Finally, bear in mind that great financial advisers do not grow on trees. Often, the best already have as many clents as they can handle and may be willing to take you on only if you seem like a good match.
So they will ask you some tough questions as well, which might include:
An adviser who doesn't ask questions like these and who does not show enough interest in you to sense intuitively what other questions you consider to be the right ones-is not a good fit.
Above all else, you should trust your adviser enough to permit him or her to protect you from your worst enermy-yourself.
"You hire an adviser," explain commentator Nick Murray, "not to manage money but to manage you."
"If the adviser is a line of defense between you and your worst impulsive tendencies," says financial-planning analyst Robert Veres, "then he or she should have systems in place that will help the two of you control them."
Among those systems:
- a comprehensive financial plan tht outlines how you will earn, save, spend, borrow, and invest your money;
- an investment policy statement that spells out your fundamental approach to investing;
- an asset-allocation plan that details how much money you will keep in different investment categories.
There are the building blocks on which good financial decisions must be founded, and they should be created mutually-by you and the adviser-rather than imposed unilaterally.
You should not invest a dollar or make a decision until you are satistfied that these foundations are in place and in accordance with your wishes.
- The Intelligent Investor, Benjamin Graham
