During times of uncertainty, you may find yourself traveling down unfamiliar roads as you're forced to navigate new paths where one wrong turn could have devastating consequences.

Consider this: The ride you are taking is your financial journey. You will face periods of market volatility and economic upheaval throughout your life. Now, let's continue to view it through our traveling analogy.

While driving across a remote part of the interstate, you realize you need more fuel and won't reach your destination. The knee-jerk reaction is to get off at the next exit and find a gas station.

But is this an educated decision? If you're not sure whether there's a service station nearby, you could waste what valuable fuel you have searching for the next gas station, only to find out that you must get back on the highway to continue the search while becoming more concerned about whether you have enough fuel.

If you were traveling with a trusted guide, someone who has assisted voyagers like you on this type of excursion many times before and knows the specifics of the route you're traversing, the scenario and outcome would likely be different.

A guide is likely to know that there are full-service gas stations with lodging every tenth mile on this highway, and since you've just passed mile marker 18, what you're looking for will be at Exit 20. While many of us might panic and get off at Exit 18 looking for a gas station that doesn't exist, your guide would reassure you that everything you need is only two more miles up the road.

When navigating unfamiliar territory, having an experienced guide or copilot alongside you—someone who knows what you don't know—can help you avoid speed traps or bumpy stretches of pothole-filled roads and the financial damage they can cause.

With a knowledgeable copilot's invaluable support and direction, you can maximize your road trip experience.

In this Analogy, Copilot = Experienced Financial Advisor

Let's now apply this analogy to working with a financial advisor during uncertain economic times. Would you rather go it alone or with an experienced professional who has endured the ups and downs, the highs and lows, the bulls and bears of the market time and again and helped clients weather the volatility to reach their financial goals?

You might be saying, “But why do I need an advisor or copilot? The car's GPS will tell me where the next gas station is and provide the fastest route to my destination.”

Well, it might, but every GPS only knows what's programmed into it. Does it know that the Delta station charges 10 cents more when paying by credit card, but at Sunoco, cash and credit are the same prices? Is it aware that the coffee at the Chevron convenience store is made fresh every hour and has the best sandwiches in the area? It does not, but a good guide will.

A GPS might recognize traffic on the road and suggest an alternate route, but it likely won't know the service road you're instructed to take has been closed due to recent flooding.

And how much fun is it when you're in more remote areas, and the road you're told to turn onto doesn't exist?

Your GPS is the analogous equivalent of a robo-advisor, the do-it-yourself investment tool where you answer a few questions online about yourself and your financial goals and out pops a one-size-fits-most portfolio of suggested assets to purchase.

The value added of a trusted advisor is the personal experience that a real, live person brings to the table. A professional with the ability to tailor that knowledge to help you devise and revise a plan designed to meet your unique financial needs and goals. Even if you take a wrong turn on your trip, an experienced financial planner can help you get back on track so the overall journey can still be a success.

How Can a Financial Advisor Help?

Even though your financial advisor is your trusted co-pilot, you are still the driver. As the co-pilot, your financial advisor is happy to play a supporting role because your success is their success.

A financial advisor can help you:

• Understand the opportunities, risks, and occasional volatility associated with investment decisions
• Move forward with confidence regarding savings, investment, and eventual retirement
• Make difficult decisions that will impact your future the most
• Take the emotion out of the planning process and help you stick to your plan

Click to schedule a free consultation with a Wealth Enhancement Group financial advisor and let your copilot help steer you through market volatility with confidence.