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According to Wikipedia, the languages of India primarily fall into two major categories: Indo-European and Dravidian. According to the 2001 Census of India, individual mother tongues number in the several hundred.

You’re probably wondering what any of that has to do with ‘fee-only’ vs ‘fee based’ advisors? Well, that’s a good question, I bring it up to make a point.

Much like the languages of India, financial advisors (more and more these days) tend to fall into two major categories: Fee Based and Fee Only. And within these categories there are so many different ways to run an advisory business; the many different advisory factions kind of reminded me of the breakdown of different mother tongues found in India. (not too sure if this analogy worked… lol)

Keep it simple stupid

I want to try and simplify things here, so the average investor isn’t left with a headache when it comes to understanding the different terminology. But before I break down ‘fee based’ vs ‘fee only’ I want to refer you to an article I wrote last July that talks more to the differences in compensation, that I will lightly touch on here. Please read that post!

Continue Reading ““Fee Based” vs “Fee Only” Financial Advisors”

Dylan Ross is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER(TM) professional and owner of Swan Financial Planning, LLC, a registered investment adviser in New Jersey. Some of you may recognize Dylan from Get Rich Slowly, where he is one of the moderators in the forum there.

In the past I’ve written quite a bit about how I run a “Fee based” advisory business, well Dylan is a member of a growing segment of “Fee Only” Advisors. I was interested to learn more about his approach to the advisory business, and happy to interview him.

Tell us a little more about yourself and your practice Swan Financial Planning?

I started out in the financial industry in 2000 working at a large, full-service brokerage. While I was there, I completed my CFP certification requirements, but eventually became frustrated because of the inability to actually practice financial planning due to industry limitations.

So, I left the brokerage industry altogether and started Swan Financial Planning as a New Jersey Registered Investment Adviser firm, in late 2005. Initially, I worked only on retainer and then added an hourly option last year to make my services more accessible.

I also joined the Garrett Planning network around that time. Now, most of what I do is on an hourly basis, and I limit the number of retainer clients I have.

Continue Reading “An Interview with Dylan Ross”