Choosing the right financial advisor is an important step in protecting your retirement, investments, and long-term financial goals. Before hiring or changing advisors, it’s essential to ask the right questions about services, fees, fiduciary responsibility, and experience. The following questions and answers are provided by the advisors at Deschutes Investment Consulting to help investors better understand what to look for when hiring or changing a financial advisor. While this guide is designed to be educational and informative, it also reflects how our firm operates, how we are compensated, and the services we provide. Our goal is to offer clarity and transparency so you can make confident, well-informed decisions about your financial future.
1) What Is the Difference Between a Registered Investment Advisor and a Broker?
- Registered Investment Advisory Firm- These Investment Advisors provide personalized financial advice for a fee. They work with clients to achieve their financial goals by developing investment, tax, estate planning, and other strategies. They are typically compensation based on the assets under management and/or planning fees.
- Broker-dealer/Brokers. Registered Representatives are in the business of buying and selling securities. They also provide advice and recommend investment products on which they earn a commission.
- Key differences?
- Investment advisors act as fiduciaries and are legally required to act in the client’s best interest. Brokers are held to a “suitability” standard which requires recommendations to be suitable at the time of sale.
- Investment advisors are typically paid by a percentage of assets under management. Brokers are typically paid commission based on the products sold.
2) What services do you offer?
- Wealth Management
- Financial Planning
- Retirement Plan Consulting
- Retirement Planning
3) What special education or professional designations does your team hold?
Our team of very experienced advisors hold the following designations:
- CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) The standard for comprehensive financial planning.
- Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®) Similar to CFP®
- Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor (CRPC®) Specialized training for retirement planning.
- Certified Plan Fiduciary Advisor (CPFA) In depth knowledge of employer-sponsored retirement plans.
4) How much do your services cost for individual services?
- One-time Financial Planning setup fee (based on complexity)
- 1% on assets on the first $1 million of assets we manage directly with automatic reductions as assets grow. Link to Deschutes ADV
5) Does your firm have a minimum fee or assets to manage?
- We primarily work with clients with $500,000 or more in assets or who meet the $5k a year minimum fee.
6) Does your advisor act as a fiduciary?
- YES!
7) Can you coordinate with other professionals such as CPAs?
- YES! We actually prefer to coordinate with our clients’ other professionals such as attorney’s and CPAs.
8) What are the key areas included in financial planning?
- Retirement ( Saving and Income planning)
- Cash Flow (Income and Expenses)
- Investment Management
- Risk Management (Insurance)
- Tax Efficiency
- Estate Planning
- Other goals such as education, gifting, debt repayment etc.)
9) How often will we communicate with our clients?
- There is no one-size-fits-all. We communicate with many financial planning clients quarterly. We like to check in with our clients before year end and before taxes are filed. We also like to hold meetings, anytime our clients have significant changes in their life or have any updates to their goals.
If you have additional questions or would like to learn more about how Deschutes Investment Consulting can support your retirement planning, wealth management, or corporate retirement plan needs, we welcome the conversation. Our team is always available to provide guidance and discuss whether our approach is the right fit for you. Please reach out to schedule a conversation.