The Real Value of Partnering with a Great Advisor
Why good advice beats good investments—every time.
Most people think hiring a financial advisor is about getting better investment returns. It’s not. A great advisor helps you make better decisions across every area of your financial life—decisions that lower your taxes, reduce risk, protect your family, and move you toward the life you actually want.
The true value isn’t in picking the next big stock. It’s in helping you avoid mistakes, take action on the right things, and bring structure to a part of life that most people constantly push to the side.
Here’s how that plays out in real life.
Better Decision-Making = Better Outcomes
Investing is one small piece of the puzzle. A good advisor will help you build and execute a comprehensive plan across areas like:
Tax strategy: Not just this year, but planning for decades ahead. Coordinating Roth conversions, capital gains harvesting, charitable giving, entity structure, and asset location.
Cash flow and savings: Understanding where your money actually goes, and how to increase the gap between what you make and what you keep.
Risk management: Making sure one accident, lawsuit, or long-term care event doesn’t unravel everything you’ve built.
Estate and legacy: Ensuring your money goes where you want it to go, with the least friction possible.
None of these decisions are one-time. They evolve with your life. A great advisor helps you adapt the plan as your income, business, family, and goals change.
Organization and Accountability
If you're like most people, your financial life is scattered. Accounts at different institutions, spreadsheets with half-updated budgets, insurance you haven’t reviewed in years.
An advisor pulls that chaos into a single, coordinated plan—and keeps it updated. More importantly, they keep you moving forward. You don’t need more ideas. You need someone to make sure the important ones get done.
That means:
Following up on action items you said you’d handle
Tracking progress toward your goals
Nudging you when inertia creeps in
Acting as a decision partner for big financial choices
The role of being the quarterback to your financial team is critical.
Real-World Tax Planning
This is where great advisors really separate themselves.
Most people are reactive to taxes. File in April, maybe ask a CPA a question, and move on.
But real tax planning happens year-round. And it adds up. A great advisor helps you:
Coordinate your income across different sources (earned, investment, business, rental) to stay in favorable brackets
Decide when and how much to convert to Roth
Review what RMDs are for the current year and the best way to address them.
Understand when it makes sense to realize capital gains or harvest losses
Structure business income to maximize Qualified Business Income deductions and retirement plan contributions
Allocate investments to the right accounts to reduce taxable income and improve long-term growth
This isn’t about tax tricks. It’s about applying the current code to your situation in a strategic way—year after year.
What Happens If You Don’t Have One
You might be doing fine on your own. But here’s what we often see from new clients who’ve been DIY-ing it:
Too much cash sitting in low-interest accounts
Retirement accounts that haven’t been reviewed in years
Missed tax opportunities
No estate documents or outdated wills from a decade ago
Unclear strategy for how to reach their financial goals
No one keeping them accountable or informed
They’re not in a crisis. But they’re leaving money on the table and carrying stress they don’t need to.
The Value Is Cumulative
The benefit of working with a great advisor isn’t a single “aha” moment. It’s the compounding effect of making smarter decisions every year, while avoiding costly missteps.
Good advice creates real dollars:
Lower taxes now and in retirement
Higher after-tax investment growth
Better protection against risks that are unplanned
More clarity around goals and tradeoffs
And it frees up your time and attention to focus on what matters most—your business, your family, and your life.
Bottom Line
I am not a big advocate of paying fees to someone if they are not providing the value. Every dollar you pay someone has to result in a multiple of value that they can provide back to you.
If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re “doing it right” or leaving gaps in your plan, it may be time to bring someone in who can help you see the full picture and act on it.
Visit my site -> finnprice.com
Education on a Weekly Basis -> Newsletter
Subscribe to the Youtube Channel for more video content -> Finn Price Youtube
About the author: Finn Price, CPFA, CEPA, is a business owner and wealth manager at Railroad Investment Group. He helps successful entrepreneurs & individuals with concentrated stock positions in their 30s, 40s and 50s build, organize, protect and transfer their wealth.
Note: this article is general guidance and education, not advice. Consult your money person or your attorney for financial, tax, and legal advice specific to your situation.
Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a registered investment Advisor, Member FINRA/SIPC.
