Real-Life Decision Making
The job of a financial planner is to offer financial advice to people. They then set up plans to carry out that advice. But what happens when clients come in with very strong ideas of their own?
You're a financial planner who has just opened up your own business after having worked for an investment company for a number of years. Your client base has shrunk a bit because of the move, so you need to build it back up.
A gentleman comes in and wants to start putting away some money for retirement. He has some very strong views on which mutual funds he thinks his money should be invested in.
You agree that he should start putting money away, but disagree with his choice of funds. You feel that these funds are not going to do very well.
You try to persuade the man to invest in other mutual funds, but he just won't hear of it. You even try to persuade him to go 50-50, putting half the money in funds that you feel will give him a better rate of return and the other half in funds that he has chosen.
He absolutely refuses.
You're faced with a decision.
You could go along with the man's ideas, but what if the funds turn out to be a flop? He could end up blaming you. He might tell his friends that you gave him bad advice. In financial planning, a good reputation is very important.
On the other hand, you could really use another client. Your business is still new and needs all the help it could possibly get. What do you do?