Today, host Lorie Jones, owner of Fearless Financial Advisors and a veteran of the finance industry, shares her insider wisdom on what truly matters when choosing a financial advisor.
Drawing from 15 years of experience, Lorie recounts real stories, common client pitfalls, and the red flags to avoid, while highlighting the values at the heart of her own practice: genuine connection, clear communication, and a commitment to empowering clients with knowledge.
Whether you’re celebrating a life milestone, navigating uncertainty, or just looking for no-nonsense advice, tune in as Lorie breaks down her top six must-haves in a trusted financial relationship—so you can confidently take control of your financial future.
Show Highlights:
- Why avoid financial advisors with a crowd of clients? [01:21]
- The Fearless Financial Advisors difference in pure client focus. [03:07]
- What a REIT really is and why it’s not for the average investor. [04:35]
- The value of tailored, appropriate, honest financial planning. [06:53]
- Sidestep phone trees and call Fearless Financial BFFs who will answer. [07:21]
- Ensuring your advisor is a CFP, with a cautionary word on advisory world catfishing. [08:48]
- Our mission to secure you in life’s major financial transitions. [12:43]
- Great advisors use clear understandable language, not financial jargon. [14:47]
- Discover an exceptional advisory relationship with Fearless Financial Advisors. [18:00]
If you enjoyed this episode, please go to Apple Podcasts and leave a review!
For more information about Lorie Jones, go to https://fearlessfinancialadvisors.com/fearless-females.
00:03.02
Lorie Jones
So many of you know that I've been um in finance for about 15 years now, and I have seen some things. um As an insider in this industry,
00:17.47
Lorie Jones
I've seen some of the best and worst from financial advisors. And wanted to share the top six things that I've seen that I would absolutely want to look for in a financial advisor or a relationship, a trusted advisory relationship.
00:38.72
Lorie Jones
So the first thing is I'm going to date myself here, but so many years ago um when cell phones were even those flip phones, and my kids don't even remember that. they they Some of them have never seen any any sort of flip device and they think it's like the dark ages.
00:59.70
Lorie Jones
But when you had those flip phones and and cell phones were just coming out, there was a Sprint commercial. I think was Sprint. The guy walked around and he had the phone to his ear and he said, can you hear me now?
01:12.07
Lorie Jones
Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? and it And he would like walk 10 feet and say that again. and it always just makes me laugh because he was checking the coverage of the carrier that he was advertising for.
01:27.82
Lorie Jones
But as a financial advisor, it kind of makes me think that When you call ah your financial advisor and you've got a question or you've heard some new thing or you've had a terrible situation, a job loss or maybe something really exciting, you're getting married.
01:47.66
Lorie Jones
And so you reach out and and you call your financial advisor and then you wait and you wait and you wait some more. And maybe a week goes by and maybe a month goes by and then they get back to you and you forgot why you called in the first place and you feel like you're shouting into the void. Can you hear me now?
02:09.78
Lorie Jones
can Can you hear me now? Is anyone there? Can you hear me now? um Sometimes it feels like they don't even remember your name or know who you are. um and and that's actually not...
02:24.71
Lorie Jones
um unheard of, you know, because a lot of times financial advisors will try to take on books that are two or 300 clients big. A lot of them at the big firms like a Fidelity or a Schwab or something like that, they work with um sometimes 300 client relationships.
02:45.91
Lorie Jones
And so you do have to reach out to them every single time. And sometimes you don't hear back from them. At Fearless Financial Advisors, you are not just a number. You don't ever have to feel like you're shouting into the void. Can you hear me now?
03:02.34
Lorie Jones
We work with men and women who are building, rebuilding, fully owning their financial future. And, um you guys don't have time for this runaround for this waiting for weeks or longer to get back or forgetting that you even had a question.
03:20.46
Lorie Jones
um when you work with us, you're a VIP. We know your name. We know your story. We probably know your dog's name. There's a good chance that I've asked what's your favorite snack or your favorite color is ah I want to develop that trusted relationship with you. That's important to me.
03:40.77
Lorie Jones
Um, and it should be important to you.
03:49.36
Lorie Jones
So the second thing that I've seen over the years, as I've talked with clients investing people and things they don't need.
04:01.90
Lorie Jones
Um, So some investors will kind of throw around complex investment strategies or these alternative investments, or sometimes it feels like they're designed for like billionaires where you've got like ah ah family office and a private jet and and you're just going to, you know, jet off into the sunset and and you're deciding whether to buy a yacht or an airplane next year.
04:27.64
Lorie Jones
um And that's how some advisors will treat you. I had one client who came to me and he had about 90% of what he had saved for retirement in REIT.
04:46.48
Lorie Jones
um And a REIT, if you'd understood, it's called a real estate investment trust, but it's a long-term investment, um which illiquid, meaning that you can't really get the money back out again.
04:59.06
Lorie Jones
and You have to leave it in there for several years and it's it's riskier. um And he like typically when you're selling these REITs, and I'm not saying there's not a place for them in the investment world. I'm just saying that when you're selling them, you typically think, well, this is probably about, you know, a five to 10% bite off of their total investment portfolio.
05:24.79
Lorie Jones
They can afford, you know, if they need cash, they've got somewhere else they can go. this is not the investment you want to put all of your grandpa's retirement into. And that is what had happened.
05:38.61
Lorie Jones
um He had nothing that he could pull money out of to to meet his everyday retirement needs. All he had was this this investment that was not ready. It was not appropriate for him.
05:54.33
Lorie Jones
and And I think that that happens more often than you might imagine. Where that's not to say that these different investments, I'm not going to tell you they're bad.
06:05.48
Lorie Jones
They're not. They're appropriate in some cases. But I think it's really important that you ask the question, is this investment appropriate for me? Or is it appropriate for Daddy Warbucks over there who's got his own airplane?
06:20.38
Lorie Jones
And and I just, I think that if you don't understand what your financial advisor is trying to sell you and you don't know why you should be buying that, and I'll tell you another little thing. You should probably ask how much they're making on it because a lot of these investments, ah the financial advisor makes quite a bit more um if they sell you this investment. And so they have a
06:56.70
Lorie Jones
a reason to try and sell you these things. At Fearless Financial Advisors, we give you smart, tailored strategies for the person who is just trying to pay for college, maybe buy a great vacation home one day, and just retire well, not manage your offshore holdings.
07:18.53
Lorie Jones
So think clarity over complexity, real goals, real plans, zero overwhelm.
07:31.99
Lorie Jones
Number three has absolutely nothing to do with quality credentials or anything like that. It's just, I hate phone trees.
07:42.56
Lorie Jones
I hate getting stuck in phone trees. You know the drill, plus three to talk to somebody who won't call you back. um At other firms, a lot of times you're just an account number or a sea of spreadsheets.
07:56.42
Lorie Jones
I know that a lot of those big firms You have to, I know because I call them on the back end and I have to dial three and dial one and talk to nine. And then they've gotten this really awful thing where they don't even let you talk to a real person.
08:13.36
Lorie Jones
They're like, go to our website. They don't even give you a telephone number to call. I hate it. So at Fearless Financial Advisors, we lead with kindness, connection, and real conversations. We believe in picking up our phone and answering it.
08:29.48
Lorie Jones
If you get a voicemail, um go ahead and leave one We will get back with you. We check all of our messages. You'll either talk to me or Bailey um and and we get back to you. We treat you like a friend first. We know who you are We want to hear about you.
08:48.60
Lorie Jones
We want to be that call that you make. So we pick up our phone. We're a financial advisor with BFF Energy.
09:13.30
Lorie Jones
Number four is something that I see quite a lot. Would you, when you sit down with a financial advisor, you kind of expect that that financial advisor is going to be the one that handles your stuff.
09:29.19
Lorie Jones
you know, that if you sit down with Lori, that when you have your reviews, or when you talk to someone, and they give you advice, that that's going to be Lori that's doing it.
09:42.28
Lorie Jones
And a lot of times, you'll, you'll get brought in by a CFP certified financial planner, or someone with experience and credentials, but you'll actually get passed off to somebody else to take care of your account. Somebody who doesn't have a whole lot of training, knowledge, or understanding of the industry. And this drives me crazy. i actually
10:15.11
Lorie Jones
i I spend a lot of time, as you probably know, anyone that knows me knows that I spend a lot of time training and helping younger advisors to become financial planners.
10:27.24
Lorie Jones
I spend um hours in meetings with them to let them watch how I do it and and get the experience that they need. And then I flat out encourage getting your CFP credentials, um asking questions, going to conferences, understanding what's happening.
10:51.29
Lorie Jones
And I'm not going to say don't i don't um pass off clients to a younger advisor, because I firmly believe that's the only way that they get that experience and that growth.
11:08.14
Lorie Jones
But i will never pass off to somebody else without one first getting the client's agreement that that's that they're okay going with that other person. um And, and two,
11:23.56
Lorie Jones
making sure that that other person has all of the same knowledge and credentials that I do. They are, they are trained to be an extension of me.
11:36.68
Lorie Jones
And when you hear are them, you're going to get the same or better ideas than i would give you. But I don't, I don't like, um, passing you off to someone someone and And just having you find out later that, hey, oh, I'm I i thought I was signing up with Lori, but actually I'm I'm only meeting with um Sally or Joe.
12:04.94
Lorie Jones
And i don't know what their credentials are. i don't know that they know my story. i don't know that they understand where i'm trying what I'm trying to do with my financial plan. um So i just, I don't love that. I would say that if you're not going to choose me, i always tell potential clients, if you don't choose me, please look for somebody with a certified financial planner designation.
12:33.89
Lorie Jones
um because they they have credentials and CE continuing education that they have to get. i feel like they've got a base set of knowledge and understanding.
12:46.79
Lorie Jones
um I will tell you that I have at one point um talked to a financial advisor who didn't understand the difference between a Roth conversion and a Roth contribution.
13:00.45
Lorie Jones
And I was appalled. It was quite frankly upset that they were taking care of clients. So this is something that I feel really strongly about that.
13:14.34
Lorie Jones
I think that if you're trusting someone with your life savings, it should be somebody that you know, that knows you, and that has the and understanding and experience to help you out with that.
13:34.70
Lorie Jones
Number five is something that happens so often. You get ah transition. You get a major life event, a divorce.
13:45.27
Lorie Jones
some Sometimes you lose somebody unexpectedly. An illness, what happens if it's a great event? You get a new baby or an inheritance, i am which is both good and bad.
13:58.62
Lorie Jones
Or you get um you just have some major thing happening in your life And you want someone when that event happens, you want to talk to somebody who knows you.
14:15.07
Lorie Jones
who can talk to you and say hey yeah we planned for this or hey you know there's this is where we can can adjust to this new life transition um i have been the second call i i always say you can call your family first um But i always want to be the second call that you make when something big happens in your life, because I want to know about it.
14:43.83
Lorie Jones
Because i I want to hear the good and the bad. and And I want to be the one that talks to you when you lose a job unexpectedly, or you're just worried about what the economy is doing. And you just want to chat to someone who who listens to the news and the talking heads and all of that sort of thing.
15:10.36
Lorie Jones
Um, or you want to share that you got a new grandbaby and Hey, how do you set up a 529? Um, or what if you, um, lost a loved one, a spouse, um, and, and your whole retirement picture has changed.
15:31.23
Lorie Jones
Um, I want to be the person that you talk to. at Fearless Financial Advisors, we guide you through life's biggest and sometimes messiest moments. So whether you're celebrating or grieving or just totally overwhelmed, I want to be the call that you make.
15:50.57
Lorie Jones
We can walk you through all of life's sticky bits.
15:59.51
Lorie Jones
Number six is my favorite. Have you ever sat through a meeting nodding like this or smiling and being like, I'm going to Google this all later so I understand what they're telling me?
16:14.00
Lorie Jones
And um i think we've all been there at some point or another. i know that when I started in this industry so many years ago, I didn't know what they were talking about. um There was a lot of new information, a lot of things to learn. And I hadn't been taught finance growing up.
16:36.14
Lorie Jones
My dad knew it.
16:39.61
Lorie Jones
He understood about investing talks or stock investing. and
16:46.26
Lorie Jones
My dad knew he understood about investing in stocks, but he didn't teach me how to do that. And so i was a little lost when I first started out.
16:57.45
Lorie Jones
and And I find that a lot of clients are too. Even if, and I don't want to make this sound bad because the fact is, is that I have been doing classes and taking certifications and doing um tests and everything like that for probably 10 years now.
17:19.71
Lorie Jones
And there's still stuff that is um complex and complicated. You know, when you talk about CD swaps or something like that, you get into these really complex sort of investment structures that ah you feel like you need an MBA for.
17:40.03
Lorie Jones
and And I think that it's important
17:53.26
Lorie Jones
At Fearless Financial Advisors, we break all of these things down into human language. We explain these really complex concepts in really simple ways to understand because the thing is, is we're not trying to talk over your head.
18:09.94
Lorie Jones
We don't want you to misunderstand and just trust that things will be okay. I want you to understand what's going on in your financial life.
18:22.87
Lorie Jones
I want you to have at least a knowledge of I'm recommending what I'm recommending for you. um My kids say that I can explain anything, including compound interest using snacks, and they are not wrong.
18:41.83
Lorie Jones
I will try and break it down into the easiest, simplest way to understand a concept. so I've also found that a lot of times that people feel more comfortable asking me questions because I don't try and talk over their heads and make it more complicated.
19:02.00
Lorie Jones
And I will freely admit, if I don't understand something, I will tell you. And I will say, i don't understand that, but I will figure out the answer for you. um I've spent, like I said, 10 years and now taking tests.
19:16.71
Lorie Jones
So there's very little that I don't at least have a passing knowledge with. But if I run into that thing, I absolutely will get an expert in that field to give you advice there because I don't, I don't want to
19:34.81
Lorie Jones
make it more complicated or harder for you to understand. i want to make it easy. I want to make you, I want to put you in control of your financial future. You're going to leave smarter, not more confused.
19:51.60
Lorie Jones
So six of the things that I think are some of the most important when talking and deciding who to work with as a financial advisor. One, Fearless Financial is there to answer your questions so you don't feel like you're shouting into the void, trying to get someone to listen to you, trying to get someone to call you back.
20:13.02
Lorie Jones
We are there to help you out with that. Two, Fearless Financial doesn't try and sell you products that aren't appropriate for you. We don't sell you things you don't need. We don't try and get you into into yacht math when it's the day-to-day that you're worried about.
20:31.81
Lorie Jones
paying for a college education, saving money for that retirement home. to Fearless Financial doesn't try and sell you products that aren't appropriate for you.
20:47.06
Lorie Jones
We don't try and sell you things you don't need. We're not selling a product. We're listening to what you want and helping you realize that goal.
21:04.64
Lorie Jones
Two, Fearless Financial does not try and sell you products that aren't appropriate for you. We are not trying to sell you something that you don't need. We listen to your story and we're going to help you reach your goals.
21:19.77
Lorie Jones
Three, we hate the phone tree. This is just, we don't like it. Leave us a message. We'll call you back. There is only one department at Fearless Financial Advisors and that is your department.
21:35.86
Lorie Jones
We know you. We want to help you. We'll call you back.
21:41.78
Lorie Jones
Four, we're certified and credentialed. We don't pass your financial well-being to a junior advisor has no idea what they're doing, no experience, or no clue.
21:55.14
Lorie Jones
Five, we want to be there when the plot twists in your life happen. We want to know about it. We want to be your second call. to either sympathize or celebrate with you when life catches you by surprise.
22:09.85
Lorie Jones
And six, fearless financial wants to help you understand and answer any questions that you have. We know you don't want to do it alone.
22:21.36
Lorie Jones
We're here to help. We're here to help you along the path, but we don't want
22:30.99
Lorie Jones
Six, Fearless Financial wants to help you understand and answer your questions. We know you don't want to do it alone, and that's why we're here to help you along the path.
22:41.82
Lorie Jones
But we want to help you take control of your financial future, and that means understanding it. So give us a call at Fearless Financial if this sounds like something you'd be interested in learning just a little bit more about.
22:57.30
Lorie Jones
We're like your financial BFF.