My Cringey Moment with a Financial Advisor

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I highly, highly recommend meeting with a financial advisor. This is not breaking news. I've said this before on The Money Minute. We all need help, even the experts. Doctors have doctors. Shrinks have shrinks. Trainers have trainers. And I, the Rich Bitch herself, have a financial advisor! Her name is Rebecca and she’s awesome. I remember our first meeting vividly, because it was embarrassing and hilarious.

First, in our first meeting, I was sweating. A lot. Like, a lot lot. So much so that I bought maxi pads from the little machine in the firm’s bathroom to stuff under my armpits. Obviously, I was nervous about how this meeting would go. I thought a financial advisor would be judgmental, and more similar to these so-called financial experts who nix any money I’m spending in my “extras” category.

I imagined Rebecca would be some old, pantsuit wearing troll who hid out in a dark closet with a calculator and stacks of paperwork all day — but no! She was actually cool, smart and super trendy.

In your first meeting with a financial advisor, you’ll probably go through all of your bank accounts, bills, credit card statements and investments. That’s what Rebecca and I did on our first meeting and it was actually relatively painless. Then, she asked me about growing wealth. I told her that I was making a good salary and thought I was on track to get promoted and keep stepping up pay ranges.

She was the first person who told me that increasing salary won’t grow wealth. She told me that even if I saved more money, I would actually be losing money over time in regular savings and checking accounts because of inflation. [Cut to the present: how right she was!]

Rebecca was right in more ways than one: making more money at work is always great if you can swing it. But you should have your money make money for you, at least to cover that pace of inflation.

So in my meeting, Rebecca started talking to me about how I should be growing my wealth. She asked me if I knew about TIPs— which, now I know are Treasury Inflation Protected Securities; bonds that you can buy that protect you and your money against inflation. But at the time, I thought she was asking me to tip her and I tried to give her cash. Yikes. She then, of course, corrected me... and giggled along the way.

The best sport is laughing at my former self. I stopped hating on that girl long ago; she was doing the best she could. But, I’ll never forget what TIPS stand for (and Rebecca won’t let me live this one down, anyway).

So, tip your waitress. Don’t tip your financial advisor.

xo,

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