Financial advisers are financial experts with different types of academic background and education who specialize in helping people and businesses with their finances. Today, we will be talking about financial advisers and how they can help business owners with running their company.
The main reason business owners hire financial advisers is that they are often not that knowledgeable about finances themselves, especially when it comes to more complex practices and more comprehensive handling of the money.
Do you need a financial adviser?
Deciding whether your business needs a financial adviser is something that only you can determine. For instance, you should consider what you need done. For many jobs that you might think require a financial adviser, an accountant will do. Accountants are easier to find and they are usually cheaper than financial advisers. You should also take long, hard look at your business and determine whether you really have the money there that needs to be handled by an expert. If your business is not making enough and your profits are not really that great, you might not need a financial adviser.
What kind of financial adviser you need?
Another very important thing to consider is that there are various types of financial advisers that work with businesses. For instance, there are the Enrolled Agents, financial advisers that specialize in the matter of taxes, helping you save money and avoid any penalties. There are also Financial Analysts who mainly do investments and who can diversify your company’s portfolio. Life Underwriters specialize in insurance and they can save you a lot of time with their expertise. If you need someone who will handle a wide variety of choices, perhaps the best way to go is with a Financial Planner, the Swiss knife of the financial world.
How can they help you?
Depending on the needs of your company and the type of the financial adviser that you hired, there are many different things that they can do for you. For example, they can look at your retirement and insurance plans and give you some advice on how to improve them. Or, they can find ways to make your money work for you by investing some of the company’s assets into different stocks and markets. There are financial advisers who are tax-wizzes and who will ensure that you are never paying a cent more than you should for taxes, perhaps even getting some refunds. And this is just scratching the surface.
Should you outsource?
In the vast majority of cases, small to medium businesses outsource their financial advisers. Even if they do have their own accounting department, they rarely have the need or the means to hire a 24/7 financial adviser. You will find yourself that it is a much better idea to outsource a financial adviser for a number of reasons. For one, this will be much more affordable. Also, there are really not that many SMBs that need a financial adviser in-house. There is just need for that.
What should you look for in a financial adviser?
There are quite a few thing to look for when choosing a financial adviser. Like we mentioned earlier, you need to find the right type of the financial adviser. Then, you should look at their education and whether they have all the certificates and licenses. This will depend on the country. For example, in the United States, they have to be CFP-certified and in Australia they have to have passed the RG146 training. Of course, you will also want someone who has been successful in the past and whose past clients recommend.
Our final piece of advice is not to hire just anyone. If you are having troubles finding the right people for your financial advising needs, you might want to hire Globality Consulting and they will find you the perfect person for the job. That is why they are there.
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