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Who Can I Trust?

Trustworthiness and competence should be your primary criteria when you select a financial advisor. Competence (education, certifications, experience, etc.) is relatively easy to evaluate. Trustworthiness (ethics, conflicts of interest, etc.) is very difficult to measure.

Advisors know trust is tough to evaluate. They also know trust is a critical step when they build relationships with investors. Why is trust so important? Because, if you are like most investors, you won't buy investment and insurance products from people you don't trust.

Most advisors use a sales strategy called like-trust-win. First they want you to like them so you lower your guard. That makes it easier to develop trust. Once trust is established, advisors can sell you whatever makes them the most money (the win).

Determining who you trust must be based on complete objectivity. It cannot be based on subjectivity that is susceptible to personalities, sales skills (telling you what you want to hear), and company names. Plus, you must guard against emotional decisions that are based on you liking a particular advisor. The advisor may be a nice person, but nice isn't the same as documented competence and integrity.

Who Should I Avoid?

So how do you determine who is trustworthy and who isn't? Sometimes it's easier to learn who to avoid versus who to select. For example, you should avoid advisors who exhibit any of the following characteristics:

• The advisor is not an acknowledged fiduciary.
• The advisor is not a Registered Investment Advisor or an Investment Advisor Representative.
• The advisor refuses to document his or her credentials, ethics, business practices, and services.
• The advisor won't document all of his or her compensation.
• The advisor won't document all potential conflicts of interest.
• The advisor sells you company products to the exclusion of all other products.
• The advisor has a securities license, but does not provide a CRD number.
• The advisor works for commissions and not fees.

Trust the Registry

The issue of trust also applies to the Registry. We are a credible source of advisor information for four reasons:

• We are not a financial services company. We don't sell any type of investment or insurance products.
• 100% of our services are free to investors. We have nothing to sell you. That's why you didn't have to register to access the content you are reading right now.
• Our only role is to be a credible source of objective information.
• We don't benefit financially from your investment decisions.

Objective Information

You can trust Registry information because we can afford to tell you the truth.

• Who else tells you 85% of financial advisors are really sales representatives?
• Who else tells you advisor claims of unproven expertise is a sales pitch?
• Who else tells you advisors have no minimum education or experience requirements?
• Who else tells you banks are a risky source of financial advice?
• Who else tells you brand name companies aren't as safe as you hope they are?

Articles

Independent Advisors?

Banks?

Insurance Companies?

Broker-Dealers?

CPAs?

Brand Name Companies?