Steve Peterson has had a passion to understand the consumer since the beginning of his career. It's a career that led to an engineering degree that eventually placed him at Whirlpool Corporation where he partnered with one of the largest consumer research firms in the U.S., commissioning an in-depth consumer study. Now, however, he's taking that base of knowledge and shifting his focus to money advice.
Backed by more than 30 years of experience with consumers, including more than a decade of consumer research, Peterson has set the stage for his latest venture into the realm of financial planning. But, it's probably not like anything you might expect because he's ushering in low cost financial advice for everyone, there is no minimum income or net worth requirement, and you control your accounts.
Peterson, a long time resident of Michigan's Great Southwest, is launching Personal Financial Advice & Insights, LLC next week, and wants you to know that its different from most financial planning businesses.
For nearly seven years, until mid-2014, Peterson was Director of Consumer Product Testing for Whirlpool. During his tenure with the appliance giant, Peterson logged nearly 3,000 in home consumer interviews for his job. When you talk to that many members of the general public, you get a pretty good feel for what they do, what they like, and perhaps where they are under-served in their lives.
Steve says his new venture is designed to target what he believes to be two under-served segments of the community. One of the key tenets of his business model is the belief that many people are capable of managing their own investments with some professional guidance. He notes that there are people paying significant quarterly "assets under management" fees who could easily manage their own portfolio with some professional guidance. Additionally, he says, there are people trying to manage their own portfolios with no professional guidance because of the quarterly fees, or because they wouldn't trust turning over their assets to a financial advisor. All one has to do is look back on the Madoff "ponzi scheme" a few years ago to understand some of those concerns.
Peterson says an even larger under-served segment of the population is comprised of those individuals or families with very little, if any, investable assets. He says, "Some of their priorities may be different like managing debt & budgeting, but they still have to face financial realities like paying for education and planning for retirement, but unfortunately most have to deal with such significant challenges without any professional help."
Peterson's contention is that that segment needs as much, and possibly even more, help in managing their finances as someone with significant assets. Since most financial planners earn their fees based on assets under management and/or commissions from investment products sales, there is little or no incentive for them to serve that segment. He, however, does not sell investment products or take client's assets under management.
At Personal Financial Advice & Insights, all of Peterson's revenue is generated by fixed, flat, advisory fees. He has divided his services into six distinct modules to enable him to custom tailor his service to each client's specific needs in order to keep his costs, and in turn, their fees low.
Peterson's core modules, designed to group services into the specific financial needs we all find at different stages of our lives include a Foundational Financial Plan, Budgeting & Debt Management, Retirement Financial Planning, Investment Plan & Strategy, Retirement Health Care, and Elder Care Management.
The new consultancy's only goal is providing the financial and investment advice that is in your best interest, because they do not sell investment products or execute trades. Instead, they provide guidance and knowledge, and can even provide a cost effective annual review to help keep your investments on track and guide you through the financial changes and challenges you encounter each year.
Peterson has both bachelors and masters degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech, but decades of consumer research that give him a keen insight into the psyche of the American consumer. After departing Whirlpool two years ago he also started Product Design Consumer Insights to help other durable goods industries to understand the consumer based on his extensive research experience.
If you'd like to learn more about his new business, call Steve at 1-317-796-3788 or click the link to his new website. You can also find him as an exhibitor next week at the Berrien County Youth Fair in Berrien Springs. Here is the link: http://www.pfinaai.com
