Please help me by responding to this poll

[Chuppathingy]

Update: Thank you so much to everyone who participated in this pole and responded! I’m sorry I wasn’t able to update sooner but I’m glad I left the pole up. I keep getting pushed toward social media marketing but I think that as a solo practice just getting started I’m going to focus on Google and participating in events and seminars to get my name out. I need to build my referral network.

I'm a Financial Advisor who took over a book of business to get started.  If you're willing I'd love to know what resources you rely on when looking for Financial services.  I am not currently on any social media, so it would really be helpful to have feedback on where to focus on promoting my business.

[madisen]

I have enough assets at Vanguard to qualify for their Personal Advisor Services.

[puppylove64]

I would probably ask friends and family and google if I were looking.

[sassystace]

Personal references from family/friends.

[scm1011]

Another vote for friend/family recommendation

[calico]

We used a recommendation from my husbands work who was very familiar with his company’s compensation program. But I did look for an estate lawyer to do our trust and used Google mainly (then I check to see where else they are rated or have comments to corroborate the reviews).

[mich1]

Word of mouth, recommendation from friends or family.

[keh2oblue]

I would use word of mouth from friend, family, or work.

[scout8]

I would ask friends for a recommendation.

[tcu2003]

Ditto other posters - I ask friends, coworkers, people who I think might have a financial advisor if they have one they’d recommend.

[Pilsy]

Family/friends

[sadlebred]

Jul 10, 2019 15:31:16 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Personal recommendations and napfa.org to make sure they're fiduciaries.

This exactly! I always make sure they are fee only and fiduciaries. I've also used USAA's financial planning services (free) for something specific and found them to be average. 

[dragon's breath]

I would ask for recommendations from work (not coworkers, but from people who are "the experts" on our breed of retirement and pensions).

As a fed civilian, we have the TSP, which is different and has its own rules (which are changing here in September, so even the experts need to learn all the new ins and outs).

I'd want someone with in-depth knowledge of our system, because my retirement at 57 looks very different from a teacher's retirement at 57, or a union electrician's retirement at 57...

Is there anything specific you do/would specialize in? (I don't know all the different varieties, but like a 403b is different from TSP, different people are eligible for different versions, etc).

I know retirement isn't the only part of financial planning, but it has a big impact.

If you're looking to specialize in something more than others, it would be good to target those areas.

I know we had 3rd party training years ago from a company that is non-government, but is well familiar with our system, and for the first time set up a class for those of us in the beginning of our careers. They picked up clients in the end, because of the specific knowledge and the training was great advertising for them.

[bullygirl979]

Word of mouth from family/friends.

[ohgillian]

I put "Other Social Media" by which I mean, this board told me to go to Vanguard so I did (I mean I have stuff there and use their FA services).

Good luck with your business!

[noodleoo]

Ugh, this is tough. I've been wanting to use a financial adviser for years but I've always chickened out. I've asked friends for recommendations, but they've usually been too far away. I'd prefer someone I could meet in person. I don't know why, but picking someone off yelp, google, FB, etc seems shady. I'd say the most important thing to me is that you are very clear about your fees up front and how you make money. I had a call with an adviser a friend used and it was really clear to me he was a salesman trying to make money off commissions and it really left a bad taste in my mouth.

[katlizabeth]

Friends and family

[dcn]

Personal recommendation from friends/family.

[oswin]

Personal recommendation together with google. On google I'd be searching for something like "fee-only fiduciary financial planner <name of my town>" To that end, I'd recommend that you have a decent website that talks about the services you offer, how you get paid (fees, commission, etc). I don't even bother contacting businesses that don't have basic info on their website.

Good luck!

[aprilsails]

Friend/family recommendation. We’re currently piggybacking off of FIL’s financial advisor since he doesn’t charge us fees (covered through FIL’s services). We’re about to cross the threshold where we will be charged to our own account I think.

[origami]

Another personal recommendation here. (I asked the person I guessed was the richest person I knew personally.) I’ve been messaged on LI twice by other financial advisors I knew personally. I didn’t think that was weird so I guess I would vote for that. I’m very unlikely to trust my money to someone I have no connections with, so seeing how we’re connected would be important to me.

[Shreddingbetty]

Personal recommendations. I found mine through my divorce lawyer I had a couple of other recs from friends but they were all out of state people and I wanted someone local preferably. I figured I could trust my divorce lawyer’s opinion of his financial advisor. My financial advisor is really awesome and I trust him 100%. Spent 30 minutes talking to him to see if I wanted to hire him. He encouraged my to interview other people and to make sure they were a fiduciary, meaning that they act in your best interest and not theirs or they will lose their license basically. 

[ohgillian]

Jul 11, 2019 8:40:47 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

Ugh, this is tough. I've been wanting to use a financial adviser for years but I've always chickened out. I've asked friends for recommendations, but they've usually been too far away. I'd prefer someone I could meet in person. I don't know why, but picking someone off yelp, google, FB, etc seems shady. I'd say the most important thing to me is that you are very clear about your fees up front and how you make money. I had a call with an adviser a friend used and it was really clear to me he was a salesman trying to make money off commissions and it really left a bad taste in my mouth.

I don't know if this would help, but with Vanguard we can see the person via video chat if we want. (I almost never do it but I've done it at times.)

[penguingrrl]

Personal reference only. From a trusted friend or family member. Same as any other professional I hire.

[MixedBerryJam]

Personal recommendation. I have both my final advisor and my accountant on recommendation of my attorney.

[liveintheville]

He came to my husband’s workplace and gave a talk and took them to lunch. He needed a financial advisor so gave him a call. We’ve used him for years so I guess we got lucky.

[sillygoosegirl]

Jul 10, 2019 11:41:18 GMT -5 madisen said:

I have enough assets at Vanguard to qualify for their Personal Advisor Services.

How are they? Are they helpful? Do they recommend things other than, like, more Vanguard products? I think I'll qualify soon, so pretty curious...

[farmvillelover]

I'm in a related business so I just go off of who I've dealt with previously that I've liked. That's how I make recs to clients and friends.

Personally, we are still considering whether to go actively managed but for now we (me, really) are just DIY. I've had the meetings at Fidelity but they end up being more of a review of what I already know than anything else.

[moolarkey]

I wouldn't rely on social media for something like that. I talk to friends and find out who they've used and the good and bad. I ask our CPA and other similar professionals.

[suzubell]

Personal recommendation. When I have referred others, he has sent me birthday gifts, etc as thank you. One year I got Harry and David’s, another year a restaurant gift card. I always thought that was a nice touch.