Meaning of Fident

Fident is, in a very technical definition, the third-person plural future active indicative of the Latin verb fīdō.  Fido means to trust, to put confidence in, or to rely upon (which may explain it’s popularity among our K-9 companions).

Fident < ‘fɪdɛnt >: to trust, to put confidence in.

When clients are choosing a financial advisor, they are choosing more than someone who they hope can get them a good return on their money.  They’re choosing someone they can trust – someone they can put confidence in.  A good financial advisor is going to do more for a family than simply go over quarterly returns or discuss the latest economic predictions.  The conversations are going to go into deeper life issues, such as personal values, family goals, and deeply nestled fears.  These type of advisors are going to celebrate with the client in the good times and mourn in the challenging times.

And in order for a client to share those things and to develop that level of relationship with an advisor, there has to be trust.  Once the advisor-client relationship does reach these levels, it doesn’t make financial planning or investment management any less of a scary thing – there is a lot at stake.  However, working with an advisor who they feel confident, someone who they feel is placing their interests above anyone else’s,  with goes a long way in helping to alleviate that fear.

Parting thought: whenever a company or an individual tells you how much you should trust them, it should cause you to pause and think why they’re saying that, and why they’re assuming that you don’t trust them in the first place.  However, this article’s point isn’t to convince you to work with Fident – it’s simply unpacking the etymology of the firm’s name.