Unfortunately, the financial advisor field isn’t as fully regulated as it should be. Some advisors are highly trained professionals who have a great deal of training and experience, have passed stringent exams, and are forthright and honest.
However, others who call themselves financial advisors, have a whole lot less essential training and experience. Look for and pay close attention to professional designations: some are good indication of professional credentials, other, eh, not so much.
Finally, a lot of advisors thrive on convincing clients and prospective clients that financial planning is just too complex for them to understand, so they need a professional to manage more and more of their money.
Let’s take a pretend inside look at some of the ways financial advisors convince us to put our money under their management—for a hefty fee, of course.