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5 Tips to Find a Financial Advisor for Seniors
Written by Kristen Hicks
about the author
4 minute readLast updated April 21, 2023
For many seniors and their families, money issues are a lot to figure out alone. Your parent has to figure out how to live comfortably on their retirement savings and social security. They have to think about the long-term expenses of aging in place and senior care. Many seniors will also experience dementia or memory issues that make it increasingly difficult to stay on top of their finances — something it’s better to prepare for long before you reach that point. Working with a financial advisor can help you and your parent create a long-term financial plan and break down how to handle their spending each month to achieve it.
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How to find a financial advisor
Americans generally don’t score well when it comes to financial literacy. People of all ages struggle with finding the right mix of investing, saving and spending, but seniors face a number of unique issues when it comes to managing their finances well. Since many people have knowledge gaps surrounding their finances, it’s important to find a financial advisor who’s ethical, knowledgeable and able to help your parent with their particular situation. Here are a few tips to find someone that checks all those boxes: Different advisors have different specialties, so don’t assume off the bat that all the recommendations your parent receives will be a good fit. If people offer up suggestions, go a little deeper and ask them about their particular experience with that financial advisor to learn more, and do some Googling to see what their website and reviews can tell you. If your parent is considering recommendations they got from friends, it’s worth running the names through these directories so they can verify if they’re certified and make sure they’re legitimate.
1. Ask for referrals
A recommendation from someone you or your parent knows is always a strong place to start when finding someone for just about any need. Ask around to see if you have friends or family who have worked with financial advisors before. If you’re on social media, ask for recommendations there.2. Check industry databases
If asking around didn’t get your parent a list of good options, have no fear. There are a few professional databases they can search to find qualified financial planners in their area:- Certified Financial Planners (CFP): This directory has listings for certified financial planners. It allows your parent to limit the results by specialties including elder care, retirement income management and retirement planning, and your parent can limit results to fee-only professionals here as well.
- Financial Planning Association (FPA): This is a listing of everyone with certified financial planner status who’s a member of the Financial Planning Association. After putting in their location information, your parent can narrow their results based on specialty (including life planning and retirement) and they can limit their results to fee-only professionals (recommended for reasons explained below).
- National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA): This is a listing of fee-only financial advisors who are members of the association. They also offer filters based on specialties.
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3. Make sure they’re a fiduciary
Fiduciaries are legally required to work in the best interests of their clients. Other financial advisors aren’t necessarily fraudulent, but they make at least some of their money by recommending specific products from banks and insurance companies that pay them for the recommendation. It’s difficult for them to be 100% sure if they’re suggesting something that’s truly the best option for you, or if they’re just getting paid to say that.4. Don’t put too much trust in titles
Not all certifications are equal. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has found over 50 fake or misleading credentials that target seniors specifically. Knowing the difference between the legitimate titles and the ones that just sound good is hard for anyone to do, though.
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5. Meet in person
Any search for the right financial advisor has to include this step. Use the tips above to determine a few good possibilities (and weed out those who aren’t a good fit) and then set up a few appointments to talk.Recommended For You
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