How to Vet a Financial Adviser

Be sure to interview a few options and check into their backgrounds before hiring someone.

Interview a few advisers before you settle on one. Having conversations with the advisers will also give you a feel for how your personalities mesh. Ask questions, and check out their credentials and disciplinary history, too.

The Interview

Make sure you understand the basics. What are the adviser's certifications, and what services does she offer? Is she a fiduciary? Find out more about her specialties. Does she focus on areas where you need help (say, estate planning and retirement-account withdrawal strategies), and does she work with other clients like you? What's her overall philosophy on financial planning and investing? Also ask how many years she has been in practice.

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Lisa Gerstner
Contributing Editor, Kiplinger's Personal Finance

Lisa has spent more than15 years with Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and heads up the magazine’s annual rankings of the best banks, best rewards credit cards, and financial-services firms with the best customer service. She reports on a variety of other topics, too, from retirement to health care to money concerns for millennials. She has shared her expertise as a guest on the Today Show, CNN, Fox, NPR, Cheddar and many other media outlets around the nation. Lisa graduated from Ball State University and received the school’s “Graduate of the Last Decade” award in 2014. A military spouse, she has moved around the U.S. and currently lives in the Philadelphia area with her husband and two sons.