All professionals have certificates and specialist levels. These degrees and certificates inform you that this person was trained, educated, and have passed testing and requirements in their professional association and the SEC.

Never operate with anybody who isn't licensed or chartered by the professional institution which governs the behavior of this profession. Find out more info here about the financial planner.

Ask the Financial Planner their investing philosophies. There are numerous theories, portfolio diversification methodologies, and strategies.

Find out the risk factors involved, by asking if they are risk-averse or aggressive growth. A valid Risk Analysis by an independent 3rd party Risk Assessor provides an unbiased opinion on the true risk of the funds being suggested to you.

Do they use the standard portfolio diversification or are they using the new, modern approach to diversification? It may sound great that a diversification method has been around for 60 years however, that is not a good thing.

The market structure and investing have changed dramatically in the past few years. Newer methods are superior and provide a higher Rate Of Investment ROI.

There are several places online through which you can find actual certified financial planners. Many of these are networks of certified advisors and do advertise as such on their websites. You often get paired with a single advisor and work with them from there. There are two common payment scales with these types of services.