The stock market surge is in good shape.
Share prices have spent nearly four weeks on the run — though you’d barely know it if you paid attention to the mainstream press.
Isn’t it funny how these jokers love to trumpet how many billion dollars of value one ‘down’ session destroys…but when the market goes up, they’re strangely silent on the billions in wealth it creates?
There’s a simple reason for that. Bad news sells newspapers. But it doesn’t necessarily teach you anything useful — or help you prepare to make an investment.
During the early legs of this recent rally — while most financial commentators were advising their readers to sell everything — we pointed out how you could trade this market and avoid being burned.
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Today we’d like to expand on those pointers. With any luck, this could help save you time, money and heartache.
A few weeks ago, we asked if your investments suffered from ‘old mate syndrome’.
This syndrome is not uncommon. But it can seriously hinder your wealth creation.
This condition stops you from selling a dog of a stock, purely because the broker, adviser or planner who put you into the stock is your ‘old mate’.
You feel bad about going against their advice…despite the fact that it’s your money at stake, not theirs.
Old mate syndrome can have devastating effects.
Does it sound familiar? Some stockbrokers have forged entire careers on the back of this syndrome.
Some of them have been former colleagues of ours…
Where’s the love?
We recently caught up with an old client from our days in the stockbroking industry.
To protect the innocent, let’s call him ‘Steve’.
We swapped a few ‘war stories’ with Steve and discussed the outlook for stocks and the market.
Steve is bullish on the outlook for small-cap stocks…but he feels like he’s facing the markets on his lonesome.
That’s because although Steve has a share trading account with a ‘full-service’ stockbroking firm, he never gets much love from them.
Steve can’t figure out why they don’t serve him. There’s enough value in his portfolio to warrant a phone call.
This firm markets its expertise in providing market-beating investment ideas…but Steve’s broker only rings him once in a blue moon.
You can probably understand Steve’s frustration. We’ve seen it time and again.
We told Steve the same thing we’d tell you if you came to us with a similar story…
A competitive market
The stock market is a great leveller.
Over time, it irons out bad managers, bad ideas and bad advisers.
In Australia, the market for stock advice has become hugely more competitive over the past few years. There’s no room in the industry for brokers who make no effort to understand their clients’ needs.
In years gone by, many brokers cruised along with minimal effort. In the years before the internet became all-pervasive, more Aussies were financially naïve.
But those days are long gone. Now the Aussie stock market is ‘over-broked’. That means there are too many advisers out there.
And when it comes to financial advice, people are increasingly aware of how the ‘sausage’ is made. As a Money Morning reader, you’re probably more clued into this than most.
That’s why if you found yourself nodding in sympathy to Steve’s story earlier…we’d give you the same advice we gave him.
Here’s what to do
If your broker is too lazy to understand your needs, sack him.
Life’s too short to suffer from bad advice. And a lack of advice is the next-worst thing.
Your wealth is too valuable to entrust it to someone who doesn’t appreciate your business.
Don’t worry about hurting your lazy adviser’s feelings. If anything, he should apologise to you for taking your custom for granted.
It doesn’t matter how small your portfolio is — hundreds of Aussie stockbrokers would love to advise you on how to invest it.
Of course, finding an adviser who understands you is only part of the task. The next challenge is knowing how you can spot bad advice.
We don’t have space to discuss that theme in detail today.
But suffice to say — whether your bag is small-caps, resource stocks, property or cutting-edge tech — good advice is out there. You deserve to receive it.
Cheers,
Tim Dohrmann+
Editor, Money Morning
PS: If you’ve broken up with a lazy financial adviser and have never looked back…we’d love to hear about it. You can tell us your story at [email protected]
The post Why You Should Sack Your Lazy Stock Broker appeared first on Stock Market News, Finance and Investments | Money Morning Australia.
