Your personal financial planner is very valuable, and having someone who can hold your hand, talk to you, and answer your questions when you are down is a huge blessing. This is especially true when your family IFA has a long -term relationship with you – he knows your financial history, your personal preferences, and is someone whom you can trust .

This would be the perfect IFA, but unfortunately the reality today is that this kind of ethical upright IFA is getting increasingly hard to find. The problem is going to get progressively worse because most good students don’t want to be IFAs anymore . They can see all the problems which IFAs have to encounter today, ranging all the way from lack of trust on the part of the clients , to violence and legal action against IFAs when something bad happens – even if it is just a market fall.

Most individuals today don’t even have an IFA because family IFAs have become a dying breed. Also, many people don’t have the luxury of being able to pick and choose their personal banker – they are forced to go to the one their employer makes them go to ! Of course , if you are a millionaire , or you’re fortunate and you have a good IFA, then this is not going to be an issue , but for most of us , the sad reality is that we’re going to have to increasingly rely on Mr. Google.

The good news is that are certain advantages which Google offers over a real life personal IFA. She will not be paternalistic , and will not spoon feed you. You’re going to have to do your home work for yourself which means you’ll be a more enlightened investor , who can make the right decisions for herself. The good thing about Google is that she’s patient and always available – you can ask her the same question multiple times, and she won’t get irritated !

Of course getting multiple different answers from different websites may confuse you, but this can also make you smarter , as the depth of your knowledge increases progressively. Google offers you multiple options , including the ability to ask real life IFAs questions through virtual consultations , which means you can become as much of an expert patient as you want to be.

The quality of Dr Google’s answers depend on the quality of your questions – the better the questions you ask, the better Dr. Google will be able to answer them for you. You can share  her answers with family and friends, and this will help you make a well-informed decision, if you need additional insights. Her answers are in black and white, and this transparency can give you a lot of confidence that you are on the right track. She will not bamboozle you with jargon; and because her information base is updated all the time, you can be sure that the information can be trusted ( provided you go to a reliable website, such as www.subramoney.com !).

Of course, the GIGO rule still applies, and you do need to master basic skills to use Dr. Google correctly.

If you end up on the wrong website thanks to Dr Google , you’re going to end up in trouble . You need to remember that just like a real live doctor has limitations, so does Dr. Google . So does an IFA. She’s still not intelligent enough to be able to tell you which websites are better for you – you need to do your own background research if you want to become an expert investor.

Best of all, Google is free and always available 24/7, at your fingertips, no matter where you are !

My best clients are the ones who use Google and then confirm with me. I prefer the reverse. Hear me out and then check on Google. You will save tremendous amount of time.