Where to Find a Financial Advisor
The first step to growing your wealth can be deciding to hire a financial advisor.
Zoe is a frictionless solution to help you find and hire trustworthy financial advisors in minutes. Complete our form, see the top three advisor matches our algorithm finds for you, and schedule complimentary calls to meet them.
The best part is our concierge team will be by your side throughout the entire process of interviewing and choosing the best advisor for your needs.
What To Look For In a Financial Advisor
Before you start looking for the right financial advisor, it’s important to narrow down the criteria for your search. Here are some factors to consider:
Determine if you’re looking for a holistic financial plan, someone to manage your investments- or a combination of the two.
If you want a financial advisor who is committed to acting in your best interests, a commission-free investment advisor or financial planner who is paid directly by you may be the best choice.
Determine if it is necessary for you to be in the same city as your advisor. Keep in mind that technological advances, such as video conferencing, allow clients to build rapport with their advisors from the comfort of their homes.
Some investors only want to work with highly experienced advisors. Others, particularly millennials, often want to work with advisors who are in a similar life stage and share their preferences for communicating digitally. Do you have specific demographic requirements?
Run a Background Check on A Potential Financial Advisor
Research their industry licenses and backgrounds on Investor.gov. You can use this site to view a detailed report on any licensed financial advisor. Entering a name will tell you if the advisor is a licensed investment advisor, broker, or both. It will also tell you where they currently work, where they worked in the past, their educational background, their licenses, and any situations in which they violated industry regulations.
If you look for an advisor through our form, you will see that all the advisors we partner with have been meticulously vetted through Zoe’s due diligence process.
Questions to Ask Your Financial Advisor
- Do you have a fiduciary obligation to your clients?
- Is your firm a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA)?
- Is your firm independent?
- How are you compensated?
- Do you receive commissions or any other compensation from third parties?
- In what circumstances do you serve as a fiduciary, and in what circumstances do you not?
The last question is key. Most advisors get away with calling themselves a fiduciary because they can legally call themselves that, as long as they are a fiduciary some of the time. You wouldn’t go to a Doctor who only has your best interest in some events, but not others. You deserve an advisor you can trust all the time.
How To Find Financial Advisors Through Zoe
Finding a financial advisor alone can be daunting and time-consuming. At Zoe, we make it easy to find the right financial advisor for you. Through an interactive quiz, we give you access to vetted fiduciary financial advisors in your local area and across the country, allowing you to find the best advisor for your specific financial needs.
Disclosure: This page is not investment advice and should not be relied on for such advice or as a substitute for consultation with professional accounting, tax, legal or financial advisors. The observations of industry trends should not be read as recommendations for stocks or sectors.