As individuals continue to react to the current economic climate and sort out their financial portfolios, one thing has become very clear: traditional investment ideas and practices are no longer driving our decisions. It’s time to rethink our strategies.
As part of this, many individuals are questioning how to work with traditional investment brokers. Understanding that there is more information online than ever before, many investors are choosing to “go it alone,” relying on their own financial instincts and information they can gather from articles, social media and other resources to make investment decisions.
The big question for these investors, of course, is what information is trustworthy. Investors seek control over their investments, especially in the current economic climate. With more and more people touting their “expertise” online, individuals must be wary about where they are gathering their information. Many online brokerage Web sites do not provide complete information on a particular investment, leaving the investor unclear about his or her choices. Further, online investment advice provided via investment Web sites, social network “groups” or e-communities often does not come with a clear view of the “advisor’s” background or “pedigree,” leaving the investor questioning its validity. This lack of clarity can ultimately stall decisions or result in overly cautious decisions, like leaving funds to accrue minimal interest in a “safe” savings account.
Here at Zions Direct, we do things a bit differently than traditional brokerages. Zions Direct offers an online auction platform that puts the control in your hands, allowing you to choose what you want to invest in, how much you want to invest and at what rate. And the transparency of the auctions helps you make each of these decisions, providing information about participation levels, bidding volume, and market-clearing yields of current and previous auctions. You can use that intelligence to determine if a bond or CD is too risky for you or if it would provide a high enough yield. With Zions Direct’s online auction platform, individual investors are on equal footing with major investment houses, getting the same yield as the big guys whether investing $1,000 or $10,000.
It’s what we call rethinking.
That all sounds nice but is complete information available as to what or who will back the bond or CD?
I couldn’t disagree more with this article. On the heels of a recession spurred along by the non-traditional practices of Big Box banks and financial institutions I think that it is actually better to get back to basics! The most valuable asset a person can have is an advisor that they trust. Providing a transparent service is akin to giving investors surgical tools, without being trained, and let them perform open heart surgery on their financial futures. I agree that the investor of today has much more information available to them to verify and to learn how to invest their money, but let’s face it, most people don’t have the time or the energy to make all the right decisions. Investment advisors are there to help people sort out the emotions of investing. They educate, analyze and report back to the client what is needed.
My opinion is that investors should use their vast resources to find an advisor that has a proven track record and based on the information that they can find will trust. These people are experts! I go to a doctor to heal my bruised body, why not seek out a professional to help rehabilitate my battered financials?
As a bank of Financial Professionals I find it shocking that you see otherwise. Isn’t it your job to help investors understand, and make decisions?
Providing this kind of a service may be fashionable but it smacks of laziness and not wanting to deal with clients when times get tough, now you can simply say: “you chose it you deal with it”.
I hope that the professionals in the banking industry take this recession as an opportunity to stand up and provide better service. Get rid of those that give the profession a bad name and move forward in a client centered matter. Clients after all come first.
Am I mistaken, or, did this headline say, “Ben Bernanke’s reappointment,”? I thought it would be interesting to see the opinion of a financial institution I trust. But, I don’t see this article is really about Ben Bernanke’s reappointment.