[Boomer]

I recently listened to a podcast with Christine Benz, Director of Personal Finance with Morningstar, interviewing Pam Krueger, Founder and CEO of Wealthramp. I had never heard of Wealthramp before. (The podcast from Morningstar is titled "The Long View" and this episode (#307) was dated February 11, 2025.)

Anyway, Wealthramp matches fee-only, fiduciary financial advisors with consumers, according to what is needed. Advisors have been researched by Wealthramp.

Looking for an advisor can be overwhelming. There are more than 500,000 advisors out there and they come in all stripes. I have heard it said that financial advising is not a profession; it's an industry.

Supposedly, your name is not given to the advisor. The advisor's name is given to you, and the advisor pays Wealthramp, although they are said to have been carefully vetted. Sounds legit, considering the interview was with Christine Benz.

The website asks for name and email, zip code, and range of investable assets. I have not done anything with this, but I am thinking about it, sort of. It's a jungle out there when it comes to finding an advisor, so I just keep on keepin' on, but I do think about it more often. It's just that I tend to categorize advisors the same way I categorize real estate agents. A Dime A Dozen. Too many with first loyalty to themselves and/or to their broker or brokerage. Some are excellent, but if you get the wrong one, it can end up costing you a helluva lot more than a dime.

So? Anybody know anything about Wealthramp?

Boomer

[manaboutown]

Well, I plugged in the requested info which was just a tad more than I had encountered with other financial advisor referral outfits. Out popped three fellows spread all over the country as I initially opted for Zoom is OK. Then I changed my preference to one nearby. None were THAT nearby. lol. None of the six were women although I had indicated no gender preference one way or the other.

The profiles showed their "professional" credentials, CFP, CPA and the like, but nothing about their educational attainments, past performance and other data one would certainly want to review before allowing a "financial advisor" to get his/her grubby hands on one's financial assets. Thus, one would need to investigate further, much further, before hiring any of one or more of them.

I just received a nice email note from Pam referring me to another advisor.

[CoachKandSportsguy]

I went through the Q&A, and I gave them my throwaway email address and associated pseudonym. They don't need that information, and the questions are very generic. I would try it, answer honestly, and take an interview or two, just to get an idea of their approaches and risk analysis questions, responses.

Although the questions can be anonymous, once you use a phone, that is no longer anonymous unless you use a burner phone (FBI series stan here)

The most interesting question is what type of financial advisor do you prefer, flat fee or percentage of assets. . . they have both. . Being a fiduciary, in general, they could't care less about your amount of money you have. . . especially if you select flat fee to start. Remember, the amount of money you have means everything to you, but guaranteed, they have worked with people with lots more money than you have.

Just remember that risk is an intangible concept, and it's hard to measure, and hard to predict. And many times, the simple questions are just a starting point, and the verbal interactions, questions, answers about the concepts will help them understand you, and help you pick someone, or not.

I would use one if anyone has large $ and large % in equities, and above 70, where incomes, spouse longevity, and health/inheritance are planning and tax issues for best outcomes.

Planning for dementia and alzheimers are conditions which are now very common and great planning is needed, as its a slow process and can sneak up on a spouse without obvious signs.

good luck. .

[manaboutown]

I dug into her background and read more info on her primary referrals. They may be OK for someone else but not for me so I am going to pass. Sigh!

As an example sample.

"WCP’s focus is on providing comprehensive financial planning and asset management services to
clients in accordance with each individual client’s needs. WCP does not offer financial planning as a
standalone service."

So much for a supposedly fee only financial planner which I had indicated is what I wanted in my info.

[Caymus]

I have tried a few advisor matching services over the last few years without success. In the end they all wanted to turn me into an "income source" which I can sort of understand. Most has AUM fees or required annual fees. Some were basically reading off of scripts and did not seem very knowledgeable.

I wonder if any "robot" investor services outperformed over the past few months.

[manaboutown]

Pam just sent me this which I found informative. https://wealthramp.com/friends-talk-...ource=hs_email