How to Find the Right Financial Adviser Or Right Financial Planner For You
How do you go about finding and interviewing the best financial advisers or certified financial planners (CFP) for your unique needs? First, you should think about your specific financial situation and goals. Then interview appropriate financial advisers, asking about investment philosophy and fees. Also, be sure to do a background check on their compliance history. Then, set expectations for your relationship with your financial adviser.
The first thing to do is to realize that you should find a financial adviser who matches your unique financial situation. Most people don’t know that there are financial planners who specialize in business owners, retirees, teachers, doctors, socially responsible investing and hundreds of other niches. This is important because if the financial or investment adviser has developed experience working with a particular niche, then they will be better prepared to help someone in that financial situation.
When interviewing financial advisers or planners, ask them about their focus and experience helping other investors like you. You should also ask the adviser about their investment philosophy, to make sure it matches your own. Also ask the adviser to explain all of their fees to you. Fees might included commissions (which are a charge for each trade placed), an asset based fee (which is a charge on the value of your account, like 1% of assets each year) or a planning fee (which could be $ 500 to help you create a retirement plan which you implement on your own). There is no right or wrong way to pay a financial adviser, each way has positives and negatives, just understand what the fees are.
You should also do a background check on financial advisers.
For brokers and registered representatives (which most financial advisers are) go FINRA’s BrokerCheck. This is a government agency website. For investment advisers, go to the SEC’s website.
Finally, you should set both you and your adviser’s expectations for your relationship. You should realize that the advisor can’t control or predict the stock market, interest rates, or any other future events. The financial adviser is there to create a plan to help you reach your financial goals. You should also make sure the adviser understands your expectations, such as how often you want to be contacted or to meet in person.
These steps can help insure that you find the right financial adviser or financial planner for your needs. If so, you will be much more like to be financially successful and happy!
Mel Marten, CFA, is the president of ClaroConnect, which provides a free, unbiased search tool at http://www.claroconnect.com to help investors screen financial advisers and find the right adviser for them.
How to Find the Right Financial Adviser Or Right Financial Planner For You
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