A recent study shows that a majority of professionals (defined as physicians, attorneys, accountants, and dentists) consider themselves fairly knowledgeable about financial matters like investing, but still feel they have a great deal to learn. Being experts in their specific and highly selective fields gives professionals a higher expectation of other "experts”. 

Only 19% of the professional wealthy investors believe they can do a better job of financial planning than an advisor as opposed to the 36% of the non-professional millionaires who believe the same. Professionals do not rate themselves as financially knowledgeable as other wealthy investors. Only a little over a quarter of professionals think of themselves as very knowledgeable about financial products and investments whereas 40% of the overall wealthy market considers themselves very knowledgeable about investments.

Though rich professionals are more advisor dependent than their wealthy non-professional counterparts and less likely to think of themselves as experts, they demand a higher level of financial expertise from their advisors. Their overall satisfaction with their advisor is 71%compared to the 84% that other wealthy report. Some of this lack of satisfaction is due to the rich professionals’ high standards in regards to communication and knowledge. Professionals think of their time as very valuable and expect almost instantaneous responses to their queries from their advisors.

Finding an advisor with a practice that caters to other wealthy professionals in the same arena, is one way to establish a relationship with an advisor who understands your particular lifestyle and needs. Because professionals are involved in professional organizations they feel they can trust the referrals they receive from their colleagues.

Another point on which professionals report dissatisfaction with their advisors is proactive communication. Professionals expect their advisors to contact them with issues or problems, not the other way around. Working with an advisor who already understands the particular time constraints your profession entails is a good way to avoid this particular source of dissatisfaction.

Seeking out the assistance of an advisor is an important step for a wealthy professional. Professionals understand what an expert really is, as they are trained and educated experts in their own field. Getting assistance and guidance from a trained advisor will free up your time and energy to focus on the career for which you worked and trained for so long and can help you put the fruits of your labor to their best use in the market.

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