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Ensure that one of the first questions asked is whether or not he has a fiduciary duty to you. If he says yes, then ensure that this is part of your written agr
by lithiumfrost 9y ago
Ensure that one of the first questions asked is whether or not he has a fiduciary duty to you. If he says yes, then ensure that this is part of your written agreement of services.
Once an advisor is acting as your fiduciary, it's not lawful for them to advise you to do anything but what is in your best interest. Further, they may not have any conflicts of interest. This was supposed to be the case for all US retirement accounts, but the Financial Services Industry fought tooth and nail to defeat the Obama era rule.
- drieddust 9y agoHow will you prove they deceived you? Moreover they might not be as competent as they sound. By the time you realize the deception, you might have gone bankrupt. Only by learning the basics we can hope to protect ourselves against bad advise.
- lithiumfrost 9y agoThe fiduciary duty of care solves the problem of advisors having mixed or divided loyalties and motives for clients wondering about why this or that product is being recommended. The simple answer is that the advisor is legally required to act on your behalf — period. If they do not, there's full recourse in the courts. Competence is a qualitatively different problem and has different solutions. Usually, one would look for past experience, performance, and educational credentials to gauge competence in those they hire. I do agree that the more educated client, the better. But, personally, I can only have domain expertise in so many areas, and I only have so much time. Outsourcing is a logical strategy.