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As investors look for guidance in these troubled markets, one question looms above all others:
Whom can you trust?
During boom times, it was easy to hire a financial adviser and put your money on autopilot. Now the market is in chaos and thousands of investors have been devastated by fraud, with Madoffed threatening to become an all-too-common verb.
Small wonder that many investors are getting reluctant to put their faith in experts. More than three-quarters of individuals with at least $1 million to invest intend to move money away from their financial advisers, and more than half intend to leave their advisers altogether, according to Prince & Associates Inc., a market-research firm.
The trouble is, many investors don't have the time or expertise to make all of their own investment decisions. So, having a professional on your side is crucial. But how can you guarantee that your expert is reliable?
The short answer is that you can't. There are no guarantees. But you can be a lot more sure than many investors are today.
The first step is to realize that you're ultimately responsible for your family's money -- you're the chief executive of your own investment company. Your financial adviser, mutual-fund manager, wealth manager and anyone else who handles your investments should report directly to you. Even if you don't understand the ins and outs of investing as well as they do, you're responsible for ensuring that they handle your money properly.
Once you recognize that you're in charge, you can approach your advisers like a boss -- not just a client. That means putting them through a tough vetting process to make sure they're competent, trustworthy and looking after your best interests. Here are some big questions to keep in mind as you review your candidates:
1. What's in the adviser's background?
'Think like an employer,' looking at a potential adviser's criminal and regulatory record, as well as references from past employers, says Wayne Cooper, founder of Wealth Management Exchange, a social-networking site for high-net-worth investors.
But all of that leaves an important question open: What exactly constitutes a red flag in an adviser's history?
'A discriminating person wouldn't just look at the fact the adviser had a complaint,' says George Brunelle, a New York securities lawyer. He suggests looking for complaints related to customer disputes, fraud or excessive buying and selling of securities, called churning. Investors should zero in on disputes that led to a substantial arbitration award.
On the other hand, some technical infractions -- such as failure to comply with continuing-education requirements on time are more common and may be permissible. Either way, there are lots of advisers out there, so 'it is best to comparison-shop,' Mr. Brunelle says.
2. What do the adviser's clients say?
It can be helpful to ask for references from past and current clients in life situations similar to yours. When talking to the clients, get specific about their experiences. How often did the adviser communicate with them? Has the adviser ever admitted to making a mistake? How often do they evaluate their goals with the adviser? Has anything about their relationship surprised or disappointed them? Has the adviser performed well in bull and bear markets? Is the adviser ethical?
Then ask them for additional references from people the adviser hasn't solicited, says Greg Rogers, founder and president of RayLign Advisory LLC in Greenwich, Conn. 'Try to find six degrees of separation from the adviser,' he says. 'You'll get better information if you get indirect references.'
3. How does the adviser get paid?
Knowing how advisers get paid will help you tell if they're working in your best interest. 'It's no different than going into a clothing store -- when a salesperson says you look great, you know they have a bias to sell you clothes,' says Mr. Sonnenfeldt, the Tiger 21 co-founder.
Advisers use a bunch of compensation structures. They may get a commission on the securities they sell; charge fees, either flat or a percentage of the assets they manage for you; work at an hourly rate; or a combination of all of them. Ask advisers to detail exactly how they work and the total compensation picture from managing your portfolio. Be wary of anyone who shies away from answering these questions in a transparent way, Mr. Sonnenfeldt says.
Also ask about conflicts of interest. For example, if advisers work on commission, ask for their firm's commission schedule and find out if there are a limited number of products or services they can recommend and why. If they can't justify the limited choice, that's a red flag. Meanwhile, if advisers take a percentage of assets as a fee, remember that they may be inclined to advise you to avoid moves that may reduce those assets, including charitable giving or buying a new house. Also be wary of an adviser who charges more than 1% or 2% of assets.
4. Where are the adviser's checks and balances?
The most glaring red flag in the Madoff scandal was the lack of checks and balances. Mr. Madoff's clients wrote checks and wired money to, and received statements from, Bernard L. Madoff Securities. The operation's auditing firm, Friehling & Horowitz, had only one licensed accountant and was operating out of a storefront in New City, N.Y. Madoff investors relied on this firm to verify the authenticity of trades, the SEC said in a complaint.
When purchasing investments, make sure you are writing checks to a third-party custodian, like Fidelity Investments Co. or Charles Schwab & Co., not to your financial adviser directly. This way, 'an adviser can make purchase decisions based upon my instruction, but they can't run away with my money,' says Wealth Management Exchange's Mr. Cooper.
Call the independent institution to verify it's serving your adviser, and never send checks anywhere but that firm's business address. What's more, don't allow your transaction confirmations and account statements to be mailed to your financial adviser instead of you. You should receive account statements from a third-party custodian.
Likewise, find out what auditors your adviser's firm uses. Auditors are crucial, since they verify the existence of the assets your adviser manages. Each state has its own database to check if an auditor is licensed. (While you're at it, check if your adviser has switched accounting firms or custodians recently, a move that could indicate trouble with the previous firm.)
It's also important to ask advisers about another kind of oversight: how the advisers conduct due diligence on any money managers they recommend investing with. Do they check out the managers' balance sheets, and how their actions line up with their investment strategies? Do the advisers have a personal relationship with the managers or get kickbacks from referring you?
Note, though, that it isn't uncommon for advisers to get a referral fee, 'as long as they disclose who is getting the money and demonstrate why they are recommending' the particular money manager, says Ken Springer, president of Corporate Resolutions Inc., a corporate-consulting and investigative firm.
5. What's the adviser's track record?
Advisers sometimes say they can't easily describe their track record, since they tailor each portfolio to an individual client's needs. But that excuse doesn't hold up. 'There are many ways to evaluate an adviser's track record,' Mr. Sonnenfeldt says.
For example, you might ask: How many clients beat their benchmarks or are in line with their goals? How have clients similar to me fared during recessions? Can you combine all of your clients into a single portfolio and tell me how the overall portfolio did? Remember to ask about both short-term (one year) and long-term (10 years or more) records, and ask if your adviser is using absolute returns or returns relative to the performance of the market.
Next, use the advisers' record to understand how they make decisions. 'You can ask about performance, but what you're really after is how the adviser processes decisions,' says Mr. Rogers of RayLign Advisory.
He suggests asking advisers to dissect a specific situation that has occurred to them. For instance, you could say, ''Take your worst investment and evaluate how you made the investment, monitored it and the decisions you made along the way to stick with it or get out,'' he says.
'If you feel they are dodging the question or putting a positive spin on everything, it's a red flag,' Mr. Rogers says. 'It could mean they're not going to deal with or handle the tough decisions.'
Finally, be watchful for claims of all-too-consistent returns. No adviser can deliver 10% to 20% returns every year. More reasonable -- and responsible -- is an adviser who says they may get you 10% one year, 2% the next and so on, Mr. Rogers says.
6. Can the adviser put it in writing?
Ask for a formal written outline of the services the adviser will be providing and what fees you will be paying. By setting concrete expectations, you can determine if an adviser is going to, say, 'help you set goals and do budgeting or just make investment decisions,' says Ellen Turf, chief executive of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors.
Also ask advisers to spell out who else stands to gain from your relationship -- such as affiliated broker-dealers and insurance agencies -- as well as exactly how much the adviser, the adviser's firm and all those other parties will earn from your business.
Finally, find out whether the advisers are going to take on fiduciary responsibility, in which they are legally bound to act in your best interest. If advisers don't take this oath, they're only required to sell you products that are deemed suitable for you-and those may not always be the best fit for your financial situation or objectives.
7. What do other pros think?
Sure, you pay your adviser to do the heavy lifting, but it's imperative that you double-check any big moves -- especially in this turbulent economy.
That means knowing the basics behind your investments, insurance, estate planning and taxes, and then turning to other experts for confirmation. For instance, if your financial adviser recommends investing in commodities, read up on recent news affecting the commodities markets and then search out an expert and ask questions.
'Just like you would ask a specialist for a second opinion on your doctor's diagnosis,' ask your accountant, lawyer and other financial professionals for their opinions on individual strategies, Ms. Turf says.
投資者在困難重重的市場中尋求著指引，所有人都面臨著一個問題：
你可以相信誰？
在市場熱潮時期，你可以輕松地聘請一位財務(wù)顧問，近乎自動地進(jìn)行投資。但現(xiàn)在市場動蕩不安，數(shù)以千計的投資者遭遇欺詐而損失慘重，馬多夫(Madoff)幾乎成為了一個人人皆知的動詞。
因此，許多投資者越來越不愿意信任專家也不足為奇。根據(jù)市場研究機(jī)構(gòu)Prince & Associates Inc.的數(shù)據(jù)，目前持有投資資金超過100萬美元的投資者中，超過四分之三的人都打算從他們的財務(wù)顧問那里撤資，超過半數(shù)的人計劃炒顧問的魷魚。
問題是，很多投資者并沒有時間或是專業(yè)知識，自己制定所有的投資決策。因此，擁有一個職業(yè)人士幫你出謀劃策非常重要。但你如何才能保證自己的專家是可以信賴的呢？
簡單的回答就是，你沒法保證。但你可以做到比現(xiàn)在的許多投資者更有把握。
第一步就是認(rèn)識到你最終要為你家庭的資金負(fù)責(zé)──換句話說，你就是你自己投資公司的首席執(zhí)行長。你的財務(wù)顧問、共同基金經(jīng)理、理財顧問以及其他替你打點投資的人都應(yīng)當(dāng)直接向你報告。即便你不能像他們那樣理解投資的具體知識，你也有責(zé)任確保他們在認(rèn)真負(fù)責(zé)地替你投資。
一旦你意識到自己才是負(fù)責(zé)人的時候，你就可以像個老板那樣和自己的顧問打交道──而不只是當(dāng)自己是客戶。這意味著你必須對他們進(jìn)行一番嚴(yán)格的審查，確保他們稱職、值得信任，且能為你的最佳利益考慮。下面是你評估審查財務(wù)顧問時需要謹(jǐn)記的幾個重要問題：
1、顧問有什么過往背景？
高凈值投資者社交網(wǎng)站W(wǎng)ealth Management Exchange的創(chuàng)始人庫玻(Wayne Cooper)說，你應(yīng)該像個雇主一樣想問題，查看你未來財務(wù)顧問的犯罪紀(jì)錄和監(jiān)管紀(jì)錄，以及他們以前雇主的證明材料。
但這一切還有一個重要問題：查看顧問的過往經(jīng)歷時，哪些才是真正需要警惕的？
紐約證券律師布魯內(nèi)爾(George Brunelle)說，一個有辨別力的人不會只看顧問是否有被投訴的經(jīng)歷。他建議要看與客戶爭端、欺詐或頻密買賣（過度買入賣出證券）的相關(guān)投訴。投資者應(yīng)當(dāng)重點關(guān)注那些導(dǎo)致重大仲裁的嚴(yán)重爭端。
另一方面，一些未能及時遵守繼續(xù)教育要求等技術(shù)性違規(guī)比較常見，也是可以容忍的。布魯內(nèi)爾說，不管怎樣，財務(wù)顧問多了去了，最好是貨比三家多看看。
2、顧問的客戶怎么說？
一名財務(wù)顧問過去和現(xiàn)在總會有一些生活狀況和你類似的客戶，要求查看這些客戶的證明可能會有所幫助。在和這些客戶交談時，記得要問的詳細(xì)具體。顧問和他們聯(lián)系的頻率怎樣？顧問是否承認(rèn)犯下錯誤？他們隔多久會評估與顧問的投資目標(biāo)？他們和顧問的關(guān)系是否曾讓他們驚喜或是失望？這位顧問是否在牛市和熊市都表現(xiàn)出色？顧問的人品怎樣？
康涅狄格咨詢機(jī)構(gòu)RayLign Advisory LLC創(chuàng)始人兼總裁羅杰斯(Greg Rogers)說，然后你再問問這些客戶，想辦法得到那位顧問沒有提到的其他客戶的評價。他說，試圖從顧問那里找到其他人的評價。如果你能獲得間接評價，就能得到更有用的信息。
3、顧問薪酬狀況怎樣？
知道顧問的薪酬情況有助于你判別他是否符合你的最佳利益。Tiger 21的共同創(chuàng)始人索內(nèi)菲爾特(Sonnenfeldt)說，這和去逛服裝店沒什么不同──當(dāng)推銷員說你看上去好 了的時候，你該知道他們是想賣給你衣服。
財務(wù)顧問們有著各種繁多的薪酬結(jié)構(gòu)。他們可能會從銷售的證券那里得到傭金；可能收取管理費(fèi)，固定的或是按照為你管理資產(chǎn)的比例收取；可能按照小時收費(fèi)；或是包括以上所有方式。詳細(xì)詢問顧問他們的工作方式以及為你管理投資組合的總體收費(fèi)情況。索內(nèi)菲爾特說，如果一名顧問不肯坦誠透明地回答這些問題，那么你就得小心了。
你還要問到利益沖突的問題。舉例說，如果顧問是按傭金收費(fèi)的，那么你就該問問他們公司的傭金收費(fèi)表，看看他們是否只有數(shù)目有限的產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)可以推薦，詢問其中的原因。如果他們不能為有限的選擇給出合理解釋，那這就是個警告信號。與此同時，如果顧問按照資產(chǎn)比例收費(fèi)，那你該記住他們有可能會建議你進(jìn)行可能令投資資產(chǎn)減少的舉動，例如慈善捐助或是購買新房。你還應(yīng)該小心那些管理費(fèi)超過資產(chǎn)的1%或是2%的財務(wù)顧問。
4、顧問的制約與平衡狀況怎樣？
馬多夫丑聞中最突出的警告信號就是缺乏制約與平衡。馬多夫的客戶填寫支票或通過匯款向Bernard L. Madoff Securities投資，并從這家公司得到證明。該公司的會計行Friehling & Horowitz只有一名注冊會計師，而且只在紐約新城設(shè)有一家店面。美國證券交易委員會(SEC)在一份指控文件中說，馬多夫的投資者完全依靠這家公司來驗證交易的真實性。
在購買投資時，應(yīng)確保將支票開給富達(dá)投資(Fidelity Investments Co.)或嘉信理財(Charles Schwab & Co.)這樣的第三方托管人, 而不是直接開給你的財務(wù)顧問。Wealth Management Exchange的庫玻說，這樣一來，財務(wù)顧問可以根據(jù)我的指示做出買進(jìn)決定，卻不能卷走我的錢。
給獨(dú)立機(jī)構(gòu)打電話確認(rèn)它為你的顧問提供服務(wù)，不要把支票寄到該機(jī)構(gòu)辦公場所之外的任何地址。而且，不要允許將你的交易確認(rèn)書和帳戶報表寄到你的財務(wù)顧問那里。你應(yīng)該會收到來自第三方托管人的帳戶報表。
同樣，搞清你的顧問所在公司使用哪家審計行。審計行非常關(guān)鍵，因為他們能核實你的顧問所管理的資產(chǎn)是否存在。每個州都有自己的數(shù)據(jù)庫可以查看一家審計行是否有業(yè)務(wù)執(zhí)照（順道查一下你的顧問最近是否換過會計行或托管行。這類舉動可能表示你的顧問與以前的公司有糾紛）。
同樣重要的是，要向財務(wù)顧問詢問另外一種監(jiān)督性質(zhì)的問題：財務(wù)顧問是如何對他們建議投資的理財公司進(jìn)行盡職調(diào)查的。他們是否檢查了這些公司的資產(chǎn)負(fù)債表、他們的行為與投資策略是否一致？財務(wù)顧問與這些理財機(jī)構(gòu)是否有個人關(guān)系、或因為介紹你的業(yè)務(wù)從理財公司拿回扣？
不過要注意，財務(wù)顧問收介紹費(fèi)的情況并不少見。企業(yè)咨詢和調(diào)查公司Corporate Resolutions Inc.的總裁斯普林格(Ken Springer)說，只要他們披露誰拿到錢、并說明他們?yōu)槭裁匆扑]某家特定的理財公司就可以了。
5.財務(wù)顧問的過往業(yè)績記錄如何？
財務(wù)顧問有時會說，他們不太容易表述自己的業(yè)績記錄，因為他們是根據(jù)每位客戶的具體需求定制投資組合的。但這種借口是站不住腳的。索內(nèi)菲爾特說，可以有很多方式評價財務(wù)顧問的業(yè)績記錄。
比如你可以問：有多少客戶的收益超過他們的基準(zhǔn)或與目標(biāo)一致？類似我這樣的客戶在衰退期間收益如何？你是否可以把你的所有客戶放在一個投資組合里，然后告訴我總的投資組合的業(yè)績？記得短期（1年）和長期（10年以上）記錄都要問到，并問問你的顧問，他是采用絕對回報還是相對于大盤市場表現(xiàn)的相對回報來評估業(yè)績。
其次，利用財務(wù)顧問的業(yè)績記錄來弄清楚他們是如何做決定的。RayLign Advisory的羅杰斯說，你可以問到業(yè)績表現(xiàn)，但你真正希望了解的是這位顧問作決策的過程。
他建議讓顧問剖析一個他們曾遇到過的具體情況。他舉例說，你可以說，找出你做過的一項最糟糕的投資，評價一下你是如何決定這項投資及如何監(jiān)測它、你在過程中決定持有或退出此項投資的決定等等。
羅杰斯說，如果你覺得他們在回避問題或給所有事情都貼上積極的標(biāo)簽，就要警惕了，這或許意味著他們將不會處理或應(yīng)付艱難的決定。
最后，對財務(wù)顧問聲稱非常一貫的回報保持警覺。沒有哪個財務(wù)顧問每年都能實現(xiàn)10%-20%的回報。羅杰斯說，比較合理──且負(fù)責(zé)任──的顧問會說，他們可以每年讓你拿到10%的回報，下年是2%，如此下去。
6. 顧問能把它寫下來嗎？
針對財務(wù)顧問要提供的服務(wù)以及你要支付的費(fèi)用提出要一份正式的書面概要。全美個人理財顧問協(xié)會(National Association of Personal Financial Advisors)首席執(zhí)行長特夫(Ellen Turf)說，設(shè)定具體的預(yù)期，這樣你可以決定某位財務(wù)顧問是否要幫助你制定目標(biāo)、制定預(yù)算或者只是做投資決策。
還要問財務(wù)顧問，其他還有什么人會從你們的業(yè)務(wù)關(guān)系中獲得收入──比如關(guān)聯(lián)的經(jīng)紀(jì)自營商和保險機(jī)構(gòu)──以及顧問、顧問所屬公司和所有其他相關(guān)各方將從你的業(yè)務(wù)中掙多少錢。
最后，要搞清財務(wù)顧問是否將承擔(dān)受托責(zé)任、在法律上以你的最佳利益為出發(fā)點采取行動。如果財務(wù)顧問不接受這樣的約定，那么他們只被要求向你出售被認(rèn)為適合你的投資產(chǎn)品，而這些或許未必總是最適合你的財務(wù)狀況或者目標(biāo)。
7. 其他人是什么看法？
的確，你向財務(wù)顧問付了錢，讓他們?yōu)槟愠隽Γ闳杂斜匾藢嵢魏我豁椫卮鬀Q策，特別是在如今經(jīng)濟(jì)形勢多有動蕩的情況下。
這意味著了解你的投資、保險、房地產(chǎn)規(guī)劃和稅收后面的基本情況，然后求助其他專家予以證實。比如，如果你的財務(wù)顧問建議投資大宗商品，那么，你應(yīng)讀讀近期影響大宗商品市場的有關(guān)新聞，然后找位專家咨詢一下。
特夫說，就像你在拿到一位醫(yī)生的診斷后會再找一位專家、聽聽他的意見一樣，可以向你的會計師、律師和其他金融專業(yè)人士了解他們對具體策略的看法。
