Jay Peroni offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print. Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum. ----------- PUBLICATION GUIDELINES - You have permission to publish this article for free providing the "About the Author" box is included in its entirety. - Do not post/reprint this article in any site or publication that contains hate, violence, porn, warez, or supports illegal activity. - Do not use this article in violation of the US CAN-SPAM Act. If sent by email, this article must be delivered to opt-in subscribers only. - If you publish this article in a format that supports linking, please ensure that all URLs and email addresses are active links. - Please send a copy of the publication, or an email indicating the URL to [email protected] - Article Marketer (www.ArticleMarketer.com) has distributed this article on behalf of the author. Article Marketer does not own this article, please respect the author's copyright and publication guidelines. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this article. ----------- Article Title: 7 Essential Steps to Find the Right Financial Advisor Author: Jay Peroni Category: Financial Planning, Personal Finance, Investing Word Count: 875 Keywords: financial planning, certified financial planner, wealth creation, investments, savings Author's Email Address: [email protected] Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com ------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------
How do you avoid the Bernie Madoffs and the Allen Stanfords? Recently, we've seen two supposed financial wizards revealed as charlatans. Given recent headlines about Ponzi schemes and fraud, you may be wondering - how can you avoid getting duped by an unscrupulous financial advisor? 1. Do a little legwork online If you want to check out an investment advisory firm, visit the website at AdviserInfo. That is the website at which the Securities and Exchange Commission keeps Form ADVs - the forms which reveal disciplinary actions taken against that advisory firm and/or its key employees. You can also make sure a firm is properly registered there. If you want to check up on a specific investment advisor, go to the FINRA BrokerCheck website tool. Here you can learn about the professional backgrounds of advisors and firms through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Now that we've mentioned that, let's accentuate the positive. Visit the websites of the Financial Planning Association and the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors. Search functions on both sites will allow you to find a respected independent financial advisor near you. 2. Look for an independent financial advisor Well, when you search for an independent advisor, you have a better chance of finding someone who gets paid for their advice and/or their fee-based asset management, instead of deriving the bulk of their income from trades or product sales. Many of these independent advisors set flat or hourly fees for specific services. Some earn a fee that corresponds to a small percentage of the invested assets they manage for you. If your portfolio does well, they do well. 3. Look for meaningful professional designations In fact, this article is a good starting point: investopedia dot com. This explains the most respected financial services industry credentials and what it takes to earn them. These designations signify advisors committed to upholding ethical as well as professional standards. In the summer of 2009, there were more than 60,000 CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER(TM) certificants. In an average year, the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. conducts about 80 ethics code investigations. This means 99.9% of CFP practitioners are abiding by the Board's ethical and behavioral standards.1,2 You can visit the CertifiedFinancialPlanner website to check that a financial planner has maintained the designation (and you can also learn if they have been publicly disciplined). 4. Look for a communicator who wants to establish a true relationship A good and conscientious financial advisor will meet with you at regular intervals and assist you to adjust your financial strategy in response to life changes and changing objectives. He or she will communicate with you in a forthright, open way - and that includes returning your calls or emails within 24 hours. Your advisor should not communicate with you once every six or seven years, or "disappear" six months or a year after helping you invest. (No one wants to call their advisor only to find out that their IRA or portfolio has become a "house account".) Look for someone who respects your preferred investment style. If you want to invest conservatively, a good financial advisor should respect that and offer suggestions that correspond to your wishes. If your advisor maintains that you need to invest more aggressively, you should receive a reasoned and considerate explanation why, supported by a detailed model scenario. Beware the advisor who seems to want to arm-wrestle you into investing they way they would invest, irrespective of your preferences. 5. Look for an advisor that shares your faith, values, and morals If you want to invest according to your faith, make sure your advisor not only shares the same faith but uses a process to screen and manage your investments with the principles of your faith. It's not enough that the advisor shares the same faith. They should proactively specialize in providing services that cater to your areas of interest. Two organizations that will help you find the right advisor are the National Association of Christian Financial Consultants (NACFC). You can visit the NACFC website as well as the Kingdom Advisors website. 6. Look at what your advisor is doing If you are pressured to invest in a way you don't want to, or if you happen to notice a lot of unwarranted buying and selling with regard to your portfolio, ask why. If you don't get a straight answer in response, ask why you're not getting one. Or simply take your investable assets elsewhere. 7. Lastly, ask for a referral from a trusted source There are financial advisors who have grown their businesses entirely by referral. The best advisors tend to get referred - and whether the referral comes from a professional, a business owner, a golf partner, or a relative, it signifies real trust in that advisor. If a friend or colleague refers a name to you, press him or her for more information and ask what the relationship has been like. Ask what qualities about that financial advisor have inspired the referral. There are so many trusted financial advisors in this country - hardworking, ethical and compassionate financial services professionals who hard work for their clients. It is easier - much easier - to find one than the skeptics would have you believe. Jay Peroni, CFP, and author of The Faith-Based Millionaire and The Faith-Based Investor. Jay is also the founder of http://www.FaithBasedInvestor.com, a faith-based investing newsletter and the founder of http://www.ValuesFirstAdvisors.com a firm dedicated to faith-based financial planning. ------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
