If you’re in need of financial suggestions and pointers but don’t have a lot of money to spare, take heart: inexpensive or complimentary help abounds if you know where to look. With that said, here’s how to get quality financial advice for free.
Check Out This Free Financial Advice
Your bank or credit union. Chances are the place where you bank has free financial tools and resources for customers. If you’re looking for a new bank and such resources are important to you, make them a priority when shopping.
Your workplace retirement plan. Free financial advice is a common add-on to such plans, so you should certainly take advantage of it. In fact, your employer may offer such help as well, since seven of 10 companies are establishing or implementing financial well-being programs, according to a recent Alight Solutions survey. Further, half of employers now have debt management, financial planning, and budgeting instruments available.
Your online broker. To help you understand how to invest, brokerages these days often offer free educational resources on their websites, where you may find everything from learning laboratories to videos.
Elsewhere, you can also likely get free educational financial info from credit counseling agencies, in addition to help with your overall finances and budget.
Then there’s the Foundation for Financial Planning, where you can get free financial planning services if you’re in financial trouble, or about to be. The foundation particularly targets domestic violence survivors, wounded veterans, and people who have cancer. You can also get help from the Financial Counseling Association of America, the Financial Planning Association, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Also, if you’re a potential client, many in-person investment advisors provide a free consultation. You can optimize the meeting by having with you a list of questions to determine whether the advisor can handle your present and future financial objectives. After all, you’re not obliged to sign on with the advisor following the consultation.
Inexpensive Financial Advice
At times, you simply cannot get everything you need from free offerings. Many Las Vegas residents, for example, are dealing with unemployment levels that exceed the national average and carry high debt loads in an area with a high cost of living. Las Vegas resident debt relief options are more in line with what’s needed there. Financial advise for Las Vegas residents is included in debt relief consultations, by the way.
Otherwise, you may need the assistance of a financial advisor or other low-cost service such as a robo-advisor. To manage your investments, these digital automated services utilize computer algorithms. You may have to fork over fees that can be as minimal as 0.25 percent of your account balance. You won’t even have to worry about making payments, since fees are usually derived from your investment account. Also check out the few free financial advisors out there such as SoFi Automated Investing.
In addition, many online financial planning services provide A to Z financial planning on top of investment management. You’ll pay either a flat fee or a percentage of your account balance. The cost typically encompasses portfolio management in addition to access to financial advisors who can assist you in establishing a long-range financial plan.
While a digital financial planning service usually costs more than a robo-advisor, you’ll still pay less than you would if you engage a traditional in-person adviser. If your heart is set on in-person help, a financial coach may be your least-expensive choice. Keep in mind, however, that such coaches may be unable to provide specific investment recommendations.
So, yes, you can get quality financial advice for free or on the cheap. Depending on your circumstances, you may as well first take advantage of complimentary services available.