Coastal Financial Planning

Questions to ask a Financial Planner

What are your qualifications?

How will I pay for your services?

Have you ever been publicly disciplined for any unlawful or unethical actions in your professional career?

Can I have it in writing?

What financial planning designations do you hold?

Are you personally licensed or registered as an Investment Adviser with the ?

Is your firm licensed or registered as an Investment Adviser with any of the following?

How are you paid for your services?

What are your qualifications?

The term “financial planner” is used by many financial professionals. Ask the planner what qualifies him/her to offer financial planning advice and whether s/he holds a financial planning designation such as the Certified Financial Planner™ mark. Look for a planner who has proven experience in financial planning topics such as insurance, tax planning, investments, estate planning or retirement planning. If the planner holds a financial planning designation, check on his/her background with CFP® Board or other relevant professional organizations. Top of page

How will I pay for your services?

As part of your financial planning agreement, the financial planner should clearly tell you in writing how s/he will be paid for the services to be provided. Planners can be paid in several ways:

A salary paid by the company for which the planner works. The planner’s employer receives payment from you or others, either in fees or commissions, in order to pay the planner’s salary.
Fee only based on an hourly rate, a flat rate, or on a percentage of your assets and/or income.
Commissions paid by a third party from the products sold to you to carry out the financial planning recommendations. Commissions are usually a percentage of the amount you invest in a product.
A combination of fees and commissions (fee based/fee offset) whereby fees are charged for the amount of work done to develop financial planning recommendations and commissions are received from any products sold. In addition, some planners may offset some portion of the fees you pay if they receive commissions for carrying out their recommendations. Top of page

Have you ever been publicly disciplined for any unlawful or unethical actions in your professional career?

Several government and professional regulatory organizations, such as the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), your state insurance and securities departments, and CFP® Board keep records on the disciplinary history of financial planners and advisers. Ask what organizations the planner is regulated by, and contact these groups to conduct a background check. All financial planners who have registered as investment advisers with the Securities and Exchange Commission or state securities agencies, or who are associated with a company that is registered as an investment adviser, must be able to provide you with a disclosure form called Form ADV or the state equivalent of that form. Top of page

Can I have it in writing?

Ask the planner to provide you with a written agreement that details the services that will be provided. Keep this document in your files for future reference. Top of page

What financial planning designations do you hold?

Certified Financial Planner™ or CFP®
Certified Public Accountant - Personal Financial Specialists (CPA-PFS)
Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) Top of page

Are you personally licensed or registered as an Investment Adviser with the?

States
Federal Government
If no, why not? Top of page

Is your firm licensed or registered as an Investment Adviser with any of the following?

States
Federal Government
If no, why not? Top of page

How are you paid for your services?

Fee
Commission
Fee and commission
Salary
Other

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