Adam Puff of Haddonfield Financial Planning On 5 Things To Look For When Hiring a Financial Planner or Financial Adviser

Make sure you’re paying for advice, not for a giant mahogany desk, marble floors, penthouse office, etc. The best advisors and ones that care often have very pedestrian offices because they are more focused on you than an image.

As part of our series about what one should look for when hiring a financial planner or adviser, I had the pleasure of interviewing Adam Puff.

Adam Puff, President of Haddonfield Financial Planning, is a Financial Advisor and Accredited Investment Fiduciary. After five years with two of the region’s largest investment firms, Adam Puff established his own business in 2009, Haddonfield Financial Planning, based in Haddonfield, NJ. Adam holds a BA in Economics from Bucknell University.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know you’ a bit more. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I chose to go into the finance industry after my father and uncle taught me so much about stocks and mutual funds as I grew up. They would sit me down and go over the investments my family owned, how they worked and what they were doing for us. They explained the importance of taking the long view and creating a family legacy. This piqued my interest in investing at a young age to the point that I opened my own Roth IRA at age 15. These factors inspired me to become a financial planner through college.

Can you share a story about the most humorous mistake you made when you were first starting in the industry? Can you tell us what lesson or take away you learned from that?

Many years ago I bought stock in Apple (AAPL) at $33 a share before the iPod came out. I later sold the stock for $100 a share to pay for an engagement ring for my ex wife. Today that $33 a share investment would be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars if I held on to it. This experience taught me to buy and hold on to good companies. It also taught me the importance of budgeting and planning for large expenses instead of looking at my investment portfolio as an ATM.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Over the years I’ve had a number of clients suggest I create a podcast because of how approachable I am when I communicate with others. They appreciate the way I talk and tell stories, sharing complex financial information in a natural, conversational style that is easy to understand. My approach is reflected in my advertising: No hype. No BS. Just straight financial advice. I avoid flowery investment-speak and tell it like it is. People seem to value this approach. Each year I get closer to actually pulling the trigger on a podcast and I think in 2024, it may become a reality.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Is there a takeaway or lesson that others can learn from that?

The tipping point of my career took a great deal of work and quite a bit of time, as it emanated from being a good citizen in my community. I started to see success in my career when I began really getting involved in the community. I’ve always been a local, having attended the public schools, K-12. I understand, appreciate, and value my home town not just from a businessman, homeowner and parent perspective — but also from the perspective of a Little League player, a community theater actor and singer, a team swimmer, a church youth group participant, a High School soccer player, and a second generation townie. I spent time helping local organizations (many of which I was active with in my youth), furthering philanthropic efforts and working behind the scenes to truly shed light on my town’s main street shopping district and the individuals and entities that help make it vibrant. I wanted to help people for altruistic reasons, not just to gain business.

When you put the effort into making an impact and a positive first impression, people notice. After they start noticing you, they begin to build a sense of trust. I’m invested in my community, and it shows. My actions speak louder than words.

What three pieces of advice would you give to your colleagues in the finance field to thrive and avoid burnout? Can you give a story or example?

To thrive in the field you need to engage with your community and become an indispensable part of it. This may take time, but it’s highly rewarding both personally and professionally.

In addition, you need to be consistent and openly communicate with your clients. They don’t need you to know everything, they just need to know that you’re there when things are tough. Early in my career with a large investment firm, I experienced the ‘08-’09 crisis. I watched many fellow advisors come in to work at 10 a.m. and leave by 2 p.m., solely to avoid phone calls with clients. As a result, these advisors lost countless clients because this is not the way to do business; in good times and tough times, transparency and open communication are key. Pick up the phone and talk to your clients. Don’t just send emails and call it done. I feel so strongly about this that I publish my direct phone number — not just the office number or an answering service. I am here for my clients.

To avoid burnout, you need to make a plan for your life; set enough time aside for yourself, your family, faith or whatever makes you happy and brings meaning to your life. You need to prioritize yourself, not a 60-hour work week.

If you can do all of the above and keep your head on your shoulders, the best of the worst will happen — those trusted community members will want you to run for mayor! The impact I’ve made on those in my community has been so influential that folks wanted me to do more. Although I was trying to grow my career and provide for my family, and working 60-hour weeks at the time to make it happen, I took on the mayoral challenge because I was invested and cared about my community. I was actually willing to take on one more thing. The best part of this whole experience? I wasn’t elected mayor and was instead able to retain my normal life, and increase my focus on family.

Ok. Thank you for all of that. Let’s now move to the core focus of our interview. As an “finance insider”, you know much more about the finance industry than most consumers. If your loved one wanted to hire a financial advisor (not you :-)), which 5 things would you advise them to find out about before committing? Can you give an example or story for each?

1 . Go to finra.org and run a broker check on each advisor you are considering.

A broker check is basically a permanent record. In this litigious world, it is difficult not to have 1–2 strikes, but if the person you want to retain has 3+ strikes, you need to seek someone else. I once had a long time client and friend decide to part ways with me. The advisor he signed up to work with had over 12 reported incidents on their broker check. I assured my old client that this person was not someone they should work with and that I would help them find a more suitable advisor. They didn’t listen and wanted to proceed to work with this advisor regardless. I was so concerned I did further research on the advisor in question and discovered that two different lawyers had set up warning pages on their websites to let people know how bad this individual was.

2 . Make sure your potential financial advisor is willing to discuss fees and cost of investments. If they are unclear about either, find someone else. That’s why I publish my fees on my website.

3 . Make sure you’re comfortable in general with your advisor. You want to feel at ease, as if you’d actually want to be in the same room with them. You don’t want to be on edge every time they call or you meet in person. Your personalities must align. The reverse is true of the advisor, too. If someone wants to work with you and it’s not working, be honest with the client and tell them it’s not a good fit.

Though it may sound cliche, if you do the above, the advisor may end up becoming more than just an advisor. Some of the clients I work with are people I have come to care very much about. I’ve formed great relationships with many of my clients and I’m grateful for that.

4 . Make sure a new advisor speaks to you in a language you understand. Make sure he/she is explaining things to you in a way that makes sense. If they can’t back up and start again when you are confused or ask a question, they aren’t interested in what’s best for you.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received from my first boss was, “If you can’t explain the investment with a crayon and a piece of paper, it’s too complicated.”

5 . Make sure you’re paying for advice, not for a giant mahogany desk, marble floors, penthouse office, etc. The best advisors and ones that care often have very pedestrian offices because they are more focused on you than an image.

I don’t necessarily have a good example for this one, but you’ll know it when you see it.

I think most people think that financial advisors are for very wealthy people. This is likely not actually true. Can you explain who would most benefit from hiring a financial advisor and why? Can you give an example?

Most advisors want to work with as many affluent people as they can. I don’t think there’s anything that can be done about that; however, the best ones will always take the time to help everyone that they can. I’ve been doing this for years. I can’t take everyone as a client, but I will at least give you a blueprint of what to do and how to do it, free of charge. Some of my best and biggest clients have come back years later because I was willing to help them when they didn’t have enough money to get started with me as a full time client. When they finally did, they were excited and grateful to work with me because I helped them get started. I was excited they came back too, it’s awesome to see someone put in the work and then return successful in that endeavor.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

A lot of people have helped me throughout my career and I truly believe you should always grow and look to learn from those around you. However, no one influenced me more than my father, who taught me what it was to work and also do good, to truly help others, which often happened at my own expense. I learned that this is always worth it in the end.

One of my favorite pieces of advice was from my dad a few years into my career. I wasn’t making a lot of money and I was buying $40 dress shoes at the mall every 6 months. I complained once about how much I was spending on shoes and he said “I made that mistake. Go out and buy a $300 to $400 pair of shoes. When you wear out the soles you can get them resoled for minimal cost and wear them for many more years.” Although it was painful for me to spend that much money on one pair of shoes, it taught me that you need to invest in quality and things that will last, and then make the best of it.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

A couple years back I had an opportunity to inspire a movement in young children in my community. As a father of three girls, I fully appreciate how making sure parents of young children understand the importance of building a financial future for their children while they’re young is essential. This sparked The Piggy Bank Project — an initiative started during the national coin shortage to encourage children to allocate four piggy banks to different categories: spend, save, invest, and donate, with the goal of them turning in their collected coins for cash at a local, partnering bank.

Haddonfield Financial Planning partnered with three local banks: TD Bank, Republic Bank, and PNC Bank, to provide children with several different piggy banks. We created our own Haddonfield Financial Planning piggy bank as the fourth bank. We participated in a local farmers market and gave away Republic Bank tote bags filled with the four different piggy banks, an interactive coloring sheet to help children understand the purpose of each piggy bank and to help to track their savings, and most importantly, a coupon for a free ice cream at a local ice cream shop.

The Piggy Bank Project was a huge success within the local community. We helped to educate children and their parents on the importance of saving and allocating your money, and helped local banks to replenish coins during a national coin shortage. Learning about money management is a good idea at any age.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Follow Haddonfield Financial Planning on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haddonfieldfinancial/

Follow Haddonfield Financial Planning on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/haddonfieldfinancial

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/haddonfield-financial-planning/

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

About The Interviewer: Jason Hartman is the Founder and CEO of Empowered Investor. Jason has been involved in several thousand real estate transactions and has owned income properties in 11 states and 17 cities. Empowered Investor helps people achieve The American Dream of financial freedom by purchasing income property in prudent markets nationwide. Jason’s Complete Solution for Real Estate Investors™ is a comprehensive system providing real estate investors with education, research, resources and technology to deal with all areas of their income property investment needs. Through Jason’s podcasts, educational events, referrals, mentoring and software to track your investments, investors can easily locate, finance and purchase properties in these exceptional markets with confidence and peace of mind.

Starting with very little, Jason, while still in college at the age of 19, embarked on a career in real estate. While brokering properties for clients, he was investing in his own portfolio along the way. Through creativity, persistence and hard work, he earned a number of prestigious industry awards and became a young multi-millionaire. Jason purchased a California real estate brokerage firm that was later acquired by Coldwell Banker. He combined his dedication and business talents to become a successful entrepreneur, public speaker, author, and media personality. Over the years he developed his Complete Solution for Real Estate Investors™ where his innovative firm educates and assists investors in acquiring prudent investments nationwide for their portfolio. Jason’s sought after educational events, speaking engagements, and his popular “Creating Wealth Podcast” inspire and empower hundreds of thousands of people in 189 countries worldwide.

While running his successful real estate and media businesses, Jason also believes that giving back to the community plays an important role in building strong personal relationships. He established The Jason Hartman Foundation in 2005 to provide financial literacy education to young adults providing the all-important real world skills not taught in school which are the key to the financial stability and success of future generations. We’re in a global monetary crisis caused by decades of misguided policies and the cycle of financial dependence has to be broken, literacy and self-reliance are a good start. Visit JasonHartman.com for free materials and resources.