Only true fiduciaries are required to act in their client’s best interest.

Fee-only advisors minimize conflicts of interest. They don’t accept compensation based on product sales, or sell proprietary investments, or accept payments to put certain funds in your accounts, and they generally provide more comprehensive advice.

Fee-based advisers may charge both fees and commissions based on the products they sell. Because fee-based or commission-based advisers generally don’t have a “duty to disclose” their method of compensation, it can confuse clients who may not fully understand when their fee-based advisers are working for commissions.

There is an inherent “moral hazard” with commission-based advisers. A “moral hazard” is a situation where a party has a tendency toward being more willing to take a risk, knowing that the potential costs or burdens of taking such risk will be borne, in whole or in part, by others.

Including retirement planning, tax planning, estate planning, as well as insurance and investment management.

Some firms have a member or two who lives close to you, while the rest of their team works and lives in another state hundreds, or even thousands, of miles away. Ask how your relationship will work, and who on the team you can access with key questions or updates.

Lots of advisors will be in touch with you – when they have something new to sell.

Seek out financial advisors who use an independent custodian to hold your money, instead of holding it themselves.

Annex Wealth Management is currently named on Financial Times’ Top Financial Advisors, Financial Advisor’s Top Advisor, Barron’s Top Advisor, and CityWire’s Future 50 RIAs.