Who Do You Trust?

In my everyday routine of meeting with clients there is one constant. They have questions. They have 3 or 4 people that they call their advisers. They have questions. I know I said that already but it is true. We all have to make a living but this is getting ridiculous. I met with a client today and the client showed me a couple of annuity contracts from two different advisers. The annuities were variable in nature. The client is retired and over 60 years old. Why would this client need a variable annuity? The advisers told the client that she could get a guaranteed return of 6% every year. They did not tell the client about all the different things that the client needed to do to get the 6%. Better yet the advisers did not tell the client about the things that could happen to mess up the 6% guarantee. The commission to the advisor is very lucrative. The advisers failed to mention that as well. This client called me and asked me about these contracts. I told her the truth. I also could have recommended these contracts but they are totally in appropriate for the client. The client trusted me because I did not try to sell her something. I educated her. Now those two advisers lost the sale and I gained the trust of the client. Just be careful out here. When you get ready to purchase products be sure that you need the product and get the advisor to educate you about the product first. When you make the decision instead of the advisor just coming up with something they get paid on then you may have a trustworthy advisor and a product that you need.