Five Star Quality Rating

Paladin uses a proprietary methodology to rate the quality of financial advisor credentials, ethics, and business practices one to five stars. Paladin only profiles five star rated advisors in the Registry.

Paladin ratings are based on data that are submitted by advisors. We validate the accuracy of certain data if advisors subscribe to Paladin's Financial Advisor Due Diligence (FADD) service. If advisors do not subscribe to the FADD service Paladin publishes data as submitted by advisors.

Paladin's five star quality rating and FADD service do not constitute an endorsement, recommendation, guarantee, or favoring by Paladin of any advisor and do not constitute a claim by Paladin, whether explicit or implicit, that advisor credentials, ethics, business practices, products, services, opinions, advice, recommendations, or claims are reputable, honest, competent, or will result in exceptional financial returns. Investors are solely responsible for advisor selection decisions that may be based on information that is published in the Paladin Registry. Investors are encouraged to request additional, current information from advisors that validates their competence, ethics, business practices, and services.

Financial Advisors are Fiduciaries, so what?

Very few investors know the critical importance of selecting an investment fiduciary as their financial advisor. That’s because the financial securities industry deliberately blurs the distinctions so lower quality sales representatives can sell you inferior investment and insurance products for big fees and commissions.

It is important to know there are two primary types of investment advisors and not one. Following is a brief description of each type so you know the differences.

Fiduciary advisors have the following characteristics:

They are Registered Investment Advisors or Investment Advisor Representatives
- RIAs and IARs are held to the highest ethical standards in the industry
They frequently use job descriptions such as: Financial Advisor, Investment Advisor, Financial Consultant, Financial Planner, Money Manager
They provide financial advice and services for fees
They acknowledge they are fiduciaries when they provide investment advice and services
- Fiduciaries are required to always put their clients’ financial interests first versus their own needs for revenue and income

Non-Fiduciary advisors (sales representatives) have the following characteristics:

They hold securities licenses, such as Series 6 and 7
There are held to much lower ethical standards than RIAs and IARs
Their job descriptions are sales representative, investment representative, financial consultant (note overlap with fiduciary advisors)
Their licenses limit them to selling investment products for commissions
- They are not allowed to charge fees for their advice and services
They are not fiduciaries because they are not RIAs or IARs

The critical question you should be asking yourself is do you want a sales representative investing assets that will impact your standard of living during retirement and your financial security late in life? If your answer is no, and it should be, then you should limit your selection to fiduciary advisors.