Financial Advisor for Engineers, Scientists and Dow Employees
FeeOnlyNetwork.com Interview
What makes you particularly qualified to serve engineers, scientists and Dow employees?
I have a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and worked as a process research engineer for 12 years at Dow. I am an engineer, a scientist, and I had a career at Dow. I’ve seen the conflicts scientific professionals can have with some financial advisors. Likeminded individuals can often communicate more effectively.
In general, engineers and scientists are a curious group who seek to understand how things work. They like seeing data, asking questions, and understanding why a decision is the right one. Most financial advisors seek clients who are delegators, who essentially hand over all control to the advisor. Clients who ask questions or challenge decisions reduce these advisors’ efficiency and interrupt workflows. In the industry, engineers are often considered pain in the butt clients.
At Scientific Financial we cater to the curious mindset. We’ve structured our programs to provide data and we strongly encourage questions. We even have free monthly group seminars and Q/A sessions. We want to teach and empower families. This is a fairly unique approach in the industry, but one ideally suited for curious investors. I also really enjoy the conversations and questions, although it certainly isn’t the most profitable way to run a company. It’s more important to do what we love.
A stranger at a party asked you what you do. How do you answer?
I’m an advice-only financial advisor. I purposefully add that advice-only part since it often produces a follow-up question. The response to the obvious question is that an advice-only financial advisor only provides financial advice. I don’t take control of your assets. I don’t have pressure to sell specific funds or receive any commissions. Basically, I just provide financial advice and I’m able to do that without conflicts of interest. Many people don’t know that financial advisors do this. Advice-only business models are still a small minority. However, I see that a lot of people prefer this model, especially in my niche of scientific professionals. They don’t want to give someone control of their hard-earned money. They just want financial advice and that’s what I provide. Personally, I feel that the AUM (assets under management) model is the main reason so many people avoid seeking financial advice. I’m hopeful that advice-only financial advisors change the landscape over time.
What steps do you take so that clients are assured that your fees are transparent?
I post prices on my website. That’s as transparent as transparent can be. This is the all-in price, no surprises.
How do you hope the industry will evolve, and how are you contributing towards that change?
In my opinion, one of the main reasons many people avoid seeking professional financial advice is that there’s a very high barrier to entry (activation energy for my scientists). Most business models require a client to commit to spending several thousand dollars before becoming a client. Only then will they fully understanding the benefits of financial planning. It’s a tough sell to pay that much money for something which isn’t yet clearly understood.
We’ve addressed this at Scientific Financial through a few approaches.
- SF Tidbits (emailed and on the website) are 100-150 word education articles designed to highlight financial blindspots and inefficiencies. If the concept is new to you, you can go down the internet rabbit hole to better understand the concept.
- Bimonthly seminars highlighting specific financial topics such as taxes, portfolio strategy, investing principles, employee benefits, early retirement strategies, etc.
- Bimonthly Q/A drop ins (aka office hours) to just ask what’s on your mind and hear what others are asking regarding their financial future.
- Full transparency on the website. In addition to full transparency on prices, we also include a report template so you can see all the topics a Financial Planning engagement will cover. It’s typically a lot more comprehensive that what people expect. Financial planning isn’t just portfolio management. It seeks to touch everything in your life with a $ attached to it.
