Seven: Ask Personal Financial Planners the Right Questions
The first time you meet with a prospective personal financial planners, ask questions, questions, questions. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine urges these nine:
1. What process do you follow to identify client goals and evaluate investment performance?
2. What are your sources of research and information?
3. How often do you conduct formal reviews?
4. Are you available for informal meetings?
5. What is the fee structure?
6. How are you personally compensated?
7. If I have a complaint, where do I take it?
8. Does your firm have a formal dispute resolution process?
9. Can you show representative portfolios or actual client case studies?
Eight: Consult Online Sources in Addition to Personal Financial Planners Such As Morningstar Ratings
If your financial health does not require intensive care, an occasional checkup might do. Find personal financial planners who will conduct an occasional two-hour financial review for between $400 and $900. You can find personal financial planners who provide such services locally through www.cambridgeadvisors.com or www.garrettplanningnetwork.com.
Another cut-rate option is to let your computer do the talking. The computer cannot hold your hand the way personal financial planners do, but its output might lead to profit. For example, Morningstar ratings. What is Morningstar? It's a beacon of offline financial services that also runs a cyber-machine that will generate mutual fund recommendations synchronized with your profile, all for slightly more than $100 per year.
More comprehensive electronnic personal financial planners are available through www.FinancialEngines.com. This remarkable tool generates age-specific investment plans based on thousands of simulations of every imaginable combination of economic and market variables. Annual subscription fees start at $100.
Nine: Become Your Own Financial Investment Advisor
Learn how to become your own best financial investment advisor. You might still need the expert personal financial planners, but you will know how well they opine. To plan on your own, seek reliable data as well as guidance for interpreting the facts.
Ten: Consult Resources Like Barron’s and Morningstar Ratings
Deepen your knowledge of financial planning through these indispensable resources for any financial investment advisor. Pay special attention to Morningstar ratings. What is Morningstar saying about best investment options?
1. The Wall Street Journal is the world’s leading business newspaper, a mainstay for every financial investment advisor. Find it online at www.wsj.com.
2. Barron's has long been the world’s leading financial weekly. It is chock-full of news, investment stats, tips, and money write-ups. Visit online.barrons.com.
3. Investor’s Business Daily offers timely information on the stock market plus the most important business news of the day. Stay fresh at www.investors.com.
4. Standard & Poor's publishes a host of products covering nine-thousand U.S. companies plus an array of reports on almost every investment opportunity imaginable. Review the full inventory at www.standardandpoors.com.
5. Investors have been digging through Morningstar ratings for years. They uncover detailed information on thousands of companies, stocks, and mutual funds along with exhaustive analytical tools. This mainstay avails its ratings through www.morningstar.com.
Topic: Financial Advisors
Subtopics: Introduction to Personal Financial Planners • Value of Financial Advisors • Retirement: The New Target • Behavioral Economists • Retirement Income Industry Association • Retirement Income Security • Four Tips • Two Tips • Four More Tips • The Best Financial Advisors • Ten Barriers
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