Wherever you get your information from, whether it be the morning news, the Sunday paper, or online tabloids, there's always a bias to it.
Magazines tend to have large sections of advertisements about people and their businesses that relate to the subject of the magazine you're reading. Whether it's home improvement, sports, design, fashion, or business, there are plenty of ads overflowing the pages offering support to these businesses.
Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, for example, fills their pages of other businesses in your area with what they're about and their information. Asking you to subscribe to their newsletter, looking at their website, or social media to bring in business.
This type of market information and advice has a bias to it. They are supporting the people who pay to reserve a page in their magazine. Is this the right thing to sell to people who want to learn more about finance? Probably not.
Radio talk shows that you listen to on the way to work have bias. When you're listening to the upbeat, care-free advice they're providing, it might not be considered great advice you should take. It's not personalized to your life, it's an overview of exciting information you want to hear. Talk shows exist to get ratings, to make money and take home a paycheck - not to be your friend.
The "great advice" they're sharing might not be applicable to your specific circumstances and it doesn't mean you should listen to every word they say. Boring advice gets ignored. It doesn't get the subscribers, the views, or the ratings to your magazine, podcast, radio or T.V. show. But it may be the advice that you actually need to be listening to.
Is there built in bias with your advisor? Sure. At the end of the day, they need to charge you to make a living. But what you're getting from an advisor is not only applicable to your life, it's personalized to fit exactly what you need.
When you're going through a rough patch and need advice, your advisor is going to be there to give you the tailored information you need to help guide you to the right path. It might not be the exciting advice they are giving out on talk shows or reading in magazines. It is probably the "boring" advice that you may have already been thinking about.
All market information and advice is biased; everyone needs to make money to keep their business successful. The important thing to ask yourself is where you want your bias to come from.
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Alex Bishop, CRPC®, MS, is a Private Wealth Advisor and Franchise Owner with Bishop Financial Partners, a private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC in Huntersville, NC. He specializes in fee-based financial planning and asset management strategies and has been in practice for 24 years. To contact him, https://www.ameripriseadvisors.com/alex.h.bishop or alex.h.hishop@ampf.com.
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