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Hoboken, N.J.

Getting Started in Finding a Financial Advisor

There has never been a time when people needed more help with their finances or a time when they were more scared about hiring an advisor. In yet another story about the fraudulent behavior of a financial advisor, Kenneth Starr, whose clients have included such Hollywood stars as Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes, has been arrested on suspicion of using at least $30 million in clients' money to fund his extravagant lifestyle. And for all of the Bernie Madoffs of the world, smaller schemes perpetrated on average folks by rogue brokers and financial planners happen more frequently. So how does the average investor know how to find a trustworthy financial assistant?

In GETTING STARTED IN FINDING A FINANCIAL ADVISOR (Wiley; May 2010; $19.95; 978-0-470-53878-4; Paperback), MarketWatch columnist Chuck Jaffe explores the important relationship between an investor and their financial advisor and examines how to identify potential candidates. According to Jaffe, it is important to recognize these facts when it comes to hiring financial advisors: the vast majority of them are honest, scrupulous, trustworthy, hardworking folks with good intentions but it doesn’t help that there are so many good ones if one picks an incompetent, lazy, or crooked one; and individuals can do almost all of these jobs themselves; however, they can butcher their finances as well or better than anyone else if they don’t know what they are doing.

This practical guide to finding trustworthy financial assistance:

  • Helps determine the kind of advisor best-suited for various situations
  • Highlights common mistakes people make when hiring advisors
  • Explains in detail the fiduciary responsibility of financial advisors
  • Discusses what credentials really mean and which are important
  • Provides essential interview questions for seven types of advisors: financial planners; stockbrokers; money managers; insurance agents; accountants; lawyers; and real estate agents
  • Addresses what can happen if the institution or advisor ends up in financial or legal difficulty
  • Presents the signs needed to recognize when a  relationship with a financial advisor goes wrong and includes advice on how to fix the relationship or leave if issues cannot be resolved

GETTING STARTED IN FINDING A FINANCIAL ADVISOR offers invaluable guidance to locating professionals who can be trusted to protect their clients’ financial well-being and help them prosper.