Independent financial
planning means that the advice
given is free from commission driven conflicts of interest and is free
from any
parent corporation or franchisor entity that would try to pressure its
subordinates to push unwanted
sales
“products” on its clients. By contrast Mayflower Capital has no
corporate
parent, no absentee owners getting unearned income, no franchisor
entity
charging royalty fees, no Broker-Dealer that requires meeting a sales
quota.
This independence is as vital as having a surgeon scrub down for an
operation;
any other way of doing financial planning risks that the financial plan
will be with
contaminated
with unhealthy influences.
The theme of
independence is analogous to the U.S.
independence of 1776 when the people felt that sending profits to the
Colonial parent
meant that the Colonial residents could not control their destiny and
were thus
financially exploited, so it became necessary to seek independence. An
independent firm has less overhead so that means more savings for the
client.
Independent firms are free to quickly explore creative new ways to
invest, do
tax planning, retirement planning, etc., while giant corporations are
bogged
down in bureaucratic squabbles between different departments before
they
finally roll out new financial services.
It is the independent thinking of contrarian
investors (who avoid the incorrect investment opinions of the masses of
people) that obtain the rewards of avoiding investment fads. The
culture of independent financial planning is vital to creating an
environment where the best independent investment advice can develop.
