Paladin uses a proprietary methodology to rate the quality of financial planners and advisors. The one to five star quality ratings are based on a comprehensive review of the professionals' education, experience, certifications, compliance record, criminal record, securities licenses, registrations, fiduciary status, business practices, and other data. We profile five star rated professionals in the Registry because investors have told us they only want to interview advisors with our highest rating. Consequently, all advisors who are profiled in the Registry have received Paladin's five star quality rating.
Paladin also provides an online professional profile for each advisor's responses to questions about his or her credentials, ethics, business practices, and services. This information is a free public service. We strongly suggest investors print copies of the profiles and use the information to ask advisors' additional questions during interviews.
"Paladin helps you select advisors with the best qualifications, not the best sales pitches."
Most planners and advisors use sales pitches to sell investment services and products to consumers. They make a lot of claims in the pitches that are designed to build consumer confidence and gain control of consumer assets. Less ethical advisors make false claims because they know very few consumers will commit the time to verify the accuracy of their claims.
Paladin's FADD service conducts background checks to verify the accuracy of advisor information. Our service focuses on claims that impact advisor competence (education, experience, certifications) and ethics (compliance record, criminal record, consumer complaints). Advisors who successfully complete the FADD certification process display a FADD icon on their Registry documents.
Consumers can select advisors with greater confidence when the professionals' backgrounds have been FADD Certified.
