The Fiduciary Financial Planners: 4 Important Things to Know About
Five words or less – When it comes to managing our money, our financial needs must come first. We want to be confident that any financial advice we receive presents the best options for us, considering your goals, risk tolerance, and unique circumstances.
If we are working with a financial planner, how do you make sure they have our best interest in mind? By focusing on this important word: fiduciary.
A fiduciary is someone who advises another person and always puts that person’s best interest ahead of his or her own. If, for example, a financial planner is evaluating two investment options for a client — a more expensive, high-commission product and a lower cost, no-commission fund — they would be required to recommend the less expensive fund, assuming the two options are otherwise equal.
Not all financial advisors are required to act in their clients’ best interests, but CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER professionals are. In fact, acting as a fiduciary — at all times — when providing financial advice is an obligation of CFP(CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER) professionals’ certification.
Here are four other things to know about fiduciary financial advisors:
1. The CFP(CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER) professionals are held to the highest standard. Advisors who are not fiduciaries are held to the lower suitability standard, which requires only that their recommendations are suitable for a client. That means the advisor could recommend financial options that are not necessarily in your best interest (such as the pricier, high-commission investment product in the example above).
2. The Fiduciary financial planners must fully disclose any potential or existing conflicts of interest that could affect their recommendations.
3. The Financial planners must also disclose their compensation method upfront. This means you will always know if the financial advisor is paid through fees only or if some or all their compensation is tied to a specific product or recommendation.
4. Anyway If a financial planner practicing as a fiduciary does not act in your best interest, they may have their professional certifications and licenses revoked or face legal penalties, among other consequences.
We can trust that a CFP(CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER) professional will put our interests ahead of their own when providing financial advice, and will provide us with the competent, ethical advice we need to make sense of our finances.
Whether it be planning for retirement, healthcare, education, or a special event, CFP(CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER) professionals are available to help you reach your personal financial goals.
Thank you for Readings
Comments
Post a Comment