How Teacher Wealth Serves the Four Different Investor Types
The company Forrester does research on customers in all types of industries including finance. They help identify customer segments and other characteristics so companies can serve their customers better.
According to their research, there are 4 types of investors when it comes to how they interact with financial advisors. Although this research is specifically talking about investors and how they handle their investments, I think this also applies to any financial planning topic.
Which type of investor best describes you?
Are you a delegator, validator, self-directed, or disengaged?
Teacher Wealth has worked hard over the past 15 months to put together service offerings that help all types of teachers, including all four of these customer segment types.
Here is an explanation of each of the 4 investor types and how our services fit in with them.
The Delegators
Delegators want someone else to be the pilot on their financial journey.
Characteristics:
Have little confidence in their own investment or financial knowledge.
Do not conduct their own research.
Rely on financial advisors to make decisions for them and manage their investments.
Trust their advisor’s advice.
Want someone to do most of the work because it saves them time and from making mistakes.
See the value in delegating tasks to experts.
Understand that for them someone else can do it better and with less cost than trying to do it on their own.
How does Teacher Wealth help?
The Ongoing Financial Planning relationship that Teacher Wealth offers is perfect for these types of families.
It includes investment management that delegators don’t feel confident in doing or have time for.
It is holistic in nature and includes advising on a wide range of financial areas. It also helps with accountability, being proactive, and may include some hand-holding along the journey.
This service is the most expensive offering because it is the most comprehensive and time-consuming on the financial planner’s part.
Usually, this service is paid via investment management fees (deducted directly from the portfolio) but if the family doesn’t have investment accounts to manage, fees can be paid out-of-pocket as well.
This full-service model is designed to be a long-term relationship that continues to build and get stronger over the years.
The Validators
Validators are looking for a co-pilot to help them on their journey.
Characteristics:
Have confidence in their own investment or financial knowledge and/or their ability to learn.
Conduct research when making decisions.
Willing to take the time to learn and understand financial topics and decisions.
Rely on financial advisors to help them with complex decisions that are out of their knowledge base when necessary.
Want to make their own decisions but look to experts to validate their own ideas.
How does Teacher Wealth help?
Probably the best-fit service offering for validators is Hourly Financial Planning. Validators usually are 80% of the way there but may need help getting the rest of the way.
The most successful realize that there are blind spots in their knowledge. And that they, “don’t know what they don’t know.”
They seek out help in those areas and learn about their blind spots.
And they get validation on the decisions they are more confident about.
Teacher Wealth Insider might also be a good option. This allows the validator who is an Iowa educator to research and learn about topics specifically relevant to them. They also can get a discount on hourly planning sessions with a Teacher Wealth financial planner when they need that validation.
We also have A-La-Carte Pricing on different aspects of a family’s finances if they just need help in a particular area.
The Self-Directed
This group is the true DIYers and wants to be their own pilot.
Characteristics:
Have confidence in their own investment or financial knowledge and/or their ability to learn.
Conduct their own research.
Generally, do not rely on financial advisors at all.
Trust their own ability to make sound decisions.
How does Teacher Wealth help?
Teacher Wealth Insider may be a good fit for these folks. Because this membership program is built specifically for the teacher in Iowa, this can save a lot of time for the self-directed Iowa teacher.
All the things they need to know about their finances are all right in one place.
It can be one of the first places to do their research.
And if they find a topic or have a question that isn’t already covered in the knowledge bank of videos, articles, etc., then they can fill out a form with the question and Teacher Wealth is likely to create content on that subject.
There are also things that they will get with the TW Insider membership that they won’t get anywhere else like personality assessments, risk-tolerance tests, checklists, and discounts with Teacher Wealth partners.
It is also worth noting that a person may be self-directed in one category (say investing) but in other areas, they are less confident and are more of a delegator or validator. For those in this situation, hourly financial planning might be perfect for those other areas where they feel less confident or less interested.
The Disengaged
Characteristics:
Have little confidence in their own investment or financial knowledge.
Do not conduct their own research.
Generally do not seek out help from financial advisors.
Often have a tendency to avoid risk.
How does Teacher Wealth help?
In a sentence… Teacher Wealth meets people where they are at.
We all have our own journey. Many times that means struggles with money either because of past decisions we made and/or circumstances that were not under our control.
As a former teacher, I am here to help.
People may be disengaged, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need help solving problems. It also doesn’t mean they will be disengaged forever. Many are disengaged because they just don't know where to begin.
An Hourly Planning Session can be a way to start the process. Just meet for an hour and get questions answered. Or meet and get the financial big picture organized enough to decide what the first and second next steps should be.
You can climb quite a big hill by taking one step at a time. Making sure that the next step is being taken soon instead of years from now (or never) is the key. The second step can be taken afterward, but not before the first one.
Teacher Wealth Insider membership can also be a non-threatening way to get comfortable with making positive progress. Our goal with the membership is to give step-by-step instructions for doing just that.
Or getting help with something on the A-La-Carte Pricing menu may serve that purpose.
Which are you?
Now that you know what the 4 investor types are, which one sounds most like you?
Let us know if any of our services sound like they might be worth checking out.
