How does an ordinary investor find a true professional financial planner when it can be like searching for a needle in a haystack?
The financial services industry includes hundreds of thousands of individuals who use titles such as financial advisor, wealth manager, financial consultant, retirement specialist or financial planner. Yet these professionals operate under very different business models, compensation structures and standards of care.
Over the years, I’ve developed three criteria that I believe help consumers identify a true financial planning professional:
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1. Professional training and competency, often demonstrated through credentials such as the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification.
2. A fiduciary relationship, where the advisor is legally obligated to place the client’s interests ahead of their own.
3. Fee-only compensation, meaning the advisor is compensated only by the client and doesn’t receive commissions or other sales-related compensation from financial product providers.
Financial advisers who are members of the Garrett Planning Network (GPN) are required to meet all three criteria. But they must also agree to one more, unique requirement.
Unlike many firms that require ongoing wealth management relationships, Garrett members must make financial advice available regardless of income, net worth or asset level. They must also offer time-based services, such as hourly planning or project-based engagements.
That may be the organization’s superpower.
I spoke to Jean Keener, CFP®, founder of Keener Financial Planning in Keller, Texas and a long-time Garrett Planning Network member, to find out more.
The accessibility problem
One of the biggest challenges facing consumers today is simply gaining access to objective financial advice.
Many advisory firms establish minimum account sizes of $500,000, $1 million, $2 million or more. While those firms may provide excellent service, their business models can leave many Americans without access to professional financial planning advice.
According to Keener, when consumers attempt to seek help, they often encounter something very different from what they expected: “People maybe try to get some advice, but they end up getting a sales pitch instead.
“When people are looking for objective advice and the only solution that’s available to them is a sales relationship, that’s not what they’re even looking for.”
This distinction is important.
Consumers are often searching for advice. What they find instead is a product recommendation.
The Garrett difference
The Garrett Planning Network was built differently, Keener says: “I felt like it solved that problem of, ‘how do we create a model that people can get the objective advice they’re looking for without a sales pitch?'”
It allows consumers to seek professional advice without worrying whether they will meet a firm’s minimum account requirements.
The practical impact of this policy cannot be overstated.
- A young physician beginning a residency
- A newly married couple saving for their first home
- A recently divorced individual
- A mid-career professional evaluating their stock options
- A retiree trying to make Social Security and Medicare decisions
All these individuals can benefit from professional financial planning advice, even if they don’t have substantial investment assets.
Advice when you need it
One of the most interesting parts of my conversation with Keener involved the concept of comprehensive financial planning.
She described comprehensive planning as taking a holistic view of an individual’s financial life, including investments, taxes, insurance, estate planning, retirement planning, cash flow, debt management and other financial decisions.
But she also emphasized that consumers don’t always need a traditional comprehensive financial plan. Sometimes they simply need objective guidance on a specific issue.
That flexibility is particularly valuable for younger investors with modest assets. Keener said: “[A] 25-year-old doesn’t need comprehensive financial planning the way our industry has defined it, but [they do] need holistic financial advice.”
In other words, consumers should be able to access the advice they need today without waiting until they accumulate significant wealth.
Finding the needle in the haystack
The more financial planners I interview, the more convinced I become that true financial planning professionals represent a relatively small segment of the broader financial advice marketplace.
Many people who call themselves financial planners are primarily engaged in selling investment products, insurance products or investment management services.
By contrast, professional financial planners focus on providing advice.
That’s why I continue to believe that three characteristics matter most:
- Professional training and competency
- Fiduciary responsibility
- Fee-only compensation
The Garrett Planning Network combines all three of those characteristics while also adding a fourth requirement that may be uniquely valuable to consumers: Accessibility.
Its members agree to make financial advice available regardless of a person’s income, assets or net worth.
That commitment helps consumers find what can otherwise be a needle in a haystack: A professionally trained, fee-only financial planner who is willing to help them before they become wealthy.
How to find a Garrett planner
Consumers who are interested in working with a Garrett Planning Network member can begin by visiting the Garrett Planning Network’s online advisor directory. The directory allows investors to search for fee-only financial planners who have agreed to the organization’s membership standards, including providing advice without minimum income, asset or net-worth requirements and offering time-based planning services.
Before engaging an advisor, investors should review their credentials, regulatory filings, areas of specialization, compensation model and service offerings to determine whether they’re a good fit for their personal financial situation.
The bottom line
When I asked Keener what continues to attract her to the Garrett Planning Network after nearly two decades of membership, her answer reflected the organization’s mission.
She said Garrett members are committed to making objective financial advice available to a broader segment of the American public and helping consumers obtain the advice they need when they need it.
For investors searching for objective financial guidance, that commitment may be the organization’s greatest strength.
In a marketplace crowded with salespeople, the Garrett Planning Network helps consumers find something increasingly rare: A professionally trained financial planner who combines fee-only compensation, fiduciary responsibility and a commitment to making financial advice accessible to everyone — not just the wealthy.