Many corporations often bring in outside help to educate employees on how to best use their sponsored 401(k) plans. But there’s more to a secure financial future than a monthly 401(k) contribution.

“I want to go in and educate them about the need for their legal documents, investment strategies, tax considerations, retirement projections, … [And] the need for different types of insurance products to cover these big risks so they don’t have this possibility of having a financial meltdown if there’s a sudden death or disability in the family,” said Ted D. Snow, CFP®, president of Snow Financial Group, LLC. “I want to teach them that all of these pieces need to be coordinated, so you can’t just concentrate on one thing (investing) without it affecting another area of your financial plans. It’s literacy but it’s also an overall view of how to be smart with their money.”

Snow Financial Group, LLC is a Dallas-based wealth management firm that provides comprehensive financial services such as investment, estate, tax, and retirement planning. The firm requires a minimum of $250,000 to sign on, but Snow cautioned that this threshold may rise soon. Snow Financial Group, LLC also can provide corporate training services to firms looking to upskill their employees in personal finance, a critical life-skill that even highly educated professionals lack.

During a recent interview, Snow told “Advisors Magazine” that educating clients on how their finances work — as opposed to simply throwing jargon at prospects and expecting them to sign off — is what sets his firm apart. Having been a graduate school adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, I am a big advocate of educating my clients.

“There are no bad questions. You never had a user’s manual that came with the first dollar you made, so you’re going to have questions,” he said.

New technologies, like the so-called “robo-advisors,” may be changing how people take their first steps into advising, but a real, living and breathing financial professional is still needed to guide investors and help keep them from unintended consequences.

“I think [robo-advisors] may add some value in terms of helping people save money, but there’s no substitute for an actual educational curriculum, whether that’s in the universities or high schools or wherever, there’s so much more value in that than these apps,” Snow said, adding that he’s writing a soon-to-be-published book on the basics of investing.

“Financial education needs to begin as early as possible, he said, because by the time new graduates enter the workforce, or experienced professionals start looking to plan their retirements, the learning curve they face is that much steeper.”

“Financial literacy should start, maybe even in a lower school, fifth or sixth grade,” Snow said.

For more information see www.snowfinancialgroup.com