Years back when I took my first job out of college as a banker I truly believed I was helping people with their finances.
The ugly truth came when I overheard from upper management that the overdraft "grace period" I was working so hard to sign people up for, was actually generating more overdraft fees than before. I literally thought I was helping people avoid fees but it was just a trick to confuse people and rack up more fees.
After working as a banker I moved on to working in the 401k department of one of the biggest financial institutions in the country.
This time I was going to be in a position to help people and give good advice. The company I worked for was well known and highly respected. I felt like I was in the right place, but it didn't take long for me to realize that my real job wasn't to give people good advice. It was to steer them into managed accounts with high fees that rarely if ever outperformed the low fee investments.
As time went by, I realized that the 401ks we were pushing ended up causing people to pay unnecessary taxes, too. I'll never forget one of my weekly meetings with my mentor where I asked him how to outline fees for a client. He said "What are you doing talking about fees? If someone asks about fees just change the subject or find some other way to avoid talking about it". By this time I realized that if I truly wanted to help people I would have to go into business for myself.
The next red pill moment came when I completed my training and certification for my life insurance license. I reviewed my existing life insurance plan I had setup with one of the big captive agencies you see on TV. It turned out that the plan was a total ripoff. I had not done my research. Instead, I just assumed the coverage was good because I trusted the person selling it and I knew the company from TV.
Evidentially, more dollars spent on advertising means less value for the client. I spent years paying on a plan when I could have had much better coverage for much less money – all because I didn’t do my research and I didn’t work with an independent agent who was trustworthy. I learned that even the honest people will still stick you with a bad deal because the big corporations are set up that way. They don’t put the client first.
