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Garrett: 'The Industry Thought I Was Nuts'

The pioneer in hourly financial-planning guidance weighs in on choosing an advisor and rapidly evolving business models for financial advice.

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Our guest this week on The Long View is Sheryl Garrett. Garrett is a legendary figure in financial-planning circles, having pioneered the concept of offering hourly financial-planning guidance. She's founder of the Garrett Planning Network, a national network of hourly, fee-only financial planners that she started in 2000. Garrett has authored, co-authored, or served as technical editor on many books, including Garrett's Guide to Financial Planning, Just Give Me the Answer$, and the Personal Finance Workbook for Dummies. She has worked with the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services regarding predatory lending regulation, financial literacy, and Social Security reform. She has also received numerous awards in the realm of financial planning during her career. Most recently, InvestmentNews named Garrett as its 2019 Icon.

Background Information

Advice Best Practices "How would I want to receive advice?" How Garrett came to build an hourly, fee-only planning practice that eventually spawned a network of advisors. (1:03-3:58)

"The industry thought I was nuts." Why Garrett opted for an hourly fee-for-advice model. (3:59-7:53)

Advice Models "The issue is bigger between the financial advisor's ears than it is between the client's ears." How to get clients over paying for advice out of pocket. (7:54-14:16)

"I see financial planning as a job and I see ongoing investment advice as a different job." How the advice model--and manner of charging fees--should adapt to clients' evolving needs over time. (14:17-22:30)

Subscription-based vs. hourly advice: What's the better model? (22:31-25:51)

Working With Clients Hourly advice is most successful (and cost-effective) when the client participates. (25:52-32:54)

Temperament matters: What people should look for in a financial planner or advisor. (32:55-43:12)

Planning Business "They look at me as their financial advisor." Are hourly financial planners constantly in customer-acquisition mode and might that attract those who are better at sales than planning? (43:13-46:06)

Commoditization: Given the popularity of planning and advice, could financial planning go the way of the Chartered Financial Analyst designation? (46:07-48:46)

About the Podcast: The Long View is a podcast from Morningstar. Each week, hosts Christine Benz and Jeff Ptak conduct an in-depth discussion with a thought leader from the world of investing or personal finance. The podcast is produced by George Castady and Scott Halver.

About the Hosts: Christine Benz and Jeff Ptak have been analysts and commentators on investments and the investment industry for many years. Christine is Morningstar's director of personal finance and senior columnist for Morningstar.com. Jeff is head of global manager research for Morningstar Research Services, overseeing Morningstar's team of 120 manager research analysts in the U.S. and overseas.

To Share Feedback or a Guest Idea: Write us at TheLongView@morningstar.com

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About the Authors

Christine Benz

Director
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Christine Benz is director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar, Inc. In that role, she focuses on retirement and portfolio planning for individual investors. She also co-hosts a podcast for Morningstar, The Long View, which features in-depth interviews with thought leaders in investing and personal finance.

Benz joined Morningstar in 1993. Before assuming her current role she served as a mutual fund analyst and headed up Morningstar’s team of fund researchers in the U.S. She also served as editor of Morningstar Mutual Funds and Morningstar FundInvestor.

She is a frequent public speaker and is widely quoted in the media, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, CNBC, and PBS. In 2020, Barron’s named her to its inaugural list of the 100 most influential women in finance; she appeared on the 2021 list as well. In 2021, Barron’s named her as one of the 10 most influential women in wealth management.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and Russian language from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Jeffrey Ptak

Chief Ratings Officer, Research
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Jeffrey Ptak, CFA, is chief ratings officer for Morningstar Research Services LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc.

Before assuming his current role, Ptak was head of global manager research. Previously, he was president and chief investment officer of Morningstar Investment Services, Inc., an investment unit that provides managed portfolio services through fee-based, independent financial advisors, for six years. Ptak joined Morningstar in 2002 as a senior mutual fund analyst and has also served as director of exchange-traded fund analysis, editor of Morningstar ETFInvestor, and an equity analyst. He briefly left Morningstar to become an investment products analyst for William Blair & Company, and earlier in his career, he was a manager for Arthur Andersen.

Ptak also co-hosts The Long View podcast with Morningstar's director of personal finance and retirement planning, Christine Benz. A full episode list is available here: https://www.morningstar.com/podcasts/the-long-view. You can find him on social media at syouth1 (X/fka 'Twitter') and he's also active on LinkedIn.

Ptak holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin and the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.

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