In a recent study that included more than 4,000 consumers Paladin Registry, a free
public service provider for consumers who rely on
professionals to achieve their financial goals, found that
determining the trustworthiness of financial advisors and
financial planners was the single biggest challenge facing
78.3% of consumers when they selected professionals to help
them achieve their financial goals.

Jack Waymire, co-founder of the Registry and author of
“Who’s Watching Your Money?” (ISBN 0471476994, John Wiley &
Sons, 2003), said, “The results of the study shouldn’t be a
big surprise. All financial advisors and financial planners
claim to be competent, ethical professionals because it
helps them sell their products and services. The challenge
for consumers is to determine who is telling the truth about
their ethics when they make this claim. Unfortunately, there
is no easy way for them to obtain the information they need
to make this determination.”

Waymire went on to say, “Advisor ethics is a very complex
topic. Even if consumers check their compliance records on
the National Association of Securities Dealers website
(http://www.nasd.org) they don’t really know if financial
advisors and financial planners are the honest, dependable
professionals they say they are.

For example, compliance records don’t tell them advisors are selling the products
that make them the most money. The records don’t tell them
advisors are withholding information about their lack of
experience and other credentials. And, the NASD records
don’t tell consumers about potential conflicts of interest
that could damage their financial futures.”

It’s up to consumers to determine the trustworthiness of
financial advisors and financial planners before they hire
them or buy their products. In most cases they accept the
verbal representations of the professionals and they don’t
check their compliance records. These are big mistakes
because verbal representations are also called sales
pitches. Financial advisors and financial planners will
always make positive comments about their competence and
ethics to win relationships and sell products.

Waymire did offer a solution. Consumers can require advisors
to provide them with a written Code of Ethics that describes
the ethical principles that they agree to adhere to. Waymire
said, “This type of documentation is the information
consumers need to determine if advisors are really the
ethical professionals they say they are. And, if something
does go wrong, consumers have a written document that
describes what the professionals told them to win their
trust and control of their assets.”

About Paladin Registry Inc.

Founded in 2003, Paladin Registry is an information services
company that provides four free public services to consumers
who use the services of financial advisors and financial
planners: Consumer Awareness & Education Programs, Advisor
Search Services, Advisor Documentation Services, and Advisor
Rating Services. One free public service is a comprehensive
Code of Ethics that protects the financial interests of
consumers. For more information, visit the Registry at
REGISTRY

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