There are easy steps that you can do when you are choosing a personal finance advisor.
Research
The first step is to make sure that you do plenty of research especially when it comes to your finances. You are going to need to plan when you are picking this person considering this is going to be a person that you trust with your investments. Therefore, you want to make sure that they are going to have all of the qualifications to be dealing with your finances.
Qualifications
The second step is to review the qualifications of the financial adviser. You want to make sure that they are going to have all of the expertise that you are going to need in order to deal with your finances. Therefore, you are going to need to understand what is going to take for them to be able to know what they are doing with your finances. More than likely, this is going to be more than just a two-hour class that they took online. The person should be able to give you the advice that you need when it comes to your finances and how much advice they can give you.
Databases
The third step to scour the different databases. You want to make sure that you don’t open up to a person about your finances only to find out that the person is running spam. You want to ensure that the adviser is apart of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. You can also look at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority so that you will going to be able to see the disciplinary history of the financial adviser.
License
The fourth step is to find out which types of security license that the adviser is going to hold. This is one of the best ways that you are going to be able to see if the financial adviser is actually going to be qualified enough to give you the financial advice that you need. You will be able to find this information on FINRA’s website. They are going to need to have a core Series 6 or 7 license. Then if they happen to be selling insurance products, then they are going to need to have a state insurance license. This is something that you are going to want to verify before you buy any insurance products from them.
Report
The fifth step is to ask to see an example of their quarterly report. This is the best way that you are going to be able to see what type of work that the financial adviser is going to do for you before you decide if you are going to hire them or not. They should be able to give you a copy of a quarterly report from their client with the name of the client attached to it. Then you can ask them to walk you through all of the lines of the report so that you will be able to understand what is going on in the report.
Pay
The sixth step is to find how the adviser is going to get paid. If they are paid on a commission, then they are going to have to meet a suitability standard. This means that they are only going to make recommendations that are suitable to the needs and objectives of the company. But the advisers that are paid by fees are going to do their work based on the fiduciary standard. This means that they are going to put the interests of the clients above their own interests.
