; they targeted other markets. They ran their business in different ways. They specialized in different things. So I think that’s what sparked it for me because advisors never really have to choose another advisor, but in this moving process, I did, and there are so many people who have so many options.

Sarah Broglie:
You mentioned as a CPA, you know a ton of advisors, and how do you find the best fit for someone? And so, that’s kind of where it sparked my interest. There he is.

Bette Hochberger:
Aw.

Sarah Broglie:
So that’s where my interest came from. And I got to talking, I did a speech at the Chamber about this, and there are so many things that come into meeting an advisor. So one thing I always suggest is when you meet with an advisor, no matter how you connected with them, ask them to explain something that you don’t already know because in that process if you are talking to someone. They speak a ton of financial jargon or over your head; they’re putting their best foot forward in the sales process, so they will probably always talk over your head, and it’s kind of a precursor to your relationship.

Bette Hochberger:
That’s a good point. That’s a really good point. I wouldn’t have thought of that, but that’s a great idea.

Sarah Broglie:
Yeah. I ask them questions. That’s what they’re there for. I think some advisors who have been doing it for 30-plus years, at some point, lose touch with the simplicity of financial planning and what the purpose is. And so, if they can explain it in a way you understand, it’s a green light.

Sarah Broglie:
Another important thing I think is who you like to spend time with. Not that your advisor has to be your best friend, although I tend to love all of my clients, but if it’s someone you’d like to spend time with and can trust and be candid with, you’re going to enjoy the process a lot more as opposed to feeling-

Bette Hochberger:
Yeah, that’s huge, right? Because for a lot of people, it’s like a scary thing. “I don’t understand how this works, and now I don’t really like this person.” And if you associate the bad feeling with an already financial problem, “Oh, this doesn’t sound like it’s going to work.”

Sarah Broglie:
Yeah. Even the stuffy office. I know I’m wearing a blazer, but it’s not a stuffy process. We joke and have fun; it’s a very integrated process. And so if you like them, that’s good news.

Sarah Broglie:
Another thing that I was thinking of is logistics; are they local? Do you want to meet someone in person? Will you understand it better? Or are you a Zoom person? Because I think it’s hard enough to learn in person, let alone over Zoom.  The first thing I do is Google and review their reviews.

Bette Hochberger:
Yeah.

Sarah Broglie:
Some financial firms, mine specifically, do not allow reviews. So I can’t have a Google page with, “Sarah did this, or this or this.” So the alternative to that. Have you ever heard of BrokerCheck?

Bette Hochberger:
Yes, I have. I don’t know that most people have, but I have.

Sarah Broglie:
Yeah. So some have, some haven’t. BrokerCheck is essentially a website where you can look up the history of your advisor, when they got licensed, what state they’re licensed in, and then any client complaints that might have come up over time. So, you can see it’s kind of the dirty laundry of an advisor. And I think you can decipher for yourself the complaint and what that looks like for you. Some of it is maybe just not understanding something completely, which brings it back to, are you in the loop and in good communication with your person? Age; I think a lot of advisors historically have been older male. There are more women getting into… Yeah, we can talk about that now-

Bette Hochberger:
You want to talk about it now.

Sarah Broglie:
I do.

Bette Hochberger:
Young female in a male dominated industry. What’s that like?

Sarah Broglie:
Yeah. And I think some people prefer a man, I guess it depends on who you got information from growing up. Maybe if it was your dad teaching you, or your mom teaching you, do you prefer to work with a man or a woman. And then age too. So, some people prefer an older advisor for their experience. Some people prefer a younger advisor because they’re going to be with them forever, if you want. So really just taking it-

Bette Hochberger:
Hopefully.

Sarah Broglie:
Hopefully. Yeah. It’s a fluid thing, but yeah, just being able to judge. I feel like I’m in the sweet spot of my industry, where I have seven years of experience, and I was able to shadow my senior advisor and really get involved with that planning process. But I’m not so out of touch maybe, with doing it for 30 years and not really understanding what’s needed now, the technology available, the solutions available

Bette Hochberger:
And that’s a big deal, like, what can I do on my phone?

Sarah Broglie:
Yeah. Right. And the planning software. There’s a-

Bette Hochberger:
The software. Yeah.

Sarah Broglie:
Big deal. Being able to know the ins and outs.

Bette Hochberger:
And being able to relate to the last, I don’t know, since what, 2010 has been pretty good, economically speaking. Right? It’s been good. So there might be younger people now who are just for the first time like, “Recession, what?”

Sarah Broglie:
Yeah.

Bette Hochberger:
And kind of like, “Oh God, what’s happening. We’ve never seen this before.”

Sarah Broglie:
Right, right. Yeah. I had a-

Bette Hochberger:
Someone who’s seen it all. Or do you want someone who’s getting it with you at the moment?

Sarah Broglie:
Who could feel it, right? I had a lady turned me down because of my age, which is fine. It’s not a good fit. But her concern was that industry experience or the market experience. And I was like, I could read it on a textbook till I’m blue in the face and know exactly why that happened and what would prevent that from happening again, but yeah, if someone’s not comfortable with that, it’s not a good fit.

Bette Hochberger:
But I mean, I run into that same thing; older clients don’t love… We’re very technical here. Everything’s online. There’s no, come drop off documents. I mean, sometimes I let people do it, but you’re not sitting with me and handing me one page at a time while I take in. We don’t operate like that. It’s a very old fashioned CPA firm experience and we just don’t do it. So yeah, some people can’t wrap their heads around various sort of thing. So yeah,

Sarah Broglie:
Definitely.

Bette Hochberger:
It’s a preference. It’s a personal preference and people need to pick what they’re comfortable with. Goes back to what you were saying in the beginning.

Sarah Broglie:
Yeah. And I think shopping around is a good thing. I think if a prospect and I meet together, I always encourage go see what else is out there. Also from a service standpoint, I saw one of your Finance Fridays talked a little bit about Robo advisors, which is a great point. I mean, do you want a robo advisor, which is very low fees, if any fee at all, or do you need someone to hold your hand and guide you? It really depends. I think, if your situation is complex enough to need that individual with tangible solutions, sure, but a lot of people in my age range, I just say, “All right, call me if you have questions, but do this, this and this.” And they’re off, they’re on their way and that’s fine.

Sarah Broglie:
So yeah, it’s been really fun. I feel like, I think another thing for people to remember is that an advisor is a salesperson. So they’re very good at schmoozing to a degree, so I think you can reassess after a year of working with them or at any time you can make a change. You’re not loyal to a fault, or you don’t have to be. And if someone’s not a good fit for you anymore, go to someone who is because it’s going to be a totally different experience for the better.

Bette Hochberger:
And I tell people, clients, all the time, “This might be good now, and it might not be good in the future. We’re not married.”

Sarah Broglie:
But yeah, I was actually going to mention it’s like dating. So when you meet an advisor, go meet two or three, see who you really want to get engaged to. And yeah, you can leave at any time. It’s not contractual.

Bette Hochberger:
But also, things change in your life over time, right/ Who you need at one stage might not be who you need at on another stage, a big life changes; children, divorces marriages, death. There are a lot of things that can change over time and it can change what you need, it can change your relationship with your professionals, who you want, and what you want. So-

Sarah Broglie:
Yeah. I think you bring up a good point, too, an advisor sees so many people and all of their life changes. So those areas of transition, not that we have any type of therapy aspect to it, but to be able to-

Bette Hochberger:
We do.

Sarah Broglie:
Behavioral Finance is a thing. Why? So really bringing that human side back into Finance of, “Okay, so you’re not doing X, Y, and Z and you haven’t done it over the years. Why it’s that? How can we change that to get you on the right track and moving forward?” So just being very human because it’s not all numbers, spreadsheets, et cetera.

Bette Hochberger:
So yeah. Yeah. That’s like Dave Ramsey, I think, says, “Personal Finance, the math is easy. Yeah. Everything else gets in the way; your feelings, your spheres, your thoughts, your whatever conditioning.” Yeah. There’s a lot of stuff.

Sarah Broglie:
And I think one more thing about advisors. So I learned this moving down is there are so many different advisors who charge differently. So there are typically, I would say, mainly three ways an advisor gets paid, which I don’t think is talked about enough either. They can either be commission based business, which means transactionally, if they buy or sell something for you, they get a portion of that fee. Fee based, which is just a certain percentage of the account assets that they’re helping manage. And within fee based, I mentioned historically the older male, they’ve all been stock brokers. Stock brokers are so different than financial planners because a stock broker will recommend buying, selling, trading. But what about everything else? What about if I want to move? Should I sell? Should I rent? What about, can I retire this year or next year? What about how much does it cost if I unfortunately get Alzheimer’s or something like that? So, “What is that fee and what does it include?” I think is a good thing to ask your advisor.

Sarah Broglie:
And then absolutely advisors now can do a flat fee for planning. So you could do, similar to an attorney who would charge documents for a will or a trust, they can do a flat fee for a moment in time plan. “So let’s look at your picture today, where do you want to go? What do we have to do to get there?” So those are the three main ways advisors get paid.

Bette Hochberger:
Okay. That’s definitely, I think, something people don’t realize. You have these options to work with people in different ways.

Sarah Broglie:
Yeah. Right.

Bette Hochberger:
How about, have you seen any real bad red flags? Is there anything that somebody should other than like, “Oh, I don’t really like them,” but something to see and go run the other direction?

Sarah Broglie:
I guess, the first thing that I just thought of is, if you have an advisor who has built good relationships with other professionals: green flag. If you ask your advisor for an accountant recommendation and they give you one name, and you call that number and it’s disconnected. So you need an advisor who is well connected and who can recommend an accountant, that’s a great fit for them or a recommend them option so they can now shop an accountant. I think a red flag is an advisor with not a lot of relationships or someone who speaks over you.

Bette Hochberger:
Yeah. I think I love those, both of those amazing. But-

Sarah Broglie:
Red flag. Yes.

Bette Hochberger:
I can’t tell you, I think after almost every conversation I have with either a current client or a prospect, I’m like, “Have you spoken to X, a business attorney, real estate attorney, state point attorney, financial advisor, life insurance.” There’s always somebody that needs something and the great thing, you’re saying you have someone with an extensive network, we could work together. We’re not siloed. It’s not like, “Oh, well that’s the financial planners problem, and the tax person doesn’t get read in.”

Sarah Broglie:
Yeah. It’s together.

Bette Hochberger:
They’re related.

Sarah Broglie:
Yeah. They’re absolutely related. I think there was something else I just thought of too with that. Oh yeah. There are also advisors who have different approaches from a overall standpoint. So I just recently met a faith-based advisor. I truly didn’t know that existed. So, if you’re someone who wants to bring that into your finances, there’s that. There are advisors who focus on women empowerment, which I love. So it’s not just the, “Oh, I work with small businesses, retirees, and women.” It can get more specific, and if your values align with theirs, it’s a really fun relationship.

Bette Hochberger:
That’s cool. Yeah. I mean, that makes sense on the faith base because if you are like tithing, right?

Sarah Broglie:
Yeah.

Bette Hochberger:
It might not necessarily make financial sense, but if you’re like, “This is important to me, and I want to do it,” that person’s not going to be like, “Oh, don’t do that. That’s silly. Why give 10% of your money away?” Right.

Sarah Broglie:
Right, right, right. Yeah.

Bette Hochberger:
It’s not a value judgment in that regard. So that’s cool, actually; I kind of like that.

Sarah Broglie:
Yeah. I had no idea that that was a thing. So I think one more thing, which would be a red flag is an advisor who explicitly tells you to do something. I think an advisor should advise, and give the information and maybe give a suggestion if need be. But an advisor, for example, I had clients come to me and say, “I wanted to sell this at a certain point. My advisor said no.” And at the end of the day, was it a good decision or not to sell? I don’t know. But you can advise all you want, but if you’re then making decisions on the client’s behalf, it’s a control issue, I guess.

Bette Hochberger:
Yeah. Yeah. I don’t like that. But it goes back to how do they make you feel? Are you comfortable when you talk to them and if they’re dictating to you, what you’re doing? Yeah, it’s a little-

Sarah Broglie:
I agree.

Bette Hochberger:
Yeah. We’re not married.

Sarah Broglie:
We’re not married. Yep. Don’t tell me what to do. We are not married. That should be-

Bette Hochberger:
Not my mom. You’re not my dad.

Sarah Broglie:
Yep, exactly.

Bette Hochberger:
That’s awesome. Sarah, and I know you’re a big golf enthusiast, you want to talk about your organization a little?

Sarah Broglie:
Yeah. I am now. I just got into golf earlier this year when I moved to South Florida in 2020, as you mentioned everyone golfs and I felt very left out.

Bette Hochberger:
Everyone golfs. They really do.

Sarah Broglie:
Everyone golfs. Yeah. It’s a South Florida thing, I guess. And I wanted to be a part of that. So I have a friend in Jacksonville who started a group, it’s a group lesson for women of any skill level. And she asked if I wanted to do one down here. And I said, “Hell yeah,” because I was already feeling like I wasn’t involved on the golf standpoint. So, that’s what we did. In April, we started group lessons, and it’s just an hour lesson for women of any skill level. We’ve had 22 women at our last few lessons-

Bette Hochberger:
Including no level?

Sarah Broglie:
No level, never held a club, we’ll help you. And I think-

Bette Hochberger:
Mini golf is the extent of my golfing experience.

Sarah Broglie:
Actually, so Drew taught me this mini golf, like putting is one third of a golf game. You have your long driving. Your, I don’t know, chipping, I guess, would be the medium length of distance and then putting. So you’re already one third of the way there. So putting is-

Bette Hochberger:
I’m good. I’ve at least played mini golf.

Sarah Broglie:
That’s good. Yeah. So you held a club, you’re good.

Bette Hochberger:
Okay. We call that holding a club, great.

Sarah Broglie:
Holding a club. Putt putt is it. Yeah. So, that’s the group. It’s been really fun. I think half the women just come for the food, and drink and good time afterwards. So yeah, we do an hour lesson and then do happy hour. We meet at-

Bette Hochberger:
Oh okay. I could get behind that part.

Sarah Broglie:
Yep. Yep. Yep. So that’s the group it’s called LEGS. Ladies Executive Golf Society.

Bette Hochberger:
Nice. Where do you guys practice and meet and all that?

Sarah Broglie:
Yeah, we do Deer Creek Golf Course, which is in Deerfield. Okay. And then we meet on the first and third Wednesday every month. The lessons from 5:00 to 6:00 PM. And then no one’s going to tell you to go home, but we stay until about, I don’t know, 7:30 or so with drinks.

Bette Hochberger:
Cool.

Sarah Broglie:
Yeah.

Bette Hochberger:
Awesome. All right. You might be twisting my arm. I might have to try it.

Sarah Broglie:
That would be fun. Yeah. Yeah. It’s just a really cool group of women too. And I feel like, because-

Bette Hochberger:
Totally embarrass myself. Wait, do we get to wear the outfits? Do you get to wear outfit?

Sarah Broglie:
Yep. I recommend Amazon to everybody, but yeah. And I feel like that’s the fun of it because no one knows what they’re doing. I just started in April when we started these lessons, so I’ll try to ask all the silly questions up front. Like, “What can I wear? What time do I show up?” So some people borrow like friends clubs, and then they’ll go to the parking lot and walk the clubs in. Apparently, that’s what the loopy loop is for; you can drop off your clubs. So we’re learning a time, I am too. It’s really fun. Yeah.

Bette Hochberger:
It’s just funny because I literally live a block away from a golf course.

Sarah Broglie:
Oh my God.

Bette Hochberger:
It’s apparently a nice golf course. The Emerald Hills golf course is supposed to be a nice one, from what I have been told.

Sarah Broglie:
Yeah.

Bette Hochberger:
I honestly wouldn’t know one way or another. Never even.

Sarah Broglie:
I’ve only been to Deer Creek, so I don’t know anything either.

Bette Hochberger:
I don’t know. This is what people tell me it’s nice. I just know if I tell my kids that I’m taking up golf, their very first question is going to be, “Are we buying a golf cart?” They have a little obsession with golf carts.

Sarah Broglie:
Oh do they? That’s funny. You got to get them a little scooter, like a little Vespa scooter, those are good.

Bette Hochberger:
They want a golf cart very badly, for whatever reason.

Sarah Broglie:
That is interesting. Are they of-

Bette Hochberger:
Go ahead.

Sarah Broglie:
I was going to say, “Are they driving?” No, not yet.

Bette Hochberger:
One of them. One them just got his license.

Sarah Broglie:
Okay.

Bette Hochberger:
In Florida, you don’t have to be that old to drive, apparently 14.

Sarah Broglie:
Well, I was going to say, I feel like that want goes away once you start driving cars because it’s like-

Bette Hochberger:
Okay, it’s the 14 year old who’s really obsessed, so I think it’s her because we were in New Jersey for a couple weeks, this summer and at some point they made driving golf carts street legal, like all over-

Sarah Broglie:
Oh really?

Bette Hochberger:
Town. Yeah. So everywhere, they’re like, “Look at that one. Look at that one. That one’s pretty.” And we’re like, “All right, how much does a golf cart cost?” I don’t know. So they’re finding ones that are like $15,000 golf carts to that.

Sarah Broglie:
My grandma lives in The Villages, that retirement community outside of Ocala and oh my gosh, they do golf cart parades for the ones that look like old cars or the ones that look like boats, they go all out with their golf carts. So yeah, I can only imagine.

Bette Hochberger:
That’s really funny, I can’t even imagine. All right, so normally at the end of these, I ask my guest if they have any interesting hobbies, but I think we just talked about the interesting hobby. If anything else, besides golf or unusual talents, anything weird?

Sarah Broglie:
I guess the only weird thing is I have a ton of brothers and sisters. I always use that as a crutch. I have four brothers and two sisters. I’m the second oldest.

Bette Hochberger:
Wow, really big family.

Sarah Broglie:
Yeah. So that’s my interesting fact, but no, we love to take the dogs to the dog park and out on the sand bar to the beach. That’s pretty much it, just being outdoors.

Bette Hochberger:
Yeah. Have you, probably, but have you been to that really nice mini golf in Del Ray?

Sarah Broglie:
No. No. Where is it? I have to go. I haven’t been.

Bette Hochberger:
Okay. So I haven’t been in years. Pre-pandemic was the last time I went, and I would totally go meet you there. It was like a botanical garden with too many golf courses and you can call them and they’ll bring you drinks. It’s right to drinks.

Sarah Broglie:
No. Yeah, we’ll definitely have to go.

Bette Hochberger:
If it still exists. I might be talking about something doesn’t exist anymore, but-

Sarah Broglie:
I mean, I don’t know why they would get rid of something like that. I mean, seems like a COVID safe activity, so hopefully didn’t shut down over the last two years, but yeah, I’ll have to look at that. I’ll write that down.

Bette Hochberger:
Really cool. I don’t even remember what it’s called, where it is.

Sarah Broglie:
There’s only so many in Del Ray; I’m sure I can find it.

Bette Hochberger:
Yeah, it’s probably the only one.

Sarah Broglie:
Yeah. I was going to say. Oh, that’s funny.

Bette Hochberger:
We would take the whole family because my kids, they don’t care, they’re just like, “Woo, mini golf.” And my husband are like, “Oh it’s really pretty landscaping, and all that. Drinks, even better.”

Sarah Broglie:
Oh my gosh, yeah. The best of both worlds. We were talking about how playgrounds should have breweries attached to them. I don’t know why they don’t. That would be a good idea.

Bette Hochberger:
Probably not. Really think about it. It might not be the best idea.

Sarah Broglie:
You’re right. But-

Bette Hochberger:
Like, “What kids? I don’t have any kids here.”

Sarah Broglie:
In theory, yes, a nice hangout spot. Yeah, put the car seats in an Uber or something.

Bette Hochberger:
All right, Sarah. Thank you so much for coming on. I think you gave everybody some fantastic advice and I think I have to go learn how to golf now, with you.

Sarah Broglie:
I would love that.

Bette Hochberger:
You made it sound fun.

Sarah Broglie:
That’s the goal; fun, goofy, silly.

Bette Hochberger:
Goofy, I could do. I could definitely do goofy.

Sarah Broglie:
That’s funny. Well, thanks for having me, Bette. This was awesome.

Bette Hochberger:
Thank you for sticking around. I hope you learned something new. Please leave a comment, like and subscribe to my channel if you want to continue improving your tax and financial literacy. Bye.