Understanding Money: Ten Characteristics of Bad Financial Advisors

A financial con artist or money wolf can be defined as a person or even an entity that promotes or creates programs designed to steal your money. I'm not talking about the usually suspected scam artist types. I am talking about the people and entities who pee on our legs and tell us it's raining with their junk products, services and programs. Most of them are better known as bad financial advisers or planners.

Their offerings create regular shortfalls and setbacks for Joe Public and their customer's income growth objectives. By design the overall goal of these cons is to destroy the financial future of those they serve and rob them of their retirement dollars. No they won't tell you this up front because most of them do not look further down the road to see what they are doing. They choose blind ignorance so they can deny all guilt and responsibility later.

The major trick to their deceptive magic show is to make it do what it does without Joe Public ever being the wiser to their ploys or devices. It's like they have you watching them take the rabbit out of the hat over here, so you don't see that their other hand is behind your back going through your wallet or purse.

Their deceptions can be very well thought out and polished so I have outlined 10 things you must understand when dealing with one of these legal yet unethical snakes.

1. They do not care about your family or your financial future
2. They want your time so that they can get more of your money
3. They think you are ill informed or financially illiterate (the concepts they teach you will induce more financial ignorance)
4. They will offer the most expensive programs or strategies for your family and won't take what's in your best interest into consideration ever
5. They use by any means necessary processes to steal as much of your money as possible each and every month
6. They do not care how their inferior products will impact your life
7. They will lie, cheat and even forge your signature to get what they want from you
8. They are experts at reading your body language, facial expressions, and non-verbal cues
9. Their interest in your family is fake and superficial
10. They will pay you complements to soften you up so that they can sell you more of their products or services at higher amounts

When you have been done over by one of these types, you may feel very much like you have been financially raped. You may discover that you want out of the deal the next day (buyer's remorse). After all they make their offers so compelling that you "must take advantage immediately or risk losing something all together." Sound familiar?

Even though the programs they offer should be against the law it's totally legit. Since this is a free enterprise society they don't go to jail for their income stealing advice but you need to be prepared and educated to beat them at their own game.

The next time one of these con artists offers you something that you think is suspect, ask if the item or service on offer is something they would be proud to recommend to their mom, dad or favorite relative. Then, wait for an answer. I promise you that even the well versed rotten apples have not prepared for this little scam test in advance.