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The decision on which financial adviser you use is a very important one. This person is going to help you establish your goals, and then help you meet those goals. Hopefully directing you towards a comfortable and rewarding retirement, so you want to be sure you chose the best person for the job.

There are many different types of financial advisors, and no one advisor is right for everyone. We all have different wants and needs, so it is important that our choice of advisor understands what we want accomplish, and is able to give the best advice for our particular needs.

Whether you are in the market for an advisor, or already have someone you work with, you should know what type of questions to ask advisors to make sure you get a person who can best help you with your particular financial goals.

Here are a couple questions that you should ask an adviser, which will give you a better understanding of what you are likely to get out of the relationship.

1. Are you a fiduciary?

Finding out whether or not your adviser is a fiduciary is very important. The main difference between a fiduciary and a non-fiduciary advisor is that fiduciaries are required to disclose their fees, how they are paid, and any conflicts of interest that they may have. On the other hand, a non-fiduciary advisor is not required to disclose all this information. They can, for example, sell you an investment that pays them a big commission without ever disclosing that information to you. This can lead to poor financial advice because the advisor may attempt to sell you an investment just for the commissions, not because it is the best investment for you. It is OK for advisors to make commissions on investments, but it is very important that you know these commissions are being paid so you can evaluate whether or not your advisor is working in your best interest or in theirs.

2. What types of clients do you specialize in?

There are many types of financial advisor. Advisors typically tend to focus a particular group of people, so if most of an advisors clients are much older, young, wealthier or less wealthy than you, you may want to keep looking. There are advisers that specialize in retirement planning, while others specialize in helping people save for college. It is important to understand what your goals are, and whether or not your financial advisor is the best person to work with you on accomplishing those goals.

3. How often are you in touch with your clients?

When you hire someone to help you with your money, you want to make sure that you can get in touch with him or her whenever you need to. The amount of contact that people desire from their advisor is a personal thing. Some people are more than OK with just checking in once a year to make sure things are moving in the right direction. Other people feel the need to have greater interaction with their advisor, perhaps even checking in once a month. The amount of interaction you feel comfortable with is up to you, but you need to make sure that your adviser will give you the amount of attention that you desire. Also find out if they are handling your account personally, or if there is a team working for you. Some people prefer to know their advisor is going to always be their point of contact when needing advice, while others like having a team working for them so they know there is always someone available to answer their questions. It is up to you to determine which works best in your case.

4. What are your conflicts of interest?

Every financial advisor has conflicts of interest. If they tell you that they have none then they are not telling you the truth. Perhaps their conflict is getting paid commissions on some of the investments they put you into. Perhaps there is a conflict in them owning some of the same investments. Conflicts of interest are normal in the world of finance, and just because your advisor admits to having some does not make him or her a bad choice, it just makes them honest. The important thing to look for is how they handle their conflicts.