I recently joined the ranks of the self-employed. On June 1st 2007, I launched the website www.moneyorwealth.ca to promote my Financial Organization business. As website text must be brief to attract and sustain reader interest, I have opted to start this blog to explain my reasons for starting this business. I'm sure anyone who deals with a financial institution will find something of interest in my journey.
First a confession. I am a slow learner. It has taken me the better part of 25 years while working for various financial institutions to accept that they are not the warm and fuzzy advice-driven organizations they would like us to believe. I thought perhaps it was just my bad luck to accept employment with firms who advertised themselves as client focused and advice driven, only to find that image shattered by expectations of high monetary targets and multiple product sales. Not so. Regardless of where I worked, or the level of financial education attained, if you didn't focus on sales, you were doomed. Banking is a business, and a very profitable, one based on the ever increasing earnings reported each quarter. It is also a very aggressive business, and the many players are constantly maneouvering to snatch profit share from each other.
They would like us to believe that this competition leads to greater variety and choice for financial consumers. In reality, what it often leads to is aggressive sales tactics, confusing products, high costs, and a trail of investors who pay too much for products they often don't need or understand. Even worse are those trusting investors taken in by the promises of financial advisors who act illegally, driven by greed, and lacking any morals. If this industry was not so bottom-line driven, would they continue to be as successful in perpetrating these scams as they have been in the past?
So how did I get on my high moral horse? Next blog, let me introduce you to my father.
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