Your Plan for Finding An Advisor You Can Trust

But there are some very good financial planners and some very good brokers. The best way to find either is by getting referrals from family members, friends, and business associates who have shown evidence of being intelligent enough to know good from bad. (A friend or relative with a track record of sound investments is showing reasonable evidence of such intelligence.)

It's imperative that you meet with the potential adviser face-to-face. You want to set up a good working relationship - how are you going to do this with someone who won't even meet with you?

Dolan Smart Money Move: Before you meet, call the adviser and ask for his or her credentials. You want a financial planner who is a CFP (certified financial planner) or PFS (personal financial specialist). Don't go to a CPA who also "does" financial planning. Taxes are tough enough to understand without someone trying to also get a handle on investments. Both parts will suffer because each part of the equation needs total concentration.

The CFP or PFS designation should give you assurance that this person has completed the educational requirements. Then check to see if any complaints have been lodged against this person by contacting the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (888-237-6275, www.cfp.net.org). For brokers, check for complaints through the NASD's Broker Check (800-289-9999, http://brokercheck.nasd.com) and your state securities commission. It's imperative that you check out the broker's record with the state and not the NASD, which has ways of covering up and hiding–not to mention losing–bad news on some brokers. So go directly to your state because the states tend to keep more honest reports.

You may run a background check on an investment adviser at Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (http://adviserinfo.sec.gov), a database provided by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Lots of important info here - a financial planner's government filings, how much money the firm manages, its fee schedule, and more!

If you don't have a reference, you might schedule an appointment with the branch manager of any well-established brokerage firm with local offices. Discuss your background, investment expertise, and investment objectives, then ask the branch manager to introduce you to two or three brokers in the office who he believes can best help you—not the one who happens to be Broker of the Day.

Whatever you do, don't walk into a brokerage firm off the street hoping that the broker who happens to have time to see you that day will be your Prince Charming. You're probably talking to a rookie or the firm's resident has-been who is desperate to drum up new business.

Once you've found the names of at least three financial pros, set up interviews in their offices. Remember, you're interviewing them—they're not interviewing you! And never, ever, let them come to your home. You want to see where they work.

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