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Pam Krueger: Your Wealthramp to Fiduciary Advice

Stan Haithcock
February 14, 2023
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About Fun With Annuities Episode #139

The seeds of Wealthramp were planted during the 2008 financial meltdown. As nervous investors watched their account balances plummet, viewers of MoneyTrack, Pam Krueger’s weekly PBS TV series deluged her with requests asking how they could find a truly trustworthy financial advisor. For years after, Pam continued her relentless quest to educate and advocate for consumers through the media. But she knew she could do more for them. After some very thorough - and extremely creative - thinking, Wealthramp was born.

From her experience working in the financial industry, Pam knew the truth: most so-called advisors were sales reps, looking to earn big commissions on investments they were incentivized by their firms and organizations to sell.

Pam also understood there was an even larger problem: many people didn’t really understand how a financial advisor relationship should work, how advisors made their money, and why that mattered. Armed with her obsessive commitment to financial education, Pam set out to create a framework that would enable people to become informed, confident investors, and to build a productive, collaborative relationship with an expert fiduciary advisor who suited their unique needs and goals.

Her mission firmly in place, Pam began to build the Wealthramp network, sifting through the masses to find the independent advisors who were deeply experienced, committed to fiduciary best practices, and dedicated to a fee-only arrangement.

In 2019, with a rigorously vetted, hand-selected network of the very best fee-only fiduciary financial advisors in place, Wealthramp made its first match.

Ten thousand matches later, Pam is going stronger than ever and still personally interviews and evaluates each potential advisor.

I really enjoyed this podcast with Pam and digging into why Wealthramp is such an important resource for consumers. Pam is definitely a disrupter like The Annuity Man.

Birds of a disruptive feather dominate their industries together. Love it!

"Fiduciary is not a frame of mind. Fiduciary is not a mood you're in. A fiduciary standard is a legal standard." — Pam Krueger.

Pam Krueger is a recognized investor advocate and award-winning personal finance journalist and author. She is the founder and CEO of Wealthramp Find the Right Fiduciary Financial Advisor to Grow Your Wealth | Wealthramp, an advisor matching platform that connects consumers with rigorously vetted and qualified fee-only financial advisors. It is the only service that gives people full control over when and how they talk to their referred advisors.

Pam is also the creator & co-host of MoneyTrack and Friends Talk Money Home podcast. MoneyTrack aired on 250+ public stations on PBS from 2005-2019 and was funded by the Investor Protection Trust.

With more than 25 years in investor advocacy, Pam is one of the leading voices on financial literacy and financial empowerment. She’s been the recipient of two Gracie Awards for educating the public about personal investing and received the 2021 NAPFA Special Achievement Award for her work educating individuals about the value of fee-only financial advice.

Her perspectives on personal finance regularly appear in Marketwatch, Worth Magazine, PBS Next Avenue, and she is a frequent speaker on fiduciary financial advice. In addition, Pam is an active volunteer member of the Retirement Income Committee at the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association (DCIIA), a non-profit dedicated to enhancing the retirement security of America’s workers. She has also served on the California Jump$tart Coalition, an organization dedicated to increasing financial literacy among children and teens, where she created one of their most successful curricula available for K-12 teachers called, Investing Pays Off For Kids.

In this episode, The Annuity Man and Pam Krueger discuss:

  • Should you trust people not held to a fiduciary standard?
  • The advantage of buying a registered advisor
  • The mark of a great financial advisor
  • Two questions you must ask your advisor

Key Takeaways:

  • There are a lot of self-described advisors working at brokerage firms or insurance companies. They are not necessarily bad people or bad advisors but work for a business model that has consciously chosen not to be held to the legal fiduciary standard.
  • Hiring an advisor that’s held to a fiduciary standard is advantageous to a client. Anytime that the client feels that their finances have been mismanaged by the advisor, the burden of proof will be on the advisor.
  • Humility is the x-factor in an advisor. A good advisor is one who’s not in it just to live off of their client’s money, but to offer their expertise for the good of the client.
  • Ask them first who are their typical clients and what they do for them. Then, ask them how their clients pay them. Relax and take your time, but go straight into business.

Connect with Pam Krueger:

Website: https://wealthramp.com/ | https://www.pamkrueger.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamkrueger/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PamkruegerTV

Fun With Annuities® Podcast is hosted by America’s Annuity Agent®, Stan Haithcock, The Annuity Man®. Hear brutal annuity facts with no sales pitches from the top independent agent in the country, licensed in all 50 states. Author of 7 books, Stan dives deep on all annuity types and strategies. It’s fun, learning the contractual truths on how annuities actually work and if they’ll fit your personal retirement lifestyle.

Listen in on how you can be livin’ the reality, not the dream®. Listen and subscribe on Libsyn, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, and Spotify.

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