Financially Fit: Hiring a Personal Financial Advisor

By Britta Waller

Buying or selling a home can be an opportune time to call on the expertise of a financial specialist. Moving often coincides with other life transitions—getting married, starting a family, starting a new job, or taking a well-earned break for retirement—that affect your financial situation.

ListingLife asked author Jason Rich, who has penned six books in the Personal Finance Pocket Guides series from Entrepreneur magazine, for his insights on selecting a professional financial specialist.

“The very first thing you need to look at is what your goals are,” Rich says. Don’t even open up the phone book or begin collecting recommendations until you know what you hope to accomplish. The professional you would choose to help repair sagging credit, for example, is different than the one who has expertise in setting up a savings plan for your children’s college education.
Next, Rich says, is to assess a candidate’s expertise, from educational background to the alphabet soup of letters on the business card. Ask for success stories and statistics that prove how they’ve helped their clients.
“The credentials are important,” he explains. “Look at their credentials and see how they apply” to your specific goal. Is their training in investment advice or tax planning? Debt counseling or wealth management?
Another important issue to discuss early is compensation: Will your advisor charge a flat fee or by the hour? Do any earnings come from sales? How many meetings will it take to accomplish your goals?
Finally, Rich counsels, decide if you like this person. “You have to make sure you can relate to them and you are comfortable talking to them,” he says. You’ll be revealing confidential financial information, and the time to determine if you trust someone is before you begin work, not when the hard questions come up.