How to Find a Financial Advisor in Rancho Cucamonga

You’re a Rancho Cucamonga resident, and you’re thinking of working with a financial advisor. But how do you find the right one for you? This article covers three steps to finding a financial advisor you feel confident about in Rancho Cucamonga, California.

1. Determine the Service You Want

Understanding what you need will help you focus your search. For example, do you want:

• Investment management only: You want a financial advisor to give you investment advice and manage your portfolio without considering your other financial areas.

• A financial plan or specific advisory services: You want an advisor to create a plan you implement on your own. Alternatively, you want one-off services, such as advice on your equity compensation.

• Financial planning and investment management: You need an ongoing relationship with an advisor. The advisor will pull together all areas of your finances—from investing to tax planning—to help you achieve your goals, such as a comfortable retirement.

Once you know what you want, you can move on to Step 2—research.

2. Research Financial Advisors

You can start by asking for referrals. Referrals can come from friends, colleagues, and family members, especially if they seem to be in a good financial situation. You can also ask professionals such as your accountant or attorney.

You can also turn to professional search sites such as:

• Fee-Only Network: You will find Rancho Cucamonga financial planners who do not charge commissions.

• CFP Let’s Make a Plan: You can find advisors who are CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) professionals. This certification means they completed comprehensive education and experience requirements to help achieve clients’ financial goals. They also must serve as a fiduciary to clients.

• Find an Advisor by the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors: NAPFA requires its members to be fee-only, fiduciary firms. We believe that fee-only, fiduciary financial planning is ideal for clients since your advisor must put your best interests first. There are no commissions to create conflicts of interest in their financial advice to you.

Once you have a few potential financial planning firms, check out their websites. You want to look for the types of clients they work with and the services they offer.

For example, our Rancho Cucamonga financial planning firm works with people who are preparing for retirement or have already entered retirement. They’re confused about how to turn their savings and investments into retirement income. We help them cut through the confusion by creating a retirement income plan that doesn’t include annuities. This retirement plan helps give them the freedom to live their dreams because they know they have their day-to-day expenses covered. If this sounds like what you seek, we invite you to schedule a call.

While you are on a potential advisor’s website, determine what kind of advisor they are. For example, are they a broker-dealer connected to a national bank or other financial services company? Or are they an independent Registered Investment Advisor? The difference can be crucial, especially if you want fiduciary, no-commission advice.

Look for the firm’s Form CRS and ADV to read key facts, such as their fee structure, how they manage conflicts of interest, and whether any of the firm’s advisors have been involved in criminal or civil actions.

Once you have a short list of potential financial advisors, you can move on to the third step of scheduling a call.

3. Schedule a Call

You want to briefly talk with the financial advisor before scheduling a full meeting. Every firm does this step slightly differently, but in our call, we discuss your concerns—the reasons you are seeking a financial advisor. We then briefly explain our services so you can determine if we’re a match. If we are, we schedule a full-length meeting.

You can use the call to ask any lingering questions your research didn’t address—for example, “Are you a fee-only, fiduciary advisor?” The advisor should be transparent and forthright with you. If they aren’t, consider looking elsewhere since trustworthy, ethical financial planners definitely exist.

Final Thoughts

You worked hard for your money and should work with a wealth management firm that will treat it—and you—with a duty of care. This article’s three steps of self-assessment, research, and communication can help you find a Rancho Cucamonga advisor you feel confident about.

Schedule a call with a fee-only financial advisor today.

This material was prepared by Kaleido Inc. from information derived from sources believed to be accurate. This information should not be construed as investment, tax or legal advice.