Advice is a great thing when it comes to personal finance. Except for the fact that the world is full of people who think they know a lot but who really know less than nothing. This is often the worst problem a financial advisor has to cope with, as people struggle against genuinely bad advice on everything from when they should retire to what they can do right now to make sure they retire the way they want to. Most people don’t want to end up being Walmart greeters, pushing a broom or going door to door mowing lawns to make ends meet as their lives draw to a close—and this is where you come in.
The best advice is typically the easiest advice to follow. This means that you take away the demonization surrounding the payday loan, but at the same time you advise your clients to use it with care. While it can save them from a bad situation, it is not to be used for anything frivolous. As well, savings should be automated, portfolios should be looked at no more frequently than one time per quarter, and a home is not an ATM, regardless of how much equity one has in it.
Your clients need to understand that their futures can depend on the advice they get and follow today. Your most important responsibility is to make the best advice into the easiest advice to follow, so they will actually practice what you preach to them. You can talk and talk all day long, but be aware that they will only do what is easy for them.