fiduciary

By Maura C. Schauss, CFP®

There are 135 different certifications for financial advisors, and most of them begin with the letter “C”: CFPs, ChFCs, CPAs, CLUs, CFSs, and the list goes on. With an alphabet soup of certifications, how do you find a financial professional who’s right for you?

According to a recent survey, most high-income households want their advisors to have these qualifications:[1]

• 85% find it “very important” or “extremely important” for their advisor to have successfully completed a certification examination.

• 95% believe their advisor should adhere to professional practice standards.

• 97% say it’s extremely important for their advisor to adhere to a professional code of ethics.

That’s a tall order. But—believe it or not—it’s not impossible to find an advisor who meets these qualifications. In fact, certified financial planners (CFP®s) check all these boxes and more.

Read on as we discuss everything you need to know about the importance to you in working with a CFP®.

By Todd I. Youngdahl, CFP®

If you’ve spent any time researching financial advisors, you’ve probably come across the term Fee-Only. It’s used to describe registered investment advisors, and it’s one of the best words you can hear when searching for a financial expert.

But what does it mean? And why is it important when you are evaluating financial advisors?

Today we’ll address what it means to be a fee-only financial advisor—and why we at Washington Wealth Advisors pride ourselves on this one little phrase.

By Maura C. Schauss, CFP®

by Maura C. Schauss, CFP®

You may have heard in the media that on April 6, the long-anticipated fiduciary rules from the Department of Labor were issued. These new regulations are expected to significantly impact how people save for retirement and protect families from conflicted retirement advice.