Choosing a financial advisor can be an extremely consequential (and difficult) decision. Finding the right one can make a significant difference to your financial future. Finding the wrong one can have devastating consequences.
Unfortunately, many (most?) of the 300,000 or so financial advisors in the United States are simply financial salesmen with excellent communication skills and just enough knowledge of the financial marketplace to be dangerous. And, sadly, most of them work for the best-known Wall Street firms, banks and insurance companies (the part of the industry that those of us who are independent refer to as “the Dark Side”). Suffice it to say, while it’s very easy to find someone with “financial advisor” on their business card, it can be frustratingly difficult to find someone who can actually dispense objective financial advice at a reasonable price.
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