Financial advisor questions, answered

“Financial advisor” is an unregulated job description. An investment adviser representative is a specific, registered role: a person who gives investment advice for compensation under a registered firm, with a CRD number and a public record. When someone hands you a card that says advisor, look up the registration. See the types of financial advisor.

The SEC's register holds hundreds of thousands of active advisor registrations, across thousands of firms and more than twelve thousand cities. Counts vary by source because each one draws the line differently: advisors who also broker, planners who do not file, insurance-only agents.

The common model is a percentage of assets — around 1% a year is the figure most often cited — with flat-fee and hourly arrangements as alternatives. The only number worth acting on is this specific firm's, in writing, in its Form ADV brochure. See how much a financial advisor costs.

Look up the CRD number in the SEC's IAPD database and FINRA BrokerCheck, then read the firm's Form ADV brochure. All three are free and federal, and every registered name resolves to them.

A fiduciary is legally required to put your interests first. Advisors owe that duty when acting as advisors; brokers historically owe a suitability standard instead. Many people are licensed as both, so ask which capacity applies to your account — and get the answer in writing. See what a fiduciary is.

Not necessarily — advisory relationships increasingly run over video. Local still matters for state-registered firms and for people who want to sit across a table. How many work near you is worth knowing before you decide how much this matters.

The disclosure document every registered firm files with the SEC. Part 2A (the brochure) states how the firm is paid, what it costs, and which conflicts it has. Part 2B covers the individual advisor. It is the single best document for understanding what you are buying — and almost nobody reads it.

A formal record on an advisor's history: customer disputes, regulatory actions, bankruptcies, criminal matters. Disclosure is not automatically disqualifying — small disputes are common in a long career — but patterns are exactly what the check exists to catch.

Yes — the entire register is public and free, at adviserinfo.sec.gov and BrokerCheck. An advisor who charges you for their own background check is selling you something other than a background check.

No. We list who is registered, where they work, and what their firm has filed, with a link to the source for each one. Recommending one advisor over another is a different business, and we are not in it.