Articles by Chad Smith

Chad's Profile

While finishing his B.S. degree at NC State University, Chad came to Financial Symmetry as an intern and began a lifelong career track in the financial planning and investment management profession. By using his decade of experience and the education he earned with his CFP license, Chad works with clients as a Primary Advisor.

Link to Chad's Full Bio

http://financialsymmetry.com/our-team/chad_smith_cfp/

Understanding the difference between a fiduciary standard and a suitability standard could pay major dividends in a relationship with a financial professional.  Operating under the fiduciary standard requires a planner to put the client’s interest ahead of his or her own.  In other words, don’t be afraid to ask your financial advisor the motivation behind [...]

Elderly fraud continues to be a major obstacle for today’s senior citizens.  This is why we feel it’s essential to do our best to spread awareness about this topic and provide tips of how to avoid these scams in the future.  One of our partners, Chad Smith, CFP®, recently spoke, for the second time, to [...]

The CFP® board requires financial planners to attain a significant amount of continuing education to keep their designations current.  So this week Allison and Chad attended the FPA of the Triangle’s 2009 Annual Symposium.
One of the presentations by fellow FPA member, Dennis Stearns, provided some quality economic research that should lend some interesting discussion in [...]

Chad Smith, CFP® was recently quoted on wsj.com. In the article, “Financial Advisers Look Local,” Shelly Banjo profiled several ways Financial Symmetry was reaching out to clients in the Triangle. Some of these initiatives included working with charitable organizations, educating younger couples, and providing information on the company’s blog.

Download pdf of article

Back in March, many investors were wrestling with the emotions of wanting to preserve whatever money they still had.

To be successful as an investor, you have to know which type of sources you can trust.  It’s also helpful, to not let recent past performance color your predictions of where the best future returns will arise.  In this article on Bloomberg.com, you see examples of how treacherous the consequences of relying on large brokerage [...]

On July 27th, people in the market for a new car can qualify for the “Cash for Clunkers” program otherwise known as the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS).

Natalie Choate, a respected resource on retirement plans/IRA rules and writer for MorningstarAdvisor.com, recently addressed some financial planning issues that Same-Sex couples face.

If you haven’t noticed, budgeting is hip these days. This is thanks to the economic uncertainty caused by the stock market’s second worst bear market in the last 100 years. People’s fear of losing their jobs and significant losses in their investment accounts has shifted the importance of financial planning and knowing how to budget back into the spotlight. But there are still people resistant to both of these ideas.

Budgeting works best when it becomes a regular routine. It can be hard at first, but knowing where your money goes is a critical part of understanding your complete financial picture. Here are a few tips to think about when creating and managing your budget.