Find a financial adviser through matching service
Could I match you up with a financial adviser you could trust who would put your interests first and fully reveal all incentives, fees, costs and commissions? Could I connect you up with a true fiduciary who has a long track record and many satisfied clients?
That's a question that pops up several times a week on my Ask Terry blog. My usual response is to suggest the websites of financial organizations such as NAPFA.org, the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, or CFPBoard.org, the website of the Certified Financial Planners Board, where there are geographic directories.
That may or may not get you connected to a fiduciary planner who understands your situation. I've often thought that what you need is a tool like a dating service to fix you up with the right person and vouch for the integrity of the matched adviser.
Now, that matching service exists. It's called Wealthramp, and it is the long-term project of Pam Krueger, the host of the “MoneyTrack” investor education television series seen on more than 250 PBS stations. She's an investment adviser, but she prefers to reach a broader audience of people seeking trusted advice.
Krueger has spent the past several years vetting advisers for her service, researching their credentials and talking with them to ensure they meet her standards. Here are her criteria:
They must be fee-only advisers who work directly with clients.
They must act as fiduciaries, promising in writing to put your interests first.
They must demonstrate a track record of knowledge and successful advice-giving.
Krueger says she wants a select group that she can confidently recommend to people who ask her for help. And she is open about the financial arrangements. If the match is successful, she takes a portion of the annual advisory fees. The client does not pay additional fees to cover this arrangement. She says no adviser can pay her to get into the Wealthramp network of recommended advisers.
The matching process is more than a geographic search. Krueger explains: “This is a real algorithm that uses weights to score and rank answers to match individual consumers with individual advisers whose expertise aligns with the consumer's priorities, including how they expect to interact.”
She notes that communication and shared expectations are essential to a successful match. Some people are seeking only investment advice, while others want holistic financial planning. But no matter what the topics covered, it's important to set expectations about frequency of communication and whether updates are in person or by phone or even by Skype.
Krueger has chosen almost 200 advisers, and says she will probably never have more than 500 on the platform.
Even if you're not considering getting or changing an adviser, you might enjoy going through the online search process at Wealthramp.com. Just sorting your priorities into buckets can be vital. Your information is kept private and is not shared with the recommended advisers until and unless you reach out directly to them or you request an email introduction, Krueger says.
A matching process for individuals seeking financial help to connect them with advisers they can trust sounds like a winner to me. And that's The Savage Truth.