I was once in a conversation with someone who said he would rather listen to a rich man than listen to ‘all these financial advisers around’. I mean, why not? Why not go straight to the person who has a proven track record of making more money from very little than someone who talks or writes about money, since on the surface that’s what financial experts do?
Who should you go to for financial advice? The rich or Financial experts?
First, we need to consider what makes some people rich. And by the way who says financial experts cannot be rich? So, how do people get rich? Well, I could try to enumerate the number of reasons below:
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- 1.Value Creation
- 2.Inheritance
- 3.Investment
- 4.Sheer Luck
- 5. Possession of marketable skills.
Considering the first (Value Creation), I would like to say that people like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg fall into this category. So, if you go to them for advice on how to hit the next big thing off the internet, do you have the same level of digital skills to pull off what they did? If you don’t, how exactly can they help you? Is there anything they can say to you outside what everyone else can say? Like ‘Chase your dreams and believe in yourself ‘? I am not trying to downplay the value of networking with people like them, and neither am I saying it wouldn’t be a great pleasure meeting them for the effects can never be overemphasized. In the end, the main reason they hit it big was because they had the skill to pull off something that was needed in the world at the right time. In other words, they created value.
Considering the second (Inheritance), what financial advice can the Duke of Edinburgh or the Saudi Crown prince give you? Create your own birth or dig an oil well? I wish I could!
Considering the fourth (I will get back to the third), while trying to win a jackpot whatever the outcome maybe, the odds are against you from the onset.
Considering the fifth (Marketable Skill), I think people like Lionel Messi fall into this category. He gets paid for his football skills and that’s why he is rich. Any advice from Messi on how to be just like him should sound this way, keep playing until you become the greatest of all time.
As for the third (Investment), majority of the rich people around us are smart investors. Smart investors have good understanding of how to put the factors of production to work for their own benefits. If this is true, would it be wrong to call smart investors financial experts? Of course not! Warren Buffet and Aliko Dangote are typical examples.
Also, financial experts aren’t always rich smart investors. Governments hire them, financial institutions hire them, smart investors listen to them. If all these people do, who am I not to at least listen to them. You do not need to like their profession to know they are relevant.
Another reason why they are needed is because even rich people can go bankrupt. So, it’s not enough to be rich, staying there is even harder.
There are lists of former American sports men and women (whose names I wouldn’t like to mention) who made millions of dollars in their prime but later went bankrupt. Bad financial advice can crumble a man, a woman, a bank, a factory, and even a country. Turn that penny into a Pound.
So, on that question on this topic, everything depends on your state and level. Financial experts serve even the rich just as they serve anyone. The key is making sure you have the best around you. Of course, if you are lucky to have access to the rich, that alone can inspire and motivate you besides anything they can tell you.