To empower our clients with investment knowledge so they are never fully dependent on any investment advisor’s advice.
This mission statement resulted from 2 events:
- In being in the industry we've notice that many people that call themselves "Investment advisors" are not actually qualified to give investment advice. Many of them are more like skilled salesmen that have mastered the presentation but have little insight into what are the "Risks" and "How does the investment actually work to produce a profit". Many salesmen almost always avoid talking about the big bad "Risk" word and when they do talk about it, they give the typical brush off saying, "There’s always risk in every investment". There are good financial advisors out there but they are few and far in between.
- Imperial Investments would always hear about bad investments that new clients have made as a result of not knowing what questions to ask, fear of insulting the advisor, lack of knowledge from the advisor and poor explanation of the investment…but the advisor was "Such a nice guy".
You might wonder, "How do we empower our clients?" We give you 2 very specific questions that separate "Salesmen" from "Investment Advisor" and we also show you how to "Manage" the Salesmen. Too many people have invested money with "Salesmen" based on the following:
- He seemed really honest and nice.
- Sounds like he knows what he's talking about but I still don't know how the investment really works or how I'm exposed to risk.
- This investment sounds really exciting and I don't want to miss out!
Here's how a conversation about investing might sound:
Advisor: "Do you have any questions about what you've just seen?"
Client: "Yes, I do. What do YOU think are the risks with this investment?" (Question #1)
Advisor: "There's risk in all investments" (Salesmen line, don’t fall for it. Push for a SPECIFIC answer!)
Client: "No really, what do YOU think are the SPECIFIC risks with this investment?" (Client needs to remain firm and press the Advisor to answer the question with a SPECIFIC answer and not get brushed aside.)
Advisor: "Well the most common risks are..."
(The answer should be very specific. In all investments, there are inherent risks such as renters for rental properties, non-approval for Land development, etc.)
Client: "So how does the company/you/the investment mitigate that risk for me?" (Question #2)
(This is the turning point that separates "Salesmen" from "Investment Advisor". Most salesmen can't answer this question because they don't know the answer. This doesn't mean that the person is dishonest but it does mean you need to talk to someone more senior or possibly totally avoid this company if they don't provide an answer sufficient to your satisfaction. If they do have an answer ask them how you might confirm their information 3rd party. In real estate almost everything can be verified 3rd party non-interest related.)
We coach you to ask all the right questions and also on how to manage the investment advisor so you just don't "Believe" them. What many people fail to realize is that you don’t have to be an expert to know what questions to ask but you need to know what questions to ask them so that they can prove that they're the expert.