How to Choose a Financial Advisor

How to Choose a Financial Advisor

How do you choose the right Financial Advisor? For starters, ask your friends, relatives and co-workers  whom they use. Then interview some of the people they recommend. What questions should you ask at such an interview? Consider these:

• What are your qualifications?
Make sure you are talking to someone who, at a minimum, has all the required licenses for selling securities.

• What type of experience do you have?
Find out how long someone has been a financial advisor, but don’t rule out a person with only a limited amount of experience — a new financial advisor frequently brings a great deal of enthusiasm to his or her work. A financial advisor’s longevity is less important than whether he or she has had experience working with someone like you — someone in your financial situation, with your goals and your investment preferences.

• What is your investment philosophy?
Try to learn if someone favors a specific style of investing or a particular class of investments. These styles or classes may be  well-suited for some investors but inappropriate for others. If you believe the person you’re talking to has a “one size fits all” mentality, you might want to look elsewhere.

• How will you communicate with me?
Financial advisors run their business in different ways, so there’s no one “right” way of communicating with clients. However, you need to feel comfortable that someone will always be available to answer your questions, review your accounts, evaluate your situation and make appropriate recommendations. If you are interviewing someone who has a partner or an assistant, find out whom you are likely to be communicating with, should you decide to become a client.

• What services do you provide?
Find out just how a prospective financial advisor can help you. For example, some people sell investments only, while others offer investments and insurance. Keep in mind, though, that you don’t need to be a “one-stop” shopper when it comes to  obtaining a wide range of services. In fact, you might want to ask a prospective financial advisor if he or she has developed working relationships with legal and tax advisors. This “team” approach can be quite beneficial to you, especially when you get into the area of estate planning.

Article provided by Edward Jones, for more information contact:

Caitlin M Kuecke
1661 Edgewater Street Nw # 140 Salem, OR  97304
(503) 375-7612

Ryan W Lawyer.
454 Lancaster DR Salem 97301
(503) 910-6951

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