As Seen in WSJ | Buy Side Dated 8/19/2025 Written by Molly Grace. Explore the different categories of financial advisors—from RIAs to robo advisors—to determine which expert aligns with your financial planning needs. Key takeaways: There are a lot of different terms used to describe financial professionals, which can make it hard to know which
Can a person ever serve two masters? Does a fiduciary investment adviser possess the obligation to avoid, rather than just "properly manage," conflicts of interest? When a conflict of interest exists for a fiduciary, full disclosure of the conflict of interest is required (in a manner designed to ensure client understanding), followed by "informed consent." This begs the question … would the client of a fiduciary investment adviser ever provide consent to a proposed action which would be harmful to the client? This gets to the heart of the fiduciary relationship.
……Advisers remain the best bet. The safest course is picking an independent, fee-only advisor who makes an explicit promise to act as a fiduciary…
If you’re looking for an adviser, here’s what you need to know about assessing their fees and finding the right financial advisor whose services fit your needs.
“Ultimately, you need to feel confident in the advisor’s competency, objectivity, and responsiveness to your needs,” says Van Sant. “The advisor-client relationship, like many relationships, is built on trust and communication, so doing the proper due diligence in choosing an advisor should provide long-term benefits and peace of mind for all parties.”
……And while we’re on the topic of ethics: Fiduciaries are required by law to put your interests before their own. In addition to that, a subset of fiduciary firms are fee-only, which means they don’t sell any products or services beyond their relationship with you and act as a fiduciary in all parts of their business. The word fiduciary gets used incorrectly all the time, but a true fiduciary has very few conflicts of interest, with all decisions made in the client’s best interest. For me, these two criteria – being a CFP and a fiduciary – should be non-negotiable when choosing an adviser…………
….I recommend that you limit your search to fee-only financial advisors. They are more likely to put your financial interests ahead of their own since they don’t earn commissions from selling you products and services….
This guide decodes the wide variety of certifications and services—along with a checklist of what to ask before you choose
