It's the norm these days to expect your personal financial advisor to be a CPA. But, why is that?
Let me preface this with the fact that I enrolled in an online basic accounting class and am half way through, earning an A right now (!). From what I've learned, so far, the stuff you learn to become a CPA doesn't have a lot to do with managing personal finances....Maybe that comes later, but what I've been learning is how to be accountable to investors and the government if I ever have a business and want investors or lots of deductions. Will that change in more advanced classes?
You need to know A LOT about accounting to pass the CPA, but not to manage your personal finances (unless you make so much money you run multiple businesses within your net income, and thus need to account for it). Personal finances seem so daunting and highly complicated, especially when you get closer to tax season, but really you don't have to be a CPA or an accountant to figure it out.
The only thing I would seek advice for would be for investment or retirement accounts. If you don't know what you're doing and you have a significant amount of money to invest or manage, it would be good to have someone look it over. Having said that, professional investors don't actually know more than you do. They cannot predict if the stock market will plummet tomorrow. If that's the fear holding you back, an investor may make you feel more confident, but in reality cannot predict the future. Secondly, I know a couple professional investment bankers and I don't think they are CPAs.
So that leads me back to the original question. Do you need a CPA to help you manage your finances? Or maybe just some help getting organized?
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