What makes a good Financial Advisor?

If you're my age, you've more likely come across an Insurance Agent or Financial Advisor from among the popular insurance companies in the Philippines.  Most of them claim to be able to advise you on investment portfolios that you may want to buy or avail for yourself.  They would often ask you first about your investment capacity or the amount that you are willing to invest whether monthly or one-time and then move into presenting you a proposal based on that alone.  

Based on my experience on investments, the best kind of advisors are those that are concerned with the end goal rather than what you'd like to give up from your disposable income.  Normally, when you ask people about how much they would like to invest, they would normally just let you know how much extra extra money they have or what they usually have left after a payroll cutoff.  If you let people do that, chances are you'd end up getting lose changes as investment funds.  There lies the disconnect usually because people normally expect more than they are willing to invest.  This is why the search for the best Financial Advisor is one of the best things that a budding investor should endeavor

Here are the checklist of things that you need to note about the FA that you’re thinking of trusting for your first financial investment.  

1.  A good listener - take notes of what you need and want to achieve.  He probes about your dreams and goals both short and long term.  He also listens to your apprehensions about investments and helps you thru the understanding process.

2.  Insightful – gives sound advise in several investment options and then tailor fits the best one/s for you.  He knows not only the product but also the industry and the economic situation in the Philippines.  It will be nice if he can update you on the current market situations so that you'll be able to note the backdrop for your investment decisions.

3.  Walks the talk – also has insurance and investment products that he sells.  It would be difficult for an agent to relate to his clients if he himself have not invested in the products he is selling.  He must be excited with the product and therefore he himself should be willing to invest in it.

4.  An experienced investor – owns varied investment assets like real estate, stocks, etc. so that he can give you different perspectives on investments and not just the product that he sells.  To have a full view of the investment market, he should base the advise that he gives from his own experience.  This gives him more credibility and trustworthiness.

5.  Empathetic – shows genuine concern and the eagerness to help you in your financial journey.  This is rare among FAs that I have dealt with.  Find an FA who not only wants to earn from you but also who is concerned about you.  He must be a financial advocate or someone who would like to see you succeed.  

6.  Non-judgmental - A good FA is one whom you can share your current liabilities with to help you assess your real financial situation.  Whether you still have a lot of debts to take care of, you should be comfortable enough with him to share that information to understand your investment conditions. 

More likely you have come across an FA with some of the above characteristics but it is more difficult to find one that has all 6. But I have one that I know who has all these.  Of course, this might be a bias assessment because that person is my husband but this is also how I know that he definitely has it all.  My husband is my greatest influencer in all of my financial decisions.  He has guided me in all my investment endeavors and so far we are on track in achieving our financial goals.  

He is now connected with AXA Life, a top insurance company which is considered one of the oldest financial institutions in the world.  He's a license insurance and investment broker and with me owns several (4 policies to be exact) VUL products.  We also got one of their best investment product - the Asset Master.  We have a condo for rent, 2 house and lot units (one primary and one for rent). One of our houses is located at Maia Alta in Antipolo.  This is currently being marketed by the Vista Treasures group. We also bought memorial lots from Golden Haven Antipolo aside from 2 memorial plans we bought 6 years ago from another company.  We also have invested in stocks and some investment funds from different companies.  Ryan and I have also been able to travel in countries in Asia like Japan, UAE (Dubai), Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam.  If not for the pandemic, we were really due to visit his brother in Germany this year and then visit my sister and his other brother who are both based in Canada.  

Based on this and his genuine concern for people, without a shadow of a doubt, if you consider my husband - Ryan Mananquil, as your Financial Partner/Advisor, you truly are in good hands.  

You may reach Ryan Mananquil thru his FB page: https://www.facebook.com/RightPeopleMarketing (InvestPH)  or his mobile number 09167981927