Types of Financial Advisers

Some of the more popular names for financial advisers or consultants include:

Financial Planner

A financial planner is someone who uses the financial planning process to provide a client with integrated strategies to achieve financial and life goals. The planner can take a holistic view of your financial situation – reviewing your budgeting and saving, tax, investment, insurance and retirement needs – or work with you on a single financial issue but within the context of your overall situation. This holistic approach may set the planner apart from other financial advisers, who may have been trained to focus on a particular area of your financial life. Many financial planners hold insurance or securities licenses that allow them to buy or sell products; others refer you to specialized financial advisers to implement recommendations. Ethical financial planners will refer you to other professionals for services that they cannot provide and disclose any referral fees they may receive in the process.

Accountant

Accountants provide you with advice on tax matters. In some cases, accountants must be licensed by the appropriate government regulatory agency.

Estate Planner

Estate planners provide you with advice on estate planning issues and put together a strategy to manage your assets at the time of your death. While attorneys, accountants, personal financial planners, insurance agents or trust bankers may all provide estate planning services, you should seek an attorney to prepare legal documents such as wills, trusts and powers of attorney.

Insurance Agent

Insurance agents are typically licensed by a regulatory body to sell life, health, property and casualty or other insurance products. Personal financial planners may identify and advise you on your insurance needs, but can only sell you insurance products if they are properly licensed.

Stockbroker

Stockbrokers are licensed by securities regulators to buy and sell securities products such as stocks, bonds and mutual funds. They generally earn commissions on all of their transactions.

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