 |
||||
 |
||||
 |
||||
|
||||
| ||||
| Member Home >> Get Connected >> How do I interview and select the Qualified Kingdom Advisor that is right for me? | ||||
How do I interview and select the Qualified Kingdom Advisor that is right for me?
Questions to Ask a Financial PlannerDo you do comprehensive financial planning?Comprehensive planning should include: review of insurances (life, health, auto, homeowners, disability, LTC, etc.), investments, cash flow analysis, tax analysis, estate planning, elimination of debt. Consideration should also be given to a person's age, career status, family situation, and financial experience. Do you work for an insurance company, investment company, or a broker-dealer that manufactures insurance or investment products?Some planners are required to either recommend only proprietary products or are given incentives to do the same that may affect their level of objectivity. Are you paid by fees, commissions or both?If fee, do you charge a flat fee or an hourly rate? If commission, does that offset the fees, if any? Generally, when you pay someone a fee, you are paying for their advice. Since you are paying for their time they can assist you in the many areas of planning that do not lead to a product sale. When someone is paid commissions only, although they may do comprehensive planning, they would only be compensated on the specific financial transactions, such as insurance or investments, and those commissions could be many times higher the first year than subsequent years. What is your process and how many times will we meet?Generally there will be a series of meetings that may include factfinding, presentation of the plan, a series of implementation meetings, and on going reviews. After the initial year, reviews may be offered once or twice annually, and may be in person or by phone. How many clients do you have?Generally people that do comprehensive financial planning will have 50 to 100 clients. If they have fewer, it may be due to either being new to the business or they limit their practice to a small number of high net worth clients. If they have more, especially if it is in the hundreds, they may be more transactional in nature and may provide a more basic planning service or provide a lesser amount of ongoing service and review. What percentage of your compensation is from fees and from commissions?This will show you their preferred approach to doing business. If they are transitioning from commissions to fees it may be helpful to see how the current breakdown compares with 2 to 3 years ago. Do you think it is good to pay off my house by retirement?Sound financial planning should be prepared for the worst case scenarios. These would include natural disaster, national crisis, economic disaster, loss of job, declining health, premature death etc. When one or more of these things happen, owning your house free and clear can add some stability to your financial situation and increase your peace of mind. A planner that recommends you borrow from the equity in your home to make financial investments may receive compensation for that advice. That compensation may affect their recommendations when it comes to what is in your best interest and could reduce your peace of mind. Why choose a Qualified Kingdom Advisor? What should I look for in a Qualified Kingdom Advisor? Questions to Ask a Fee-Only Investment Advisor(Registered Investment Advisor Representative)A Qualified Kingdom Advisors investment advisor would be expected to provide the following information to all inquiring about using their services: (James 1:5; Psalm 1:1; Proverbs 13:20; Proverbs 15:22; Proverbs 14:15) 1. What is your experience with investing? 2. What professional certifications do you hold? 3. How are you compensated? Fees? Commissions? A combination of fees and commissions? 4. What is your investment philosophy? 5. Once you have invested client assets, how do you monitor investment performance? 6. How do you integrate a biblical world-view into your investment philosophy? 7. How do you determine whether or not a client should be investing, and what is your process for selecting the most appropriate investment options? 8. How often do your clients get statements of their investment holdings? 9. Where are your clients' investments held? A brokerage firm? A mutual fund? Which one? 10. If your clients' investments are held by a brokerage firm or mutual fund, does the brokerage firm or fund charge separate fees for this? 11. How often do you report performance to your clients? 12. What type of investments do you use for your clients? Load or no-load mutual funds? Stocks? Bonds? Annuities? Other? 13. Do you consider the impact of income taxes on investments choices made for a client? 14. How often do you communicate with your clients? How do you communicate? By phone? Meetings? Mail? Email? Newsletters?
15. Do you provide other financial services in addition to investment advice/management?
What are those services?
Why choose a Qualified Kingdom Advisor? What should I look for in a Qualified Kingdom Advisor? Questions to Ask an Investment Consultant(Registered Representative with a Stock Brokerage Firm)A Qualified Kingdom Advisors investment consultant would be expected to provide the following information to all inquiring about using their services: (James 1:5; Psalm 1:1; Proverbs 13:20; Proverbs 15:22; Proverbs 14:15) 1. What is your experience with investing? 2. What professional certifications do you hold? 3. How are you compensated? Fees? Commissions? A combination of fees and commissions? 4. What is your investment philosophy? 5. Once you have invested client assets, how do you monitor investment performance? 6. How do you integrate a biblical world-view into your investment philosophy? 7. How do you determine whether or not a client should be investing, and what is your process for selecting the most appropriate investment options? 8. How often do your clients get statements of their investment holdings? 9. Where are your clients' investments held? A brokerage firm? A mutual fund? Which one? 10. If your clients' investments are held by a brokerage firm or mutual fund, does the brokerage firm or fund charge separate fees for this? 11. How often do you report performance to your clients? 12. What type of investments do you use for your clients? Load or no-load mutual funds? Stocks? Bonds? Annuities? Other? 13. Do you consider the impact of income taxes on investments choices made for a client? 14. How often do you communicate with your clients? How do you communicate? By phone? Meetings? Mail? Email? Newsletters?
15. Do you provide other financial services in addition to investment advice/management?
What are those services? Why choose a Qualified Kingdom Advisor? What should I look for in a Qualified Kingdom Advisor? Questions to ask an Attorney doing Gift and Estate Tax PlanningThere are some issues and specific questions you might want to ask an attorney you are looking to employ. As in most situations it is helpful for you to interview and consider several candidates before you make your final decision. Some of the questions we would suggest you ask include the following: Experience
Services
Referrals
Reputation
Compensation
Why choose a Qualified Kingdom Advisor? What should I look for in a Qualified Kingdom Advisor? Questions to Ask a Certified Public Accountant (CPA)The selection of a CPA normally is a long-term and trusted relationship. Accordingly you should determine your needs and desires, immediate and narrow, and longer-term and broader and make as assessment of your own particular circumstances, quirks and preferences. You should consider several candidates, using several methods such as (a) referrals from close friends or associates (b) the individuals listed in the CFPN list of certified members (c) interviews with these candidates asking some or all of the following questions: Have you helped a client in a similar situation?It saves time to work with a CPA who has already dealt with similar situations. Probe to discover exactly how he/she has dealt with problems similar to yours. If you in need of financial planning, ask about their experience in that specific area.While many CPA's do perform the services of tax preparation, auditing and other areas normally provided by CPA's as listed above, many have entered into the financial planning arena. These specialized CPA's have received and additional designation to provide these services. This designation is known as PFS (Personal Financial Specialist). This designation is preferred when you are considering retaining a Christian CPA financial planner. What are the nature, scope, and timing in completing the proposed assignment?What will the fees be? Often, a CPA's work plan can be more extensive and more expensive than you might expect. Get the CPA to be specific about what he or she will do and get an engagement letter to document the work to be done and the fee estimate. Will my company and/or I be serviced by you, a partner or by junior accountants?Many CPA firms train new associates at the client's expense. Be sure you get what you pay for. What is your opinion of filing bankruptcy; use offshore trusts, aggressive tax-shelters?This will help determine the CPA's personal philosophy of practice. Does the advice come from a biblical or secular worldview? Can you tell me a little about your practices, and your successes and failures?Open-ended questions can elicit a wealth of information. Let the CPA talk. You will also learn a lot about the CPA's priorities, risk-tolerance levels, and various personality characteristics, all of which can be helpful in gauging compatibility. How are your fees calculated?Will you be charging me for every phone conversation and/or meeting? What can I do to help you with your work and keep your fees to a minimum?Preparing information beforehand can save a great deal of your accountant's time. Find out if your CPA is willing to work with you to offload this work to you or someone at your business. How will you be communicating the results of your work to me?The results of an audit usually take the form of an audit report, and tax return preparation yields tax returns. But this work also can lead (and should lead) to many suggestions by the CPA on how to cut taxes, increase income, restructure investments, build business, and improve information and stewardship of your resources. Some CPA's are more comfortable with interactive discussions and others prefer written action reports. Determine which method you are most comfortable in receiving. Do you perceive any conflicts of interests?CPA's work for dozens of firms and scores and sometimes hundreds of individuals. You should inquire if the firm represents any of your direct competition. If so, inquire as to how this conflict is handled. How long have you been a Certified Public Accountant, and what other licenses do you hold?You should inquire with the state CPA organization to discover if there have been any disciplinary actions entered. How well have you integrated computers and the Internet into your practice, and has it enabled you to do more for clients as less cost?Integrating your computer files with those of your CPA's files can save time and money, and increase accuracy. Doing so over the Internet makes it even simpler. Find out how your CPA uses the Internet. Are you conservative or aggressive in interpreting tax laws and regulations, and accounting and auditing standards?Save yourself the hassle and be certain that your accountant approaches your books
in the same way you would. Why choose a Qualified Kingdom Advisor? What should I look for in a Qualified Kingdom Advisor? Questions to ask an Enrolled AgentThe selection of an EA normally is a long-term and trusted relationship. Accordingly you should determine your needs and desires, immediate and narrow, and longer-term and broader and make as assessment of your own particular circumstances, quirks and preferences. You should consider several candidates, using several methods such as (a) referrals from close friends or associates (b) the individuals listed in the Qualified Kingdom Advisors's member list (c) interviews with these candidates asking some or all of the following questions: Have you helped a client in a similar situation?It saves time to work with an EA who has already dealt with similar situations. Probe to discover exactly how he/she has dealt with problems similar to yours. What are the nature, scope, and timing in completing the proposed assignment? What will the fees be?Often, an EA's work plan can be more extensive and more expensive than you might expect. Get the EA to be specific about what he or she will do and get an engagement letter to document the work to be done and the fee estimate. Will my company and/or I be serviced by you, a partner or by junior accountants?Many EA's train new associates at the client's expense. Be sure you get what you pay for. What is your opinion of filing bankruptcy; using offshore trusts, or aggressive tax-shelters?This will help determine the EA's personal philosophy of practice. Does the advice come from a biblical or secular worldview? Can you tell me a little about your practices, and your successes and failures?Open-ended questions can elicit a wealth of information. Let the EA talk. You will also learn a lot about the EA's priorities, risk-tolerance levels, and various personality characteristics, all of which can be helpful in gauging compatibility. How are your fees calculated?Will you be charging me for every phone conversation and/or meeting? What can I do to help you with your work and keep your fees to a minimum?Preparing information beforehand can save a great deal of your accountant's time. Find out if your EA is willing to work with you to offload this work to you or someone at your business. How will you be communicating the results of your work to me?The results of an audit usually take the form of an audit report, and tax return preparation yields tax returns. But this work also can lead (and should lead) to many suggestions by the EA on how to cut taxes, increase income, restructure investments, build business, and improve information and stewardship of your resources. Some EA's are more comfortable with interactive discussions and others prefer written action reports. Determine which method you are most comfortable in receiving. Do you perceive any conflicts of interests?EA's work for dozens of firms and scores and sometimes hundreds of individuals. You should inquire if the firm represents any of your direct competition. If so, inquire as to how this conflict is handled. How long have you been an Enrolled Agent, and what other licenses do you hold?You should inquire with the state organization to discover if there have been any disciplinary actions entered. How well have you integrated computers and the Internet into your practice, and has it enabled you to do more for clients at less cost?Integrating your computer files with those of your EA's files can save time and money, and increase accuracy. Doing so over the Internet makes it even simpler. Find out how your EA uses the Internet. Are you conservative or aggressive in interpreting tax laws and regulations, and accounting and auditing standards?Save yourself the hassle and
be certain that your EA approaches your books in the same way you would.
Why choose a Qualified Kingdom Advisor? What should I look for in a Qualified Kingdom Advisor? Questions to ask an insurance consultant:Are you required to recommend a particular company's insurance policies? Do you work for a company who pays you higher compensation for recommending their proprietary products? How many companies do you represent? What is the rating of those companies? Rating agencies include AM Best, Standard & Poors, and Weiss? Can you provide a breakdown and the percentage of your business that comes from insurance commissions? Can you provide a breakdown of what percentage of your insurance income comes from
the various lines of insurance, e.g.--life, disability, long term care, health insurance,
auto, home, and annuities? Why choose a Qualified Kingdom Advisor? What should I look for in a Qualified Kingdom Advisor? |
||||
|
||||
