Caveat emptor—Latin for “Let the buyer beware.”

The phrase is sometimes used as a disclaimer for products and services you buy. But it can also apply to the professionals who provide products and services to you. Essentially, it is up to you to do your homework when selecting, say, a financial or legal professional.

And as an accomplished entrepreneur, you probably rely on various professionals (or will at some stage of your business life cycle). That’s because your talents and skills, considerable as they may be, are probably not in money management. Or tax minimization strategies. Or wealth transfer to heirs.

Nor should they be. Focusing on what you do well as an entrepreneur will likely allow you to achieve your highest level of success possible. Therefore, it’s probably in your best interests to turn to financial, legal and lifestyle professionals to help you address issues around your wealth and assets.

Here’s a system we’ve developed for identifying the right types of professionals for your needs and ensuring you work only with them.

Four types of professional advisors

When it comes to their intent and capabilities, all professional advisors can be grouped into four categories (see Exhibit 4). But only the advisors in one of these categories are in a position to help you become seriously wealthy—and keep that wealth.

1. Consummate professionals are experts in their respective fields who are recognized as leading authorities by their peers and other professionals as well as by their clients. They are extremely talented and highly adept experts in their fields. They’re also sincerely motivated to deliver the absolutely best and most appropriate solutions available to help you grow and protect your hard-earned wealth (as well as deal with other aspects of your life, depending on the professional).

• Pretenders want to do a very good job for their clients, but they lack the knowledge and capabilities to do so. Despite noble intentions, they are not able to provide you with the strategies and products you need to become seriously wealthy and achieve your financial and lifestyle goals. They rarely have expertise in (or access to) advanced proficiencies that can be so very important to you (such as top-of-the-line concierge medicine, personal security and family financial education). Pretenders do not know what they do not know. Regrettably, a great number of financial professionals are Pretenders.

• Predators are criminals—intent on separating you from your wealth. They are the con artists, swindlers and hustlers resolved to steal from you through cunning, guile and duplicity. Predators work outside the law and seek to manipulate the successful and wealthy, capitalizing on the greed, naiveté or goodwill of their victims.

• Exploiters regularly push the envelope with highly aggressive (albeit technically legal) financial solutions and strategies that are very likely to fail or be rejected by the IRS at some point. Unlike Pretenders, they are usually very knowledgeable and skilled. Unlike Predators, they do not engage in presently illegal actions. However, they also do not look out for your best interests. Instead, they focus on promoting services and products that are often inappropriate or structured in ways that may produce bad outcomes for you down the line.

Two ways to find the true professionals

Obviously, you want to work with consummate professionals who are recognized experts and who are sincerely committed to delivering the solutions that best meet your needs, preferences and goals.

So how do you find these exemplary professionals—especially when so many financial and legal advisors do not fit the bill?

You look for two characteristics.

Characteristic #1: They are thought leaders

Successful business owners—and most everyone else, for that matter—want to work with exceptional experts. Very, very often, the exceptional experts are thought leaders.

Definition: A thought leader is a professional who is seen as an authority in his or her field by peers, other professionals, and the people he or she serves. Moreover, thought leaders freely share their expertise—with the intent of providing real value and raising the bar for everyone.

Thought leaders are quite confident in their knowledge and skills, so they are willing to readily share cutting-edge information, insights, ideas and actionable strategies.

Thought leaders typically demonstrate three key qualities:

• They are highly informed. They make concerted efforts to know what is on the horizon in their fields and areas of expertise, and how those developments will impact their clients.
• They work to stay at the forefront. These consummate professionals are highly committed to continuing to provide high-value information and insights on an ongoing basis. Being a thought leader is all about habitually sharing ideas, concepts and solutions.
• They are well-known among other consummate professionals. As they say, “Birds of a feather flock together.” Because of the specialized nature of their expertise, thought leaders are highly recognized and appreciated by a meaningful but select group of people—especially other professionals who endeavor to do their best for their clients.

Probably the most effective way to determine if a professional is a thought leader is to see if he or she regularly introduces you to new ideas, concepts and potential solutions that may be beneficial to you. By sharing new perspectives that might prove advantageous—and doing so often—these professionals demonstrate their breadth and depth of expertise and that they are regularly thinking about ways to bring value to you and your situation.

Important: True thought leaders will also share information and insights that are useful to you but do not financially benefit them. For example, a thought leader might help you understand what concierge medicine is all about if a member of your family is having health issues—even if he or she doesn’t earn any money from sharing that information.

Characteristic #2: They know the top professionals you already work with

Our research into the Super Rich (net worth of $500 million or more), family offices and ultra-wealthy business owners reveals a telling trend: These extremely successful, wealthy individuals rely on their existing professional advisors. They may occasionally ask a friend, associate or peer for a referral to an advisor, of course. But overall, they much prefer to turn to professionals who have already proven themselves.

When it comes to choosing a financial or legal professional, there are a number of reasons successful individuals rely on the opinions of professionals they currently work with.

• The professionals are much more likely than you to know the thought leaders. For example, an exceptional wealth manager will probably know which private client lawyers and high-net-worth accountants are thought leaders in your geographic area.
• When a very particular type of expertise is required, they tend to know the most adept specialist for the job. If you are dealing with a complex situation, you are going to want the expert who knows the key issues and answers inside and out—not someone who might be learning as they bill you.
• They usually know the personalities and working arrangements of these other experts, so they can introduce you to someone you will feel comfortable with. To get optimal results, you not only have to work with a consummate professional who is a thought leader as well, but you also have to find the experience itself rewarding.
• The professionals will refer well, knowing they have “skin in the game.” If the referral a professional makes is a bad one or a poor fit, the trust and relationship between that professional and his or her client can be damaged. Therefore, professionals are highly motivated to make very certain that they refer only to experts who can do an exceptional job for their clients.

The next step

You can explore the topic further with your legal or financial professional to help you consider the right next step for you given your unique situation.

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This report was prepared by, and is reprinted with permission from, VFO Inner Circle.  AES Nation, LLC is the creator and publisher of VFO Inner Circle reports.

Disclosure: The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra IS or Kestra AS. The material is for informational purposes only. It represents an assessment of the market environment at a specific point in time and is not intended to be a forecast of future events, or a guarantee of future results. It is not guaranteed by Kestra IS or Kestra AS for accuracy, does not purport to be complete and is not intended to be used as a primary basis for investment decisions. It should also not be construed as advice meeting the particular investment needs of any investor. Neither the information presented nor any opinion expressed constitutes a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS.

Fusion Wealth Management is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS. https://www.kestrafinancial.com/disclosures

VFO Inner Circle Special Report
By Russ Alan Prince and John J. Bowen Jr.
© Copyright 2021 by AES Nation, LLC. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or retransmitted in any form or by any means, includ- ing, but not limited to, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or any information storage retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Unauthorized copying may subject violators to criminal penalties as well as liabilities for substantial monetary damages up to $100,000 per infringement, costs and attorneys’ fees.

This publication should not be utilized as a substitute for professional advice in specific situations. If legal, medical, accounting, financial, consulting, coaching or other professional advice is required, the services of the appropriate professional should be sought. Neither the authors nor the publisher may be held liable in any way for any interpretation or use of the information in this publication.

The authors will make recommendations for solutions for you to explore that are not our own. Any recommendation is always based on the authors’ research and experience.

The information contained herein is accurate to the best of the publisher’s and authors’ knowledge; however, the publisher and authors can accept no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such information or for loss or damage caused by any use thereof.

Unless otherwise noted, the source for all data cited regarding financial advisors in this report is CEG Worldwide, LLC. The source for all data cited regarding business owners and other professionals is AES Nation, LLC.

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