I'm going to show you the most unethical thing I commonly see financial advisors do. And I'm not talking about selling high few products. We already know to look out for that. I'm talking about delivering advice that sounds good when you first hear it, but ends up costing you more than you might imagine on the back end. It's advice that looks responsible on a spreadsheet, but it can quietly cost you years of freedom. So by the end of this video, you're going to understand how advisors can manipulate software to justify their fee. and finally when working with an advisor

might actually make sense compared to when it doesn't. So let's start with that question. I get that question a lot. When does it make sense to work with an advisor? Now, I'm an advisor. I don't actually think it makes sense for a lot of people to work with an advisor. And I'll get to that in a little bit. Here's where I do want to start. Oftentimes, if you're exploring work with an advisor, the question the top of your head is, how do you justify your fee? When does it make sense to work with you? Essentially asking is the price I'm going to pay for you going to be offset by the value I'm going to receive by you and your services? So the question that commonly comes up is, hey, can you show me the value I'm going to get that will justify me planning your fee? And here's what I say. I say, that is actually quite a dangerous question. Now, I get it, I understand it, and I'm going to answer what I think you're asking, but let me show you why this is actually a very dangerous question. I don't want to just tell you this. I want to actually show you what you might see

for an advisor to justify their fee.

So here's an overview of Jim and Sally's situation.

61 years old, a couple million dollars split

between different accounts,

and the typical advisor plan is gonna be pretty basic.

Jim, Sally, let me show you working until 65.

Let me show you spending $5,000 per month.

You can see that in the goals here. Not really going much further beyond that. They're saying, let me show you what you'd be on track for, and then let me show you how my fee might be justified. Then let me show you the value I might be able to create for you. So you can see here, here's the goals, retiring 5,000 per month. And when they look at this, a couple things are going to stick out.

Number one, Jim and Sally,, retire in 5,000 per month. And when they look at this,

a couple things are going to stick out. Number one, Jim and Sally, you're in a good spot. So far, so good. Why do you need an advisor? Well, let me show you why you might need an advisor. I'm going to this tax tab and I'm going to show you what a good tax strategy can actually do for you. So Jim and Sally talking to clients here, showing them why I'm going to justify their fee.

Here's your taxable income here in this green bar. You can see here's where it is when you're working. It's going to drop off when you retire. Then it's going to pick up again down the road. Let me show you, and they go through some projections. They toggle some of these here, talking about the equity allocation, where to hold it, talking about withdrawal sequence, talking about Roth conversions. And they'll say,

if we do all this, let me just refresh the screen here. Jim and Sally, look, if you work with me,

I can add $900,000, in fact, more than $900,000 just with one simple tax projection over the

course of your lifetime. So sure, you might be paying me $15,000, $20,000 just with one simple tax projection over the course of your lifetime.

So sure, you might be paying me $15,000, $20,000 per year, but that seems quite justified

if I can add almost a million dollars to the value of your plan.

Now, so far, the math isn't wrong.

There's nothing incorrect about these variables.

This is a good thing to do, but here's why I say this is unethical.

This is being shown as a thing that should pull you in or that should lower you in and say,

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