How a GOOD Financial Adviser can help you Retire Earlier (it's not what you think)

Achieving success hinges on the proactive actions and steps you undertake to reach your goals. The process of building wealth necessitates cultivating positive habits, such as consistently allocating funds at regular intervals towards robust investment opportunities. Financial management, despite its critical importance, often becomes a topic avoided by many, eventually causing difficulties down the road. My sincere hope is that anyone who comes across this message is able to find success and fulfillment in life's endeavors!

Tricked me into watch a 25 minute long ad! Yet I stayed for the whole thing.

This is just about one of the most defining videos because James hits the exact point about saving for retiring and retiring and what one should be thinking about.

I appreciate that this video may seem at odds with my other videos because, for the last 3 years, I've been posting videos giving you information in a way that suggests you should all Do It Yourself. A champion of DIY, which I am. But that is also quite dangerous because the reality is that, even armed with the information my videos provide, many of my viewers would still be better off using a good financial planner. Therefore, it is also my responsibility to make sure they are aware of services that could benefit them - and to do a good job of it! Maybe you're not one of these people, and if that is the case, I hope this video at least helps you to understand what good financial planning outcomes look like. That it challenges you to assess whether you are fulfilling that role, and encourages you to rise to the occasion because good financial planning can be so powerful if done correctly!

After 25 years+ of mostly managing my own investments, I switched to an advisor this year and agree with everything you said. I add that some advisors have low cost platform fees Vs some of the retail platforms that offsets part of their fee and there are some advisor only funds. It would be good to have another video about how to find a good advisor (other than yourself), my own advisor is great but I used one briefly years ago that was less so and put me off for a decade.

Your best video yet, James, THANK YOU!!! And selfishly for me, something that's been on my mind for a while now. You've just confirmed/validated my thoughts, and desire towards wanting more time as we never know how much we have left, vs. saving and investing for the future that may never be. And yes, we are indeed our own financial planners, who ultimately make our decisions based on knowledge available to us. I'm currently an accountant who is tired of long hours, tedious and meaningless work killing my soul. Would love to semi retire and do other things in life, and financial planning is key to this.

Financial advisors/planners should quote an hourly fee for giving advice. Charging a percentage of someone’s “pot” is totally unfair and in many cases results in massive overcharging.

Congratulations on getting partner. I’m going Vangard life strategy 100% then some S&P etc, using pension and LISA then focus my efforts on my business. Talk to a financial planner 5 years before retirement, but carry on working 2-3 days a week because I love what I do.

James, been watching your videos for a couple of weeks now and oh my god, your value to the life of your viewers (or at least to mine) is ... invaluable! Thank you so much for your content. Thanks to you I have a much clearer idea of what I might need to retire, what I should save, when it's probably a good idea to start looking for a financial adviser/planner, etc. Really, thank you!

this is the best video you’ve put out and for me you are a cut above some very good finance channels out there

I must admit I fall into the over confidence category. I trained briefly as an actuary in the early 1990s and used that background to help me do my own financial planning. I started investing into index funds in 1998 and in 2019 i stopped work aged 51. I've always been 'anti advisor' for one reason only ... I've never understood why i can't just pay you £X per hour to do the work. Why does the amount of work you need to do exactly equal 1% of my portfolio?

I might be weird but (probably like many people who watch your channel) I enjoy spending time working on my finances, pensions, etc. It is the first thing I do in the morning, checking transactions and market data and filling in numerious spreadsheets. Please don't take this pleasure away from me. However, there is always something to learn and thats why I watch your videos. Today gem is the very small percentage of people who actually erode their pension capital during retirement. I will be working towards becoming a member of this exclusive club.

This video helped on re-enforcing the bigger financial planning picture rather than just AUM. I was once turned-off to seeing 20+ funds in accounts charging +1% expense ratios in addition to another 1% to the company. Oh, but we use modeling that's very complex and sophisticated, and BTW I need to run, having lunch with a fund manager. Lesson: a good financial person is one that will always asked about your total plan before advising or even touching your money. Get a good CFP first.

I will forever admit this channel with the help of your lesson's and ideas explanations, Now it's quite helpful while you'll just sit at your comfort and monitor your account growth

Money is not meant to control people, rather it is meant to be put to work producing more money for you. You cannot build wealth without putting money in its rightful place.

As a new recent retiree this was exactly the time I sought to find a financial advisor as I had a one off plan from my building society several years ago. Tnat was fine for my experience at that time, Since then I have watched many social media channels extolling the virtues of passive investing with a two or three funds. This is fine at the beginning of your investment journey but if you already have pensions and isa,s and savings then all the advice described here is invaluable if only to take away any doubt you have over your knowledge of finances and decision making confidence.

Terrific video James. Holistic approach and balanced arguments which you deliver superbly.

This video really resonates with me as my husband and I are thinking heavily about what we want from life and the kind of lives we want to lead going forwards as our two boys grow up. Owing to a generous inheritance we are in our early forties with our mortgage fully paid off and a £90k lump sum just sat in a savings account. Beyond that our jobs are quite unfulfilling and we're well aware of the infinite nature of life and that our 'healthy' tomorrows are not guaranteed. We've never bothered with any kind of financial planning before so this is the start of the journey for us, but want to thank you James as your videos have been very helpful and thought provoking so far.

Absolutely brilliant. My thoughts exactly. Thanks for all the vids James, much appreciated.

Thank you so much, James. This video is exceptional! Cheers from Nova Scotia Canada!