Your choice of a financial advisor should be the result of sound
research. You must locate appropriate candidates, understand their credentials, check
references, and conduct interviews in which you ask the right questions. It can be a
daunting task. So daunting, in fact, that many otherwise savvy people have cut corners --
opting instead to rely on recommendations from family and friends, chance meetings, or
advertisements. Sadly, this has left many people unsatisfied with their advisors and
dubious of the value of financial services in general. However, trust that spending the
time to hire the right financial advisor will make all the difference in turning a plan
for your financial future into permanent wealth and comfort.
The first step in choosing a financial advisor is to identify your needs -- most
importantly, a professional must be able to provide the specific information and unique
advice that you require. You must find a professional that can perform the services
you desire given your personal constraints such as location, net worth, portfolio size,
etc.
Identifying professionals that meet these basic criteria can be very difficult. Individuals
often rely on crude search methods such as personal recommendations or even the Yellow
Pages. Neither of these methods are ideal: professionals recommended to you, though
they were obviously well-suited to the recommender, are not likely to also be a perfect
fit for your unique financial situation, and the Yellow Pages can be even less effective
because their ability to provide detailed information about individual advisors is severely
limited.
We have sought to ease the initial search challenge by providing WiserAdvisor; it is a
sophisticated matching service that can help you to quickly and easily receive information about
financial professionals ideally suited to serve you. It is free and there are
no obligations -- it merely puts you in contact with a select group of people who can
provide the help that you need. You can be confident that the matches WiserAdvisor
determines for you are uniquely appropriate because our database of financial professionals
has individuals that offer each type of service to any particular demographic in any
location. And we have done our best to ensure high quality as every professional in our
system has met strict qualification standards. In short, by using WiserAdvisor, you will
quickly and efficiently narrow your field of choices to the few best options.
WiserAdvisor will send you an email with personal and professional information about each
of the advisors matched to your needs -- you can view the advisor's picture,
services, years of experience, educational background, professional qualifications, types
of investments handled, mission statement, etc. You should use this information to help
determine which advisors from the short list will best provide you with the professional help
you desire.
At this point, it is important to further narrow your choices with a thorough
interview process. More detailed information about how to conduct interviews will be
available after you finish your search on WiserAdvisor, but, briefly, things to know
about your financial professional include:
Investing strategy
Profiles of existing clients
Average account size
Sample financial plan
Risk tendencies
Fees and commissions
Favored investment vehicles
Existence of liability insurance
Availability of references
Any disciplinary actions
Naturally, you will be the one to determine which of these factors are most important
to your ultimate decision. Above all, you should feel comfortable with the professional
that you choose. You want someone that you have confidence in; after all, this is your
money that we're talking about. No matter what his or her title is, your professional
should seem like the right choice to you.
Good luck in making this important decision!
To introduce yourself to one of our advisor subscribers, please click here