How to Find a Financial Planner

Liz Pulliam Weston

There are hundreds of thousands of people passing themselves off as financial planners in the United States today. Very few are what they seem.

Anyone can call herself a financial planner or financial advisor. There are no education, experience, or ethics requirements for using those terms.

Furthermore, most of the people who want to offer you advice are not legally obligated to put your interests before their own. They can sell you overpriced, poorly performing investment products—even when less expensive, better-performing ones are available—because they get fatter commissions or other incentives from the inferior investment.

Sometimes there’s more at stake than just the advisor’s paychecks. ...