What Does Working With a Financial Advisor Actually Look Like?

Summary

Podcast Summary: Ramsey Everyday Millionaires

Episode: What Does Working With a Financial Advisor Actually Look Like?
Host: Ramsey Network (Dave Ramsey, Jay)
Date: March 23, 2026

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Overview

This episode explores the process, expectations, and common misconceptions about working with a financial advisor, especially for those who are new to seeking professional financial guidance. Dave Ramsey provides step-by-step advice to a caller, Neil from Birmingham, addressing anxieties about control over investments and clarifying the advisor's role. The discussion also highlights the importance of education and maintaining agency in financial decisions, embodying the Ramsey Network's principle of financial empowerment.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why People Are Nervous About Financial Advisors

• Caller Neil shares his and his wife's apprehension about retirement and working with financial advisors, noting their background with traditional pensions but little personal investing experience.
  • "We are both nervous about retirement and working with a financial planner or advisor." (00:22, Neil)
• Their anxiety centers on unfamiliarity, fear of losing control, and differing opinions from professionals.

2. What to Look For in a Financial Advisor

• Dave Ramsey stresses choosing an advisor with the “heart of a teacher,” not someone who talks down to clients or makes decisions for them.
  • "What you don't want from an advisor is arrogance or dropping their glasses on the end of their nose and shaming or telling you what you need to do. These are all warning signs." (00:46, Dave Ramsey)
  • Advisors should explain concepts, answer questions patiently, and help clients understand investment options.
  • Anecdote: Dave likens an advisor to a waiter in a restaurant—offering suggestions, but the final choice is always the client's.
    • "I don't turn my choices over to them. I just listen to them and then I make my choice." (01:58, Dave Ramsey)

3. Working With Local Advisors vs. Out-of-State

• When Neil asks about working with advisors in other states, Dave recommends choosing someone local for accessibility and more personalized service:
  • "I would work with somebody in your neighborhood." (02:41, Dave Ramsey)

4. How Control Works With Investment Advisors

• Neil questions if he’d need to “turn over” his money to an advisor and lose direct control.
  • Dave clarifies:
    • "They’re not going to do anything without you telling them what to do." (03:58, Dave Ramsey)
    • Clients keep full control; advisors cannot move money or make trades without explicit authorization.
    • For workplace 401(k)s, advisors can only offer recommendations; they don’t gain control of the account.
    • "It's not like you sign them onto your checking account." (03:58, Dave Ramsey)
• Advice: Bring all financial information to an advisor for a holistic review but retain authority over all decisions.
  • "I'm not going to lose control of it. I don't lose control of anything. See, when I hire a lawyer ... you work for me." (04:15, Dave Ramsey)

5. Maintaining Agency and Making Informed Decisions

• Dave paints advisors as guides, comparing them to teachers or tutors—clients decide, advisors educate.
  • "Your job is to teach me, and then I will decide." (00:46, Dave Ramsey; 04:20)
• Being proactive is key.
  • "People that retire poor don't bother to look at it." (05:18, Dave Ramsey)
  • Neil affirms he checks his finances daily.

6. Encouragement for "Late Starters"

• Jay jumps in to encourage Neil and others who start focusing seriously on wealth-building later in life.
  • "Everybody has their moment at different times ... once you start paying attention, there is time to make things right." (05:48, Jay)
• Dave reassures Neil his vigilance and discipline are already setting him up for success.
  • "You're not going to retire poor. You're going to retire rich. I can tell just by talking to you because you're freaking paying attention." (05:18, Dave Ramsey)

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• Dave Ramsey (00:46): "What you don't want from an advisor is arrogance...when you sit down with a good advisor, they should be teaching you and saying, this is how this thing works and this is why I personally use it."
• Dave Ramsey (01:58): "I don't turn my choices over to them. I just listen to them and then I make my choice."
• Dave Ramsey (03:58): "They're not going to do anything without you telling them what to do."
• Dave Ramsey (04:15): "I'm not going to lose control of it. I don't lose control of anything."
• Dave Ramsey (05:18): "You're not going to retire poor. You're going to retire rich. I can tell just by talking to you because you're freaking paying attention."
• Jay (05:48): "Once you start paying attention, there is time to make things right. Especially if you're doing the Ramsey plan."

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Important Timestamps

• 00:22: Neil describes his background and concern about advisors
• 00:46: Dave explains what to expect from a good advisor
• 01:57: Analogy of advisor as "waiter," client retains decision-making
• 02:41: Local vs. out-of-state advisors
• 03:58: Control over investments clarified
• 04:15: Keep control; client is the ultimate decision-maker
• 05:18: Encouragement—paying attention is the first step to success
• 05:48: Jay expands on staying proactive, even when "late" to wealth-building

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Summary

The episode reassures listeners that working with a financial advisor should feel empowering, never intimidating or disempowering. Dave Ramsey and Jay emphasize finding someone who educates rather than dictates, always keeping the client in control of decision-making. They dispel myths about "losing control" and encourage financial vigilance and local, relationship-based advising. Above all, the message is clear: It's never too late to start, and attention and discipline are the surest paths to building wealth.

Transcript

[Dave Ramsey]

Foreign.

[Neil]

This episode is brought to you by Smartvestor. Connect with an investing pro near you

[Dave Ramsey]

at ramseysolutions.com Smartvestor Neil is in Birmingham. Hi, Neil, how are you?

[Neil]

Hey. I'm very blessed to be speaking with you and Jay, Dave.

[Dave Ramsey]

Thank you. How can we help?

[Neil]

Yes, sir. So my wife and I are working on baby step four and six. We are both nervous about a retirement and working with a financial planner or advisor. We've never worked with one before, but we both grew up in households with pensions but no nest egg to fall back on. And so we're really nervous about the future. Neither one of us want to retire for good.

[Dave Ramsey]

For you. Well, the. What you don't want from an advisor. I'm not sure why you're nervous. I want to hear that in a minute. But. But what you don't want from an advisor is arrogance or dropping their glasses on the end of their nose and shaming or telling you what you need to do. These are all warning signs that you run from that you should be nervous about. When you sit down with a good advisor, they should be teaching your. You and saying, this is how this thing works and this is why I personally use it, and this is why Dave Ramsey recommends this, and here's how it works. And you say, well, I don't understand. Okay, well, let me try. Let me teach you another way. Well, I still don't understand. Okay, then your. Your job is to teach me, and then I will decide. I kind of think of it this way. I think about. Sometimes I go into a nice restaurant and we asked the waiter, you know what, what's the best thing in here? You ever done that?

[Neil]

Yes, sir.

[Dave Ramsey]

And I don't always get what they suggest because sometimes what they suggest I don't like.

[Neil]

Yeah, we, We.

[Dave Ramsey]

I don't turn my choices over to them. I just listen to them and then I make my choice.

[Neil]

Yes, sir. So we. We've been doing it on our own for. For several years. We. We basically started putting in 15%, I guess about five or six years ago after we finally were able to.

[Dave Ramsey]

Good.

[Neil]

And so we. We're trying to. We're playing. We are. We are in our 50s now. And so we're trying to play catch up. And so. But we are. Our 401k is not doing. Not. Not kicking out the percentages that we hear on the show that like that the S and P did last year. Everything then. So when. But we have talked to a couple of financial people. Some of them are out of state. We don't know the ins and outs of working with somebody out of state.

[Dave Ramsey]

I would work with somebody in your neighborhood.

[Neil]

Okay. See, that's what me and my wife thought. But we were basically told by somebody, we were old school, that that's the

[Dave Ramsey]

old way to thinking that somebody's always got an opinion about your money. Have you noticed that?

[Neil]

Yes, sir. Oh, yes, sir.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. So what I did. Listen, if you just go to Ramsey Solutions, you click on smartvestor Pro, you'll find several people in Birmingham that we recommend. And we don't recommend them if they don't have the heart of a teacher and they don't agree with the stuff we teach here on the air. And so that's a baseline. And then you sit down and interview them and say, would I hire this person as my tutor, as my teacher?

[Neil]

Okay, so. So we're kind of nervous when we were with a smartvestor Pro, but should we be willing to turn over our money to them? I don't. I don't know. We don't know how that works. A lot of it.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, your 401k, you can't turn over. You have to leave it at your workplace. They can look at it for you and say, go back over to work. And that's a choice you could make right there. That make you more. That one. That particular fund outperformed the S&P. The three you got didn't. They can help you look at that. But they can't manage it by turning it over. All it is, is you're setting the stuff under their management. But they're not going to do anything without you telling them what to do.

[Neil]

I got you.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's not like. It's not like. It's not like you sign them onto your checking account. They're not authorized to do trades. They're not authorized to do anything unless you tell them to do it.

[Neil]

Okay, okay, let's see. That's something we didn't know. We didn't know. When we do it, do we just have to turn everything over to them?

[Dave Ramsey]

I would put everything on the table and let them look at the whole picture.

[Neil]

Yes, sir.

[Dave Ramsey]

But I'm not going to lose control of it. I don't lose control of anything. See, when I hire a lawyer, some lawyers get confused. They think they get to tell you what to do. And I'm like, no, you work for me. He worked for me. You tell. You tell me what the situation is, and then I will decide based on the information you teach me about this particular law, about this particular situation, what I am going to do. And then I'm going to tell you what to do.

[Jay]

Exactly.

[Dave Ramsey]

You don't. You just don't want. You want to keep in control as to who's in charge here, you know what I'm saying?

[Neil]

Oh, yes, sir, I completely understand. We're. We're in our. Like I said, I'm 52. So we're going down the track here, getting closer to, well, all you're doing

[Dave Ramsey]

is saying, I probably can make my money work harder with someone who plays with money all day long, teaching me.

[Neil]

Yes, sir.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's all it is.

[Neil]

And that's okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's all it is.

[Neil]

Well, that's what. Yes, sir. That's what we will do. Then. That's where this. We don't want to retire poor. You're not the biggest thing we're nervous about.

[Dave Ramsey]

You're not. You're not going to retire poor. You're going to retire rich. I can tell just by talking to you because you're freaking paying attention. People that retire poor don't bother to look at it,

[Neil]

unfortunately. I think we look at it every day.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, so, yeah, you're getting all twisted up. Get you a plan, ride the plan and have a little peace in your finances. But, yeah, that. That's it. It does. It takes. I think not knowing is what kills you 100%.

[Jay]

The fact that I can already tell that guy's quite frugal just by listening. They're doing the right thing and it's okay. Everybody, everybody has their moment at different times in life where they, they wake up and they go, oh, crap, I gotta get my money together. And so for some of us, it's a little later down the line. But once to your point, once you start paying attention, there is time to make things right. Especially if you're doing the Ramsey plan.