What makes for a good Financial Advisor? Knowing what to look for will help you find an advisor you can trust to match your needs and help you achieve your goals.

They work with you.

Your Financial Advisor is there to work with you. Working with you is different from working for you—it’s a collaboration with a shared goal. You don’t want an advisor who only does what you tell them—that adds no value to your plan.

Additionally, you don’t want an advisor focused only on selling you an investment vehicle just to collect additional commissions.

A Financial Advisor who works with you will:

• Provide advice and strategies
• Outline the pros and cons of different decisions based on your financial situation and the gap between where you are and where you want to be
• Help you develop a tailored strategy with a focus on long-term success
• Make it clear what fees you might pay and when

After assessing your goals and determining a strategy, your advisor should lay the strategy out for you and provide a detailed explanation of how this strategy best aligns with the goals you have set—and what, if any, fees you may incur. Together, you should be able to come to an agreed-upon strategy to implement. Ultimately, how you invest your money is up to you, and it’s your advisor’s role to provide you with what you need to make informed decisions about your investments.

They take a holistic view of your finances.

While creating the right portfolio mix of stock and bonds is a significant piece of the advice you may be seeking from a Financial Advisor, it’s not the only advice they can offer you. A good Financial Advisor will take a broad view of your complete financial picture:

• What’s the state of your emergency fund?
• How much debt are you taking on?
• Should you reconfigure your budget for long-term financial health?

They can advise you on insurance policies to protect your finances and consult with you on a wide range of investment options. When they help you develop the appropriate strategy, they will make sure that it focuses on your future financial goals, which cover more than your current investment holdings.

They develop and customize your investment strategy.

When a Financial Advisor comes to you with a strategy, it should be well-thought-out, built from proven investment principles, and detail how it will build toward achieving your specific goals.

Your advisor will also establish routine check-ins to prepare to shift gears or switch up a strategy as your life and goals change. When there are market changes or significant life changes, your Financial Advisor should be the one to come up with strategic adjustments to your plan to better meet new goals or accommodate market fluctuations. Making adjustments to your plan could mean rebalancing your opportunities or implementing new tax-saving strategies.

No matter the case, a good Financial Advisor will be proactive and available for your changing needs over time. It’s also important to understand that a good advisor plans for market volatility. Your plan should account for short-term market volatility based on your time to retirement and personal risk tolerance.

They have the support of an investment team.

Communication, knowledge and responsiveness are vital when it comes to sound financial advice. Financial Advisors serve multiple clients, so the key to ensuring the best service possible is choosing an advisor with a support team that is able to address your needs and inquiries promptly. When you reach out to your Financial Advisor or their investments team, you should get a timely response and receive assurances that your advisor and their team have the licenses and certifications necessary to implement a successful financial plan.

They talk openly about risk.

Investments are not without some risk. Depending on your choices, it’s always possible your investments could lose value.

A good Financial Advisor should not only set your expectations for the best-case results of your investment plan, but also clearly explain the risks. A balanced discussion of the pros and cons of a given strategy will help you make the choice that is right for you. If you’re not comfortable with the amount of risk in a given investment strategy, it’s not the right strategy for you.

How to know if your financial advisor is right for you.

Finding the right Financial Advisor is crucial to helping you achieve your financial goals. The wrong one can lead to poor investments and missed opportunities which can have devastating consequences on your financial growth.

The critical takeaway for evaluating your Financial Advisor is finding someone who takes the time to communicate with you at a level that matches your needs and plan. A more straightforward plan may not require a high degree of communication, but as your plan grows in complexity and value, you will want to have a Financial Advisor that keeps you involved in the process.

Ensure that your Financial Advisor has the traits listed above, and if they don’t, or show the red flags of a poor advisor, it’s time to consider finding one who can better meet your needs. Is your investment strategy keeping your retirement plans on track? Consider getting a complimentary consultation from a local Financial Advisor to determine if you need to revise your plan to better align with your goals.