Financial Security; The Six Essential Questions You Must Ask

Today I want to talk about that proverbial elephant in the room. You know, the one that everyone knows is there--but no one wants to talk about! (Shhhush…it’s your financial security!)

In this case, it's what’s really happening within our economy and our money. In essence, our financial security. No one ever talks about it. Sure, we'll talk about a lot of things--our stomach virus, our fight with our spouse or kids, our exasperation with just about anything or anyone.

But we won't talk about the down and dirty of the economy and what it is going to mean for our portfolio, our money and our financial security both for the short and long term.

We've been told its taboo. That it's not polite.

I can tell you I would rather be called taboo or impolite rather than not know what is really going on in today's economy, the world and my own money.

But, if you aren’t managing your own personal portfolio, do you really know what is going on in the economy today? I don’t mean what you hear on FoxNews, CNN and with Jim Cramer. I don’t even mean what you read about on Wall Street or Main Street.

I am talking about sources like John Williams and Shadow Stats, interviews that Eric King brings at King World News, John Embry of Sprott Assett Management and Mr. Doom and Gloom himself; Marc Faber. While these resources may not paint the rosy picture we would like to hear and have been spoon fed for so long, in my opinion they paint the truthful landscape of what we need to hear and are valuable resources to what we must know to prepare ourselves for our economic future.

Most people still believe in the old paradigm of fundamentals. They are believers in buy and hold forever and follow the New York investment community’s mantra. I, however, have long since left my financial advisor and the ponzi schemes of Wall Street.

I marvel at people who are setting themselves up for history to repeat itself once again. As the saying goes…fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Yet, these will be the same people who will go to 60 Minutes once again crying how “the system” has once again let them down.

If you are in the camp of feeling you still need a financial advisor or money manager to make your personal portfolio decisions for you I have a few simple yet essential questions that you should be asking yourself. These are the questions that I asked myself before I decided to start taking it upon myself to manage my own portfolio for the sake of my own financial security.

Ask these questions of yourself before it is too late and you start asking yourself if it is really Ground Hog’s Day in 2008/2009 all over again.

1. What is your current relationship with your financial advisor?

For example even though my financial advisor was the financial advisor of our family for over 3 decades, I had very little communication with him unless I physically picked up the phone and called him.

I heard from him one time a year only to renew our agreement.

I never received newsletters, he never conducted educational webinars or conference calls, and he never called to discuss changes within the market, the economy or suggest repositioning some of my holdings to better position my portfolio for optimum wealth building strategies.

I simply sent him monthly checks to put into my account, trusting that he would manage my account appropriately.

2. Does your financial advisor make suggestions for readjustments in your portfolio as the market makes changes for the better or the worse or do they just let your money ride…so to speak weathering whatever financial storm might be out there and hoping that averages prevail?

In a falling market there are some stocks and/or investments that do very, very well …do they let you know what those opportunities are and suggest for you to enter into those opportunities at the appropriate time?

Likewise there are stocks and other investments that do very well when the dollar is very weak as it is right now…does your financial advisor let you know of those specific opportunities?

3. What are your financial advisors feelings on precious metals? Physical Gold and Physical Silver? I am talking about the physician gold and silver, not paper and do you have any at this time?

4. Has your financial advisor ever offered information and education on various IPO opportunities and would that be of interest to you as an alternative wealth strategy?

5. Do you have access to private banking education and information?

6. Does your financial advisor offer monthly or bi-monthly live conference calls conducting education and giving information on what is really happening within our economy, the market and the effects of the current world wide trends?

On those calls is your financial advisor offering solutions on how to protect the wealth accumulation that you currently have as well as alternative solutions to continue to grow your wealth and financial security no matter what state the economy and market happen to be in at the current time?

Is your financial advisor talking about the trends that are happening right before our eyes both nationally and internationally and is he or she making decisions on your portfolio based on those trends?

Give these questions serious consideration as you move through 2011 and beyond. They just may end up being the best asked questions you have ever asked yourself as you move forward in considering what wealth strategies are going to best for you and your short and long term financial security .