Fee Only Financial Advisor Madison WI

You might be here because you searched Fee Only Financial Advisors Madison, WI, or a similar term. You might be here because you’re curious about what it means to be a fee-only financial advisor.

Good news for you… this article aims to help you understand what it means to be a fee-only financial advisor and what you should look for in one.

Before we dig into the details, let’s talk briefly about what it means to be found on the internet. Having this background is helpful as you decide who is the best advisor to work with.

Top 3 search terms for Financial Advisor Madison, WI

According to search engine optimization (SEO) research, the 3 most popular search terms for financial advisors in Madison are as follows:

I provided these search terms because if you use any of them, you’ll probably see similar results for each.

Next, you will have a general layout for your results that might look like this:

Financial advisors who are advertising
Financial advisor map results
A mix of websites from local financial advisors and financial advisor solicitors

Let’s break down what each of these means.

Search results for Financial Advisor Madison, WI

You will see several advertisements at the very top of your search results. These are from financial advisors advertising on Google, Bing, or whatever search engine you’ve used. This isn’t good or bad. It’s just marketing.

The financial advisor will be charged a fee when you click those links. If you don’t like the financial advisor who is advertising, this is a sneaky way to make them pay a few cents to a couple of bucks per click. Shhhh. Don’t tell them I told you that.

Below the advertisements, you might see search results from your search engine’s Map website.

Any firms listed near the top of the Maps software are the ones that have Google Reviews.

This is important! Why? If you’re a top result on the Maps, it is because you have some reviews. Take these reviews with a grain of salt.

Fiduciary financial advisors cannot solicit clients to leave reviews. If a fiduciary financial advisor cherry-picks who should leave a review, it violates the SEC testimonial policy. If there are many online reviews, there is a good chance the advisor is not a fiduciary financial advisor. That said, if there are some testimonials, it might be okay since there are compliant ways of doing it. Few = OK; Many = questionable.

Next, you will find search results for financial advisor solicitors. I won’t name them, but the odds are that if it’s not a local firm, it’s a solicitor. A solicitor is a firm that is good at marketing but doesn’t provide financial advice.

These financial advisor solicitors typically charge the advisor a fee for leads, for space on the website, or take a fee share agreement after a client agrees. If you found an advisor through one of these platforms, you shouldn’t hold them in any higher regard. They just paid to get there.

If you’re reading a list of “Top Financial Advisors” in Madison, WI, then you’re reading a list of the biggest local firms. This rarely means anything in terms of quality. I would argue that the bigger the firm, the less service you’ll receive as a trade-off for the greatest continuity.

Don’t get me wrong, continuity is important.

Knowing what happens if your financial advisor retires, dies, or becomes disabled is smart planning.

However, if you trust your financial advisor, you would be wise to look for someone new anyway. Just because your current advisor wore a branded blue shirt doesn’t mean you’ll like the next advisor wearing the same branded blue shirt.

You would be wise to consider an advisor with whom you can align your goals to engage in a true partnership.

Tucked within that first page of results will be 2-4 local firms. These local firms have done a great job with their SEO. To be great at SEO, you need to:

Write an article that the search engine likes
Receive backlinks from another website

The financial advisor might have paid some websites for backlinks to do this. Others might have provided a ton of content that has been cited on other websites.

With that knowledge, let’s address what it means to be fee-only.

What it means to be a fee-only financial advisor

Investopedia defines a fee-only financial advisor as “a financial advisor who is paid for the rate of the services they provide rather than getting paid by commission on the products they sell or trade.”

The essence of a fee-only financial advisor is that they have the lowest conflicts of interest. A salesperson receives commissions from the product he or she sells. By its nature, this person is biased to sell you what they have or the decisions they make.

That said, even fee-only financial advisors have conflicts of interest. Conflicts of interest will never be eliminated as it’s the very nature of business. Knowing that conflicts of interest can’t be eliminated, you must decide which conflicts of interest are manageable.

A fee-only financial advisor can be paid in a few different ways:

Hourly
Flat fee
Percentage of assets under management

Hourly financial planners charge a market rate for their advice. An hourly financial planner is financially incentivized to spend more time working on a project.

Flat-fee financial advisors set a fixed price for a project. A flat-fee financial advisor is incentivized to spend the least time on a project.

Percentage of assets under management: financial advisors charge a fee based on how much money they manage. These financial advisors are incentivized to keep your assets under management.

Choosing which conflict(s) of interest are most manageable for your circumstances is important. No fee model is perfect. However, knowing which fee-only financial advisor is best for you will help you get the service you need.

Ultimately, it’s who you trust to be your wealth plan partner.

The top 3 characteristics of a good Financial Advisor

There are thousands of financial advisors. Choosing the right one is no small task. Most of you will choose someone who you’re familiar with from a social connection or a friendly recommendation.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably a bit more research-orientated like me.

Here are my top 3 characteristics of a good financial advisor:

They listen
- If you can’t get a word in edge-wise… you’re talking with a salesperson, not a real financial advisor.
- If you don’t feel comfortable picking up the phone or sending them an email, they aren’t your partner. You’re just another client.
They love to learn
- Credentials (e.g., CPA/PFS, CFP, CFA, etc.) are helpful indicators of competence, but it doesn’t tell the full story.
  - Fun fact – the CFA credential doesn’t require ongoing continuing education. It’s encouraged to take standards, ethics, and regulations tests. Just because they passed a difficult test 20 years ago doesn’t mean they are staying current with financial planning. Investment management without some financial planning is dangerous.
- Are they reading current research? Or only checking the box for continuing education through their credential’s governing body? See some of our favorites by clicking here and scrolling near the bottom.
- What are they doing to become a better financial advisor?
They’re independent
- Are they able to give you advice in your best interest? Yes, their legal structure might mean they are fiduciary. However, if they need to speak through a corporate microphone, you’re probably only hearing what’s in their employer’s or their best interest. Check out our independent voice through our newsletter and whitepaper.

Summary

I hope you’ve found this short blog post helpful as you search for your financial advisor. Whoever you end up with, I hope you have someone you can confidently partner with for the long term.

A financial advisor’s relationship with families should be treasured. As an advisor, I am honored to sit at the table to discuss one of life’s most taboo topics. I take it seriously and hope whoever you partner with does the same.

If, after reading this, you’re curious about how a partnership works with us, please check out our process to see how we approach our partnerships.

Thank you for taking the time to learn. I’m looking forward to connecting.