Working with a financial advisor can help you make informed decisions about your finances that can change the trajectory of your future. While it was once believed that hiring a financial advisor was explicitly for the rich and famous, today, it’s becoming common knowledge that despite your financial status, you can and should add a financial advisor to your dream team.

I’m glad that there has been a shift in the importance of financial advisors for people of all socioeconomic backgrounds. As a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and the founder of Harris & Harris Wealth Management, I love supporting smart women who are ready to make smart decisions about their money.

So You Think You Don’t Need a Financial Advisor

My husband and I were young when we purchased our first home, and we felt that we were managing everything associated with homeownership quite well.

We didn’t have children, and though we both worked long hours, we were managing all of our responsibilities. The house stayed spotless, and despite my husband’s allergies, he rolled up his sleeves and kept the yard well maintained. Even our neighbors were impressed with his dedication.

Then life hit us. I had major surgery and was put on bed rest for 3 months. Several months after surgery, I found out I was pregnant with our daughter. By the following summer, I was put on bed rest again due to my high-risk pregnancy.

We could have continued doing things ourselves but decided we needed help.  We hired a housekeeping and lawn service to assist around the house.  It wasn’t that we weren’t capable, well in my case, I really wasn’t.  It was that having help allowed us to focus on other areas of our lives that were now more important.  I could oversee what was being done instead of doing it myself.  It was a relief to no longer have those tasks as part of my “to do” list.

With all of the new developments in your life, you could  continue to manage your  financial responsibilities and decisions yourself, but sometimes you have to make a decision that  you need help. By adding a financial planner to your dream team, you are able to focus on other areas of your life that you  didn’t want to outsource.

I have had clients share that it was  a sigh of relief knowing that they no longer had to add all of the financial tasks and decision making to their to-do list and could instead oversee what was being done by a licensed professional. They admitted that hiring a financial planner was one of the best decisions they could have made for their life and peace of mind.

So, why are you holding on to the idea that you have to be the one to develop an overall financial plan with actionable steps for your life? It’s okay to pass along the responsibility to a trusted CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNING™ (CFP®) professional. That’s why smart women just like you choose to hire a financial advisor to help manage their finances.

My Client Saves Time & Makes Better Decisions

Some time ago, I asked a client why she chose to work with me.

She shared that she didn’t have the time to manage her finances the way she wanted to. She was a highly educated woman who stayed busy working 12 hour days, spending time with her family and in her community. She found it easier to call me and pass on the responsibility while being able to rest assured that things were being appropriately managed. Instead of focusing her attention on the financial tasks she outsourced to me, she could spend her time and energy elsewhere.

She also shared that she valued having someone to discuss decisions about her life with and to receive feedback on how the decisions impacted or could potentially impact her family financially. That communication allowed for a different perspective, similar to what companies receive from the external members of their board of directors.

A significant part of my responsibilities as an advisor is to help clients make rational financial decisions and provide analysis and support around future choices. Besides, when you manage your finances in a vacuum, it can disrupt your ability to make the best choices related to essential decisions around  funding your children’s college education to retiring at a specific age.

You Wouldn’t Ask a Doctor for Legal Advice

There’s a term used to describe the irrationality of investor behavior. It’s called behavioral finance. It focuses on the fact that investors have limits to their self-control and are influenced by their own biases. These behaviors can impact the overall growth within their portfolios.

This was shown during the 2008 great recession. Some of my clients fled to extremely conservative investments such as cash, certificates of deposit (CDs), money market accounts, and bonds. They felt that investing in the stock market was far too risky. I get it. The fear of losing money during a recession is real, and with talks about the next recession looming, that fear is rumbling again.

Unfortunately, we don’t know when the next recession will take place or the exact impact it will have on the economy.

What we do know is that the stock market has been in recovery for 10 years and if you had continued to invest, you would have more than recovered what you lost. It’s not to say that you don’t take precautions. In fact, you should.  However, you should make educated decisions with the backing of a financial advisor.

It’s easy to have these financial conversations with people in your personal and professional life whose opinions you value. But, how much of their advice can you actually trust if they don’t work in the industry or have training in the financial field?

The same way that you wouldn’t ask your gynecologist for advice regarding a legal contract, you shouldn’t take financial advice from any and everyone, especially if they aren’t an expert in the finance industry.

You’re a smart woman on the path to building a solid financial foundation and future. Don’t try to DIY your way to financial success.  Add a financial advisor to your dream team so you can be confident in the decisions you make today that can and will impact your ability to live your best life in the future.

Don’t Forget to Spread the Word!

Zaneilia Harris, CFP®, is the President of Harris & Harris Wealth Management Group in Washington, DC. Follow her on Twitter at @hhwealth.