The following subjects are discussed below:

Who can I trust?

Who is a good financial advisor?

What are the right credentials a financial advisor should have?

Who can I trust?

No one!

More important, it is not necessary to trust anyone, and you should not put yourself in the position of depending on anyone. You are the one who has to make decisions about what to do with your money. If you rely on someone else to make those decisions for you, then you really do have to worry about whether you can trust that person. It is not a question of honesty. Honest people make mistakes sometimes.

The only thing that you can trust is competition, because when a salesman knows that he is in competition with another salesman, that brings out his best.

Even if you do not know anything, you can rely on competition to get you the best answer for your problems. Youhave an insurance agent. Ask him or her for their best answer. If you do not have a financial advisor, tere are plenty listed in the yellow pages.

Sure, they are going to try and sell you something. If you want to find out what s wrong with a sales proposition, tell a competing salesman what has been offerred, and then ask him what is wrong with that proposal. I guarantee the salesman knows what is wrong with the other proposal. his expertise becomes your knowledge.

If you want to be sure that you got the best advice, tell me what everyone else is offerring,a nd I will show youwhat is wrong with their proprosals.

Who is a good financial advisor?     

I am the best Financial Advisor you will ever know, but you will have to work with me for a while before you know that for a fact.

Again, do not waste your time looking for the expert.You would not know the difference between a slick salespitch and the right answer. However, a competing salesman would. Play one salesman against the other in order to get the best answers for your problem. Commission salesmen do all that work to help you make the right decision, but you do not pay them unless you think they gave you that best answer!

What are the right credentials a financial advisor should have?

Credentials are just a distraction. The solution to your financial problems is the only thing that is important to you. Anyone might provide you with the right answer.

Consider my credentials:

I did my graduate studies in Theoretical Physics and Mathematics at Case Western Reserve University on a National Science Foundation Fellowship. They only give those Fellowships to the upper one half percent in the nation. I was also awarded the Atomic Energy Commission Fellowship.

At the age of 19, I was programming mainframe computers for the Atomic Energy Commission in Oak RidgeTennessee. In 1968, I invented the computer model which is used for preliminary design of all nuclear propulsion plants for the United States Nuclear Navy. In 1973, I created the world's first production version of the search capability that you use when you type in a few words into Google and search the internet. In 1976, I also convinced Admiral Rickover to purchase the first adinistrative computer that the United States Nuclear Navy ever had 21 years after the Nautilus Submarine was launched!

Now that you are thoroughly impressed with my credentials, forget them because they have nothing to do with financial planning and investing! Yes, I use the discipline that I learned as a scientist to help me do what is best for you. Yes, I use my facility with mathematics to create a model of your future. But that is not  Investing!

My credentials and 50 cents will not buy you a cup of coffee! The same is true for anyone else's credentials. There are no labels that allow you to easily recognize a good financial advisor.

The point I want you to know is that credentials represent hard work by the individual, but they do not make him or her honest. Credentials do not make a person an expert on every aspect of Financial Planning. Credentials do not endow a person with all the best ideas on how to plan and invest for your future.

By asking who is a good advisor, you are really asking who is the one person I can go to and get all the right answers. Life unfortunately is not that easy. There are no labels that will make it easy to identify the right person. More important, there is no one person who has all the right answers all the time - not even me, as wonderful as I am!

A better question is "How can I be sure that I am getting good advice?"

 HAVE MORE THAN ONE ADVISOR !

Do not limit your opportunities to one person.

It is your money and your problem. A lot of people are competing for your business. Turn the question around. Which advisor can prove to you that he or she is giving you the best advice!

Pose the same problem to all of your advisors, and listen to their solution. Then ask each of them about the solution which the other salesmen have proposed.

You are not an expert on Financial Planning or investment products. However, the advisors make their living dealing with those financial concepts and investment products everyday. They can spot the flaws even if you cannot. Each advisor wants your business, and they will use all of their skills and knowledge to win your business. You will know the right answer when you hear it.

Competition is wonderful! It brings out the best, and the worst, in people. When you ask several avisors for their opinion about a certain financial tactic, their arguments will show you which is the best advice. Their behavior will also tell you somehing about them as professionals.

It is easier for you to referee a contest than it is for you to form an opinion about one proposal based upon your limited kowledge and experience. More important, you do not have to do all the work yourself. The saelsman who wants your business hemost will show you what you need to know!

How can I be sure that I am making the right decision?

The process is called a Ben Franklin. Draw a line down the center of the page. On the left side of the page is method A for solving your problem. On the right side of the page is method B. Each method produces an end result. One result will be closer to the result that you want than the other method. That is your best choice.

Sometimes both solutions produce similar results; then look at risks. Every solution has side effects - consequences that you would not like. Calculate the losses that each method might produce. One loss will be more acceptable than the other. That is your best choice.

You get the picture. Identify the results that you want or the consequences that you do not want. Then calculate those numbers. One set of numbers will be more pleasing to you than the other set. That will be your best choice.

Don't be lazy! You must translate your words into numbers in order to calculate the bottom line.

Be careful that you don't expect too much. Real world problems do not always have nice, pretty solutions. Sometimes, your best choice is the one that is least ugly!

Remember, the advisor who brings you the best answer deserves your business. The fees or commissions that he receives from your business feeds his family. If you do not reward the winner of the competition with your business, he may not be there for you the next time you have a question.

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