Hi Jenn,
Two choices are;
1) Commission based Financial Planners. These cost you nothing in service fees, but get paid in commissions from whatever programs & products they eventually get you set up in.
2) Fee-Based Financial Planners (usually CFPs.) These generally charge an hourly fee like an accountant or attorney, but pass any program commissions back to you (or show you how to get the programs without commission fees involved.)

You can find all of them in the yellow pages... but you have to ask them point-blank which way they operate.

3rd Option is subscribing to other Investment Communities similar to here... but more focused on financial management.

Luck!
Dave Donhoff
Just some mortgage guy ;~)

We have an annual Financial Forum in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver before the end of the RRSP (like your 401K) season, where they offer a whole bunch of financial books - most of them at 20% off.

If you have financial shows in your area, maybe they have books available.

I'm in a hurry to chase an order for a stock before the market closes right now - but will come back with some more ideas later.

Maybe send you a personal mail, if possible.

Check with the library.

Nobody cares as much about your money as - you.

Learning how money works is an interesting hobby - that (listen carefully) *pays well*.

Good wishes with learning how your money may work - and putting it to work - wisely.

ole joyful

Hi again jbspook,

Didn't get a fill on the stock - bid too low.

The other day I got about a quarter the number of shares that I asked for - but had to pay the regular commission - drat.

More later.

joyful guy

Hi again, jbspook,

When I worked as a personal financial advisor, I suggested to everyone that they needed to learn how to handle current income wisely, and assets for the long haul. Quite a few said that they didn't have any assets. I replied that one of the major issues in life is to turn some of one's income into long-term assets. Furthermore, you never know when some (even distant) relative may die and leave you with a nice nest egg. Best to have learned something of how to handle it - beforehand.

Which would you rather find:
-how to achieve about the same as current lifestyle for $1000. lower cost, or
-$1,000. increase in pay?

On the day that you received your first Dollar Bill - you went into business for yourself. You likely had, at first, one employee - with a face on it, named "One Dollar". Sometimes you were lucky and received a bundle of new employees, all in one package - probably when you were a kid the first one was named "Five Dollars" - had a face on it, too.

Most business owners feel that it's very important to learn how to operate their business. (If they don't, quite often they're not in business long).

Learning how to manage money effectively is a long-term enterprise, but not too difficult. You don't get High School graduation after a year of schooling - and you don't teach a kid Grade 10 stuff when s/he's in Grade 2.

Some folks are afraid of such learning - too complicated. They figure that money management is so complicated that the very idea intimidates them.

I say that when Mom brings home a loaf of bread from the store (or she or Dad makes it her/himself) they put only a few slices on the table at a time.

If Junior, tired and famished from running around, tries to stuff one whole slice into his mouth at once, it doesn't work. But, taken a bite and a slice at a time, it doesn't take too long, even for an old fart like me, living alone, to get through a whole loaf.

Learning how money works is similar.

We in Canada have a non-slick mag www.canadianmoneysaver.ca that runs no ads, also carries no pics except plain ones of the writers - who, by the way, give contact info at the end of 2 - 3 page articles and welcome response from readers. The 36 pg., 11 issues per year @ CAD$19.95 magazine's sole loyalty is to the subscribers.

A lot of good ideas there - some of them relevant for Canadians only, but quite a few of general application.

If you go there, I'm not sure how much of their information you can access, as a non-subscriber. Take a look and see.

Don't know if such a magazine available in the U.S.

They asked what the subscribers wanted - first was seminars with the writers of the articles. They've offered them in several places annually: 8 speakers, 45 min, each, $20. ($30. for two). Second was an opportunity for subscribers in an area to get together - now available in 35 - 40 places in Canada. I've attended, with about 18 others, the monthly meetings in this city for several years. Cost, as meeting room (boardroom of major local shopping mall) is free - is nil. Just a bit of gas - and a nearby person and I often ride together.

Check some money management based magazines in your library. You may find a couple to which you'd like to subscribe - or just read them in the library. In our library system, you can't check out earlier issues of magazines from main branch - but you can from most of the branches.

There are a number of books in the library dealing with investments that you may find helpful.

I've suggested that people write down names, phone, email of everyone they know, build information about them all. If you had such, and had heard friends talk of financial affairs - could call them to ask what their experience may have been.

By the way - such a list should save you hundreds, more likely thousands, in your lifetime (unless you have one foot in the grave). When you need advice, a service, etc. - ask your computer to search. It'll find knowledge, skills, etc. that your friends have that you'd forgotten.

Can you live on the income of the one who's not to be the stay-at-home-look-after-the-kid(s) parent? Now's the time to start getting used to that.

You'll find a lot of advice about how to live as you'd like - but more frugally - on the "Money Saving Tips" forum here. Quite a few of the posters offer the possibility of contacting them personally and I'm sure that most of them would welcome your inquiries (likely feel flattered that you asked).

As Dave said - one type of financial planner is compensated by commissions on the stuf that s/he sells. Commissions are often at different rates on various types of instruments that s/he sells - which may colour their recommendations. They may receive ongoing "trailing" commissions annually on some products, as well.

Most of them are allowed to offer only a limited number of financial products - so their knowledge is most comprehensive on that type of goods.

Further - they may not choose to recommend stuff to you that they must send you elsewhere to buy.

You should interview a number of prospective planners before choosing one. Inquire comprehensively as to the range of goods that your prospective plannner can handle. Are they the kind that most interest you?

You should inquire fully about what training your prospective planner has taken, and what ongoing training is undertaken.

What financial experience has your financial advisor had - in terms of advising others?

What kind of experience has s/he had with regard to the growth of his/her personal portfolio?

For example, one local writer says that he does not recommend financial goods to clients that he does not invest in himself. As he says, "He eats his own cooking".

I'd be substantially interested in what general life experience my planner had had, as well.

Lastly - you'll be carrying on a long-term relationship, relating to issues that are close to the core of your being.

You need to choose an advisor with whom you feel at ease - who is compatible with you.

Which is better - saving $1,000. in ongoing expenses at minimal impact on lifestyle - or $1,000. increase in employment income?

The increased income of $1,000. will be a lot less than that - after you've paid income tax ... but $1,000. cash in hand not spent on goods is after-tax money.

Enough for now.

Again - good wishes in your search for financial management skills and such a highly skilled planner.

joyful guy

Here's a link to a good thread on this topic. Look for a post by jkom51 about May14 for some especially good information.

We use a fee based CFP (Certified Financial Planner) and he is worth every dollar we pay.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to find a financial advisor

I recently went through trying to figure this out too. I did quite a bit of reading on my own so I had a better understanding of how these people work - particularly how they get paid. I asked for recommendations from people I know that I think are financially astute. I then interviewed the financial advisors. I also ended up selecting a fee only CFP who assesses my situation and makes recommendations. I then execute my own trades based on the CFPs advice. I continue to read and try to further educate myself - tying to have some understanding of what I'm doing and not blindly doing what the CFP recommends.

A few things I've heard over the years - if you don't understand it don't invest in it and if the returns are too good to be true then they probably aren't true. I was just thinking today about how many people presumably a lot smarter than me were duped by Enron and Madoff. Arrogance and greed probably factor in as well. I do remember in the .com era a friend of mine worked at Enron - so I started following their stock. I made a few small .com investments in software companies I was familiar with since I'm in that business. I considered buying Enron stock but I couldn't understand their business so I didn't buy any. Common sense helps too I guess.

I find it very hard to entrust any financial decisions to someone else but I know I don't have the expertise to do it myself. So far I'm okay with the CFP but I've kind of tried him out rather than jumping in with both feet. The one thing I did particularly like about him was that I like having a large liquid reserve. He did not discourage this and encouraged me to look at everything I have as one portfolio and how it is allocated. Previously I'd look at my short term savings separate from my retirement investments and think, I've got too much in an interest bearing account. He thought overall it was a good allocation. Some others I've interviewed were very anxious to get my cash into their investments. One moron even told me I didn't need all that emergency reserve - I could get a home equity line of credit for emergencies. What an idiot....

gibby's ides of trying a CFP out before jumping in with both feet (or all your assets) is a very good one.

I gave mine a kind of test. When DH retired, he had to choose between taking a lump sum or a monthly annuity. I asked our guy for his advice (fully expecting him to say "take the lump sum, I can do such and such for you with it". He stood to gain immediately if DH took the lump sum since his fee is based on a percentage of our portfolio.

He didn't say that. He crunched the numbers and then recommended the annuity and explained his rationale. That pretty much convinced me that we have a pretty good guy.

Boy oh boy am I glad that we took the monthly annuity. Everyone I know who took a lump sum has taken a beating. We sleep much better at night.

I went to a fee only CFP after reading a lot of the do's and don'ts. Made sure we talked about what I was looking for and gave it to him in a sheet.
I got most of what I asked for but at some point I think he got derailed by the idea of hooking my business and really didn't address one of my major questions and an important minor question. Mostly he crunched numbers.
And....the spreadsheets it probably took his associate an hour to run all based on the stock market last year are now worthless.
It cost me around 400.00 bucks. I don't think I did anything wrong and this small 2-3 person firm, they aren't bad guys - I think its very hard to find the right person - some people here seem to have had good luck, good recommendations or "kissed several frogs". I can't spend 400.00 to keep trying to find the right one.