Advisor Quality Ratings

Determining the actual quality of financial advisors and firms can be extremely difficult:

Most advisors do not have mandatory disclosure requirements
Advisors do not publish track records that document past results
There is limited amounts of public data for advisors
Some advisors use sales tactics to convince you they are experts

Your biggest financial risk is bad advice when you invest your assets in the securities markets. Bad advice comes from two types of advisors and firms:

Competence: They do not have the knowledge to provide high quality advice
Ethics: They put their need to make money ahead of your need to achieve financial goals

How to Rate Quality

Follow these five steps to determine the quality of financial advisors:

Ask the right questions and know good answers from bad ones
Check all sources of public data (Paladin, FINRA, SEC, State)
Conduct Google name searches
Visit advisor websites
Require documentation for all key facts

Or, use Paladin Registry research reports to do the work for you.

Data Gathering

Our comprehensive, online questionnaire gathers key facts from financial advisors and firms :

Credentials: Degrees, experience, certifications
Ethics: Licensing, registrations, compliance record, fiduciary status
Business Practices: Compensation, reporting, custodians
Services: Planning, investment, insurance, tax, legal

Public Data

Paladin research is conducted by experienced analysts who review public data at:

Regulatory agencies: FINRA, SEC, States
Review & Rating services: BBB, Yelp, Rip-Off Report
Google name searches
Advisor websites

Rating Quality

Your rating results should reflect what you are looking for - a competent financial advisor you can trust.

Advisors with more experience score higher than advisors with less experience
Advisors with top quality certifications should score the highest: CFA, CIMA, CFP, CPA, ChFC, CLU
Clean compliance records should be a minimum requirement
Financial fiduciaries are held to higher ethical standards

Documentation

It pays to trust what you see, not what you hear, when you rate the quality of a financial advisor or firm. Verbal information may also be a sales pitch. You should require documentation for all key facts so you have a permanent record. Documentation is key if there is a future dispute.