Finding The Right Financial Advisor

In wealth management, one of the most overlooked decisions isn’t what you invest in—it’s who you invest with.

Too often, people choose an advisor based on a polished office, a familiar name, or years in the business. Experience matters, but hunger matters too. There is a real difference between an advisor who is still building, still studying, still pushing—and one who has shifted into preservation mode, content to coast through the final innings of their career.

Your financial life deserves someone who is in the trenches every single day. Markets evolve, tax laws change, opportunities emerge, and risks develop faster than ever before. An advisor who is grinding day in and day out is not just reacting—they are anticipating. They are researching, adapting, and staying sharp because their own future depends on delivering results.

That matters.

The best advisors are not simply managing money; they are building something. They understand that for their business to grow, their clients must grow first. Their success is directly tied to yours. That creates alignment—a partnership, not a transaction.

An advisor who is fully invested in their craft sees your portfolio as more than an account balance. They see it as a reflection of trust, strategy, and long-term vision. They are motivated to outperform because every client success story strengthens the foundation they are creating.

On the other hand, if your advisor is spending more time on the golf course than in the market, it may be worth asking where your priorities rank. Relationships matter, but this profession requires constant engagement. Financial planning is not a set-it-and-forget-it business.

You should want an advisor who treats your future like their own reputation depends on it—because it does.

In the end, choosing an advisor is not just hiring a professional. It is making an investment in a person. Their drive, energy, and commitment can become one of the most valuable assets in your financial journey. Because when they are committed to growth, they create the environment for your wealth to grow alongside them.

Click here to schedule a meeting — I’m here to help you take the next step toward financial freedom.

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

With 44% of SPX market cap reporting earnings this week, I thought it could be an interesting exercise to talk about what I’m looking at. One hard-earned lesson I’d point out right off the bat is that just beating the numbers isn’t really enough. It took a lot of seeing good earnings but poor performance from my held companies over the years to see there’s a real limit to how they’ll perform. Holding a good company in a poor sector is likely to underperform.

In general, what are market participants looking for? That’s where performance likely lies, as long as the liquidity is available. As I’ve been saying, economic growth looks good and liquidity has been coming back, which is a good growth setup. The fairly obvious place where growth is strong right now is in AI areas, though that quickly gets complicated in the details.

For instance, lately the focus has been back on the semiconductor space for AI, with the industry (SMH) up 32% over the last month. Clearly, it’s been a good sector, and for a good reason, but has it gone too far, too fast? We’ll see, but the space is underperforming today, and I’d expect that to largely continue.

That said, semiconductors are a varied place. You have semiconductors for autos, phones, memory, and tech. Even then, you have variances. For instance, the current view is that CPUs (Central Processing Units) are going to become relatively important again versus GPUs (Graphic Processing Units.) That’s a big reason why it’s not totally crazy how INTC is up 92% over the last month while NVDA is up 22%.

What’s priced in is always important, and potentially tough to determine. That’s why I remain bullish on software (IGV.) While semis have priced in a lot of good news, software has priced in a lot of bad news. In the meantime, AI has actually been of benefit to the industry, at least for the quality names. Admittedly, you have the balance of to what extent does AI spend drop to the bottom line, and mismatches between capex and profit, so it gets complicated in the details.

The other places which tend to get looked at a lot from their AI involvement is utilities and basic materials. You need a lot of power for AI, along with a lot of materials. These are fairly mined out (heh) areas, as the need is well known. However, they can definitely have ups and downs on the basis of changing AI fortunes or activity like last Monday’s Defense Production Act, which includes grid infrastructure.

From there, most of the rest is more economically dependent. I would point out the consumer discretionary (XLY) space, though. With growth holding up and liquidity improving, there’s a chance for opportunity, there. In particular, highly shorted names that produce decent earnings could do well. We’ve already seen some of that with CAR, AMC, and GME, to name a few.

The rest isn’t useless but isn’t a big focus for the market. You have areas that are broadly dependent on what happens with the economy. Is growth weak or holding up? How does inflation look? Are concerns rising? You also have more idiosyncratic events that can push around individual industries and names. We hold names, here, but they’re more long-term oriented and individualistic.

So, there’s an admittedly very broad look at the market landscape ahead of big earnings. We still have a good setup, so big tech should hold up OK. More focused AI names have a better chance of outperforming, but that’s dependent on positioning, such as the big run in semiconductors that will make more gains tougher. Software remains my favorite area. Safety stocks are still too hard to own unless something really turns sour.

Dallas Manufacturing was -2.3 vs. prev. -0.2. Interestingly, New Orders, Production, and Shipments were all up, with the employment side a little weaker.

Trump says he was unsatisfied with Iran’s latest offer, sending oil up 3%, rates up, and stocks down a bit.

Iran is struggling to store its new oil, hoping to avoid a production shutdown.

NVDA finally hit a new record high, probably because I talked smack on it in my last substack.

The WSJ reported OpenAI recently missed targets for sales and new users, sending partner stocks down, with SoftBank down as much as -11%.

Bed,Bath, and Beyond (BBBY) was up 26% after narrowing their loss and returning to revenue growth.

Network equipment company Celestica (CLS) was -10% as good results couldn’t meet investor expectations following gains of 54% over the last month.

Spotify (SPOT) was -8% after a generally strong quarter was apparently undone by expectations of weak subscriber adds and income for next quarter.

Super-light volume yesterday, even less than Christmas Eve.

ADP Employment today.

Bottom line: Oil is starting to impact markets again, along with some modest tech worry.

Disclosures/Regulation:

This content is intended to provide general information about Lloyd Financial. It is not intended to offer or deliver investment advice in any way. Information regarding investment services are provided solely to gain an understanding of our investment philosophy, our strategies and to be able to contact us for further information.

All information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy is not guaranteed. There is no representation or warranty as to the current accuracy, reliability or completeness of, nor liability for, decisions based on such information and it should not be relied on as such.

The views expressed in this commentary are subject to change based on market and other conditions. These documents may contain certain statements that may be deemed forward‐looking statements. Please note that any such statements are not guarantees of any future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected. Any projections, market outlooks, or estimates are based upon certain assumptions and should not be construed as indicative of actual events that will occur.

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Therefore, it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy will be profitable

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