What to Ask Your Financial Adviser

You'll probably be asked in advance to submit a profile and answer a questionnaire about yourself.

How to Break the Ice

You'll probably be asked in advance to submit a profile and answer a questionnaire about yourself. Once you arrive at an adviser's office, however, take charge firmly but politely. Even if you're upset because the misjudgments of some other financial outfit cost you a bundle, don't come across as belligerent. And even though fees and charges are important, haggling rubs many advisers the wrong way. Use these icebreakers:

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Jeffrey R. Kosnett
Senior Editor, Kiplinger's Personal Finance
Kosnett is the editor of Kiplinger's Investing for Income and writes the "Cash in Hand" column for Kiplinger's Personal Finance. He is an income-investing expert who covers bonds, real estate investment trusts, oil and gas income deals, dividend stocks and anything else that pays interest and dividends. He joined Kiplinger in 1981 after six years in newspapers, including the Baltimore Sun. He is a 1976 journalism graduate from the Medill School at Northwestern University and completed an executive program at the Carnegie-Mellon University business school in 1978.