Your WEALTH MATTERS BLOG

Meeting with prospective Portfolio Managers or Investment Advisors can initially feel intimidating, particularly if you have limited investment experience. But really, this should be a bit like a job interview that you are conducting. Since you are delegating this part of your financial life to someone else, your values and priorities must align.

One of the first questions you should be asking in your initial meetings is what professional license or oversight body a firm belongs to, if this has not already been disclosed or isn’t clear. There are, in fact, several regulatory bodies that exist. Make sure that you know which one the firm in question falls under and what that means.

A firm’s glossy website can leave a strong first impression and when you go in to meet with a firm and its team you will likely experience a similar charm. However, sometimes these efforts to entice new clients make it hard to see beyond the veneer. So how can you tell if a firm is telling the whole story?