Best Investment Advisors
For most people, investment advisors are just for the wealthy. In actuality, investment advisors can provide useful services regardless of your financial means. Hiring the right investment advisor can help you choose the right retirement fund or create a trust that protects your legacy for your immediate family and future generations.
Common Questions
What is an investment advisor?
While investment advisors perform many of the same functions as investment brokers, the two services are not interchangeable. In general, investment advisors oversee clients’ entire financial portfolios, including bank accounts, taxes insurance policies and pensions – as well as retirement and estate planning – in addition to investments. In fact, many investment advisors perform functions associated with attorneys who specialize in taxes and estate planning, insurance agents, investment brokers and accountants.
What is the minimum investment requirement
For high net worth individuals, minimum investment requirements imposed by investment advisor firms are often of little or no consequence. But for clients of more modest means, minimum investment requirements may present a barrier to utilizing certain services or prevent such clients from working with certain investment advisors.
How do you check the credentials of an investment advisor?
It should go without saying that any investment advisor you’re considering working with should be thoroughly vetted. Full service firms often include certified public accountants (CPAs) or other licensed financial advisers on staff. Limited service firms may include agents who provide generalized services. However, both can be be vetted by reading consumer reviews on SuperMoney and checking they are licensed and registered with your state securities regulator.
Investment advisors are required to provide detailed, up-to-date, and accurate information on Form ADV Filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forms provide valuable data when comparing investment advisor firms.
We have reviewed the top investment advisors and summarized the most important information in easy to read reviews. Use the tools below to filter investment advisors and then read what our expert and community reviewers have to say about your top choices.
Does it charge a fixed fee or a commission?
There are two major payment models for investment advisors: commission based payment versus direct fee billing. Commission based systems provide compensation for brokers or investment advisors agents based on a percentage of the services provided. Direct fee based systems have fixed fee schedules – with set fees for specific services.
Commission based systems naturally provide an incentive for brokers or agents to sell more services. This can be advantageous in its emphasis on individual services – but a drawback because of the temptation to push services that may or may not be advantageous to clients. On the other hand, fee based systems are often less expensive, but savings may be realized by obliging clients to utilize one-size-fits-all services that may or may not be suited to individual investment advisors circumstances.