Your "adviser" is obviously just a salesman who will do anything to keep you captive and collect commissions. (Am I cynical? Yes. Am I realistic? Yup.)

There have been some good discussions over in the Household Finances Forum. Read back on a few threads.

Here is a link that might be useful: Household Finances

It's possible that you misunderstood. I'd like to think so...

Perhaps he said that others have no legal fiduciary responsibility (to protect your interests).

I would look for a new advisor. Even Consumer's Guide has recomendations on this subject. You could check with your bank for advice, credit union also. My friend had to pay IRS a penalty of several thousand dollars because of advice her advisor gave her. Who does your taxes? Make sure they are a CPA. Good luck.

I think you misunderstood what was said. I can tell you where to invest, but can't be held responsible if it's bad advice - a Certified financial advisor is under the auspices of a broker and carries a license to direct you where you could invest, but he's not responsible if you don't agree with the outcome.

The final decision of where to invest is totally up to you, which makes you responsible if you take the advice and it doesn't turn out to be good advice. You have to do your homework in order to make intelligent money investing decisions.

I have a financial advisor, and while he does all my investing for me, I chose to let him do so. If I were to lose all my investments due to his bad choices, I'm still responsible, not him, because I gave him the o.k. to use his best judgement as to what to invest my money in.

I have an excellent C.P.A. with whom my F.A. confers, as well as a super Attorney, so with the three of them handling all my financial investing, I feel confident.

Would I take the financial advice of a friend or neighbor? No, because they aren't educated, by law, to keep up with and understand the current best investments for me.

I agree with Chisue. I think you misunderstood. There are two kinds of financial advisors. Fiduciary and non-fiduciary. An advisor who is a fiduciary legally has to advise you what, in their opinion, is a good investment for you. Whether or not they make money off of the investment.

I'd get another advisor. Get recommendations from friends or other advisors, as others have suggested.

If you're talking about a fair amount of money, choose a financial advisor who charges a management fee (usually 1% per year) instead of commissions on your transactions. That eliminate a conflict of interest.

Most lawyers I've dealt with aren't knowledgeable about personal investment choices or good with numbers. It's rare for most ordinary people that an investment choice would have legal consequences requiring the advice of a lawyer. There are things in your affairs that a lawyer is important for, but investments aren't on that list.

Don't have too much awe for an advisor having NASD or CFP or insurance or other licenses.The tests aren't hard to pass, based upon the know-nothings I've run into who have every title and license under the sun. Many frankly don't know their a$$es from a hole in the ground, they can make a living because the very little they know is more than the "zero" their customers know. There are some good ones. A few.

When you pick a CPA, pick one who doesn't have an affiliated investment advisory business.

What am I basing these comments on? Let's just say, these are things I know well......

Good luck.

PS - Anyone can give you advice, some things (insurance, securities) have some minimal regulation and require a license for the rep to handle transactions. It's not a guarantee of knowledge or integrity.

This post was edited by snidely on Wed, Jun 26, 13 at 17:52

Thank you all for your responses. My adviser said it is illegal for my lawyer to give me advice about investments and it would be illegal for himself to give me legal advice. He said both could get in trouble. It seems to me that it's up to me to take the advice of either one of them.
I have a good lawyer and a good CPA. It's just the financial bit that is giving me a problem.

Gmom, I think you need to look at your portfoilio from the fnancial advisor. If you have adult children, you may choose to have them look at it also. If your portfolio is growing, there would be no reason to change. Obviously your husband trusted him, so do a little "learning" before you rush into anything. I'm with you--I hate dealing with making those financial decisions, but sometimes you just have to. Good luck to you, sweetie.

It's illegal for someone who isn't a bar member (ie, a qualified lawyer) to practice law. Giving suggestions concerning legal matters is something personal advisors can't avoid, and that should be presented as "Here's what I think or heard, double check and pursue it with your lawyer". That's perfectly ok and commonly done.

Lawyers and CPAs give business advice and investment advice every day of the week. In some states, a lawyer in good standing can act as a real estate broker (because the lawyer's training is 100 X what a realtor has).

Replace the investment advisor, he's uninformed and sounds like he has a bit of paranoia.

As I undersand it, it is illegal for someone to market his services as a financial planer if he/she is not certified. Some investment brokers may also be certified Financial planners.

Trying to predict the financial market is iffy with much seat-of-the-pants guessing. That said, those who have been trained in the workings of finance and tempered with experience are in a position to make better guesses than the average person. Many, many things influence the day to day value of stocks and bonds including what happens in foriegn exchanges. Due to rapid computer response, a stock can change 40% in 3 seconds. Not long ago, this artifical automatic response was upsetting and recognized not to represent the true value of holding yet it affected the small investor just the same. It was such a problem that the SEC installed an automatic "circuit breaker" that temporarily halts trading of a security when hit by a wild swing in price,

For these reasons, it is good to have assistance and guidance when you first begin managing a portfolio. There is nothing wrong for an experienced, trusted family member to advise you so long as you realize it is just that: advice. Because of the potential of generating bad feelings when an investment goes sour, many self taught, expereinced family members will not advise their relatives. However, I know of a father-son combination that is working well. When the parent retired, he turned to his son to manage his IRA.

The problem you face is finding that honest, upright financial planner to work with during your learning period. In my opinion, you need to live through, and survive a couple of market downturns to get a feel of what's right for your portfolio.

"As I undersand it, it is illegal for someone to market his services as a financial planer if he/she is not certified. "

Many "financial advisors" have a registration, or even a license to sell securities, but may not have a "certification". As mentioned in an earlier post, these credentials (relative to other things) are not too difficult to get and, as such, are relatively meaningless. Scoundrels, well intentioned incompetents, and even those few who are reasonably capable come in all shapes, sizes and backgrounds.

Guessing market movements isn't iffy, it's impossible. No one and nothing, not even the super-sophisticated automated trader systems, does it right consistently. It's nothing for anyone to even feign an effort to do.

"Many "financial advisors" have a registration, or even a license to sell securities, but may not have a "certification". As mentioned in an earlier post, these credentials (relative to other things) are not too difficult to get and, as such, are relatively meaningless. Scoundrels, well intentioned incompetents, and even those few who are reasonably capable come in all shapes, sizes and backgrounds."

Snidely, I've taken and passed a number of those tests that you refer to and will offer an opinion about their ease/difficulty if anyone is interested. Unless you've taken them as well, you may want to consider rephrasing some of your snide comments.

Gmom, Ask questions, take notes, ask to see copies of the specific regulations you have questions about. As you admit to being pretty new to this stuff, it's going to be challenging. Don't allow yourself to be rushed. Have a trusted person with you at meetings with the advisor if you think that will help you diges what's being said or to develop follow up questions.

As someone else mentioned, if your investments have done well, something was being done right.

You've answered your own worry:

"I have a good lawyer and a good CPA. It's just the financial bit that is giving me a problem"

Get a second opinion (or in this case, a new financial advisor). It sounds like you might not trust their judgement and that is not a good thing; it's your life they're ultimately playing with. Can't hurt just to talk to someone else without moving your investements?

Yes, I would like to change advisors. Hubby liked this one but I never did so I feel uncomfortable with him. My lawyer said he could give me some names of those he likes. I trust him so I may go that route. Thanks to you all.