Most investors use subjective processes when they review their current advisor's credentials, ethics, and business practices. That's because they don't know the right questions to ask to determine advisor quality. Plus, advisors don't make the selection process easy. They deliberately withhold information that may cause you to terminate your relationship with them.

The result is investors select advisors whose principal strengths are their personalities and sales skills. The advisors are very skilled at convincing investors to hire them. A year or two later, when results don't match expectations, investors begin to question the competence and sometimes the ethics of the advisor.

If you want to know which questions to ask to determine the quality of your current advisor, go back to the Registry home page and scroll to the bottom right box. There you'll find a questionnaire you can send your advisor to obtain the information you need to make your retention decision.

Once you have the information, you need to evaluate it and you may want to compare your advisor's responses to another professional. We make the process easy. In that same box, you can download an Advisor Rating System. The System will help you rate the advisor's responses to several questions and produce a composite score. Then you can compare your current advisor's score to other advisors.