Too much information. A Google search for “investment advice” Google in August of 2009 returned 92,500,000 hits, and “financial advice” netted 75,500,000 hits.  Of all of that information, how much is even true?  How much is fact and how much is opinion?  Most difficult of all is determining when information is biased.  Apparently, there are more than 18,000 securities dealers, and over 5,200 insurance companies, and these, as well as their allied sales forces, are the source of most investment information and education.  University research can be an excellent source of information, but for most people, the mathematical and theoretical barriers to understanding are prohibitive.

It’s a jungle out there.  Insurance companies have morphed into investment companies, investment companies are offering insurance products and some large banks claim to do it all.  Having an educated trustworthy advisor on your side may save you mistakes, headaches and money. Finding a professional to help you is difficult because advisors vary in their credentials, interests, access to investments and abilities, and motivations.  http://apps.finra.org/DataDirectory/1/prodesignations.aspx
Our own investigation at P Inc. has convinced us that one of the most credible qualifications in the investment world is the CFA or Chartered Financial Analyst, achieved through a serious and detailed course of study and rigorous testing. 

Different qualifications are required to navigate the world of insurance and risks to the individual and family. So an advisor unbiased toward either investments or insurance as a vehicle to financial success as you define it is important.

We believe you should choose an advisor who will stand by your family, who has the integrity to tell you the truth and the intelligence to discover it.  Like the ability to enter quickly into an understanding of another's thoughts, these qualities are hard to measure yet may be vital to your key relationships. 

It is impossible to predict the future.  The best investment yesterday (last year, last decade) is highly unlikely to be the best tomorrow (next year, next decade).   Perhaps the need to seek information about the future and to try to predict it is what makes investing so interesting, studied, and appealing.  Many wise minds fight this battle every day, with tools, skills and time other individuals do not have.

Our investment philosophy guides our relatively simple strategy.  We believe in investing with those who know how to invest.   We care less about what has made someone else money in the past than we do about where the smart money will go tomorrow. Among our favorite market strategists, Craig Columbus commented in August 2009 that “A 100 point rise in the S& P 500 represents a $1.7 billion increase in charitable giving.”  We connect clients with some of the best money managers we can identify.  This selection and recommendation process is difficult and time-consuming and we take the responsibility seriously.