By Jack Waymire

Since advisors don't provide audited track records and it's difficult to measure competency and integrity, just how do you select the best advisor for you? The answer is very carefully. Even though they are hard to measure, you must focus on the advisors' documented credentials while minimizing the impact of their personalities and sales skills.

Highest Level of Trust

It doesn't matter how smart professionals are if you can't trust their advice. Therefore, it's imperative that you select the professional that you believe is the most trustworthy.

Substantial Knowledge

Select the professional who has the greatest amount of knowledge that will help you achieve your financial goals. For example, if you need a professional with planning skills, you should pick the planner with the best education, certifications, association memberships, and experience. Knowledge does not guarantee a successful experience, but it's critical and measurable.

Personalities

There is an excellent reason why personalities should have low importance. The very best advisors are quantitative and analytical by nature and may not have the most outgoing personalities. These personality traits are much more valuable than those of advisors with more outgoing personalities who buy lunches and send birthday cards. You shouldn't be looking for a friend. You want a professional who can help you achieve your goals.

Sophisticated Services

Select the professional who can prove he or she will deliver sophisticated wealth management services. For example, if it's a planning service you want with a Monte Carlo simulation capability or, if it's an advisory service, pick the advisor who can best optimize the relationship between risk and return. Sophisticated services increase the odds you'll achieve your goals.

Lower Risk

Select the professional who represents the lowest probability of providing bad advice and the highest probability of developing a strategy that produces consistent returns for reasonable amounts of risk. You want the lowest risk strategy that will still enable you to achieve your financial goals.

Lower Expenses

All other things being equal, you want to select the professional who proposes the strategy with the lowest net cost. For example, one advisor recommends a mutual fund manager with a 1.5% fee, while another advisor recommends a separate account manager with a 0.5% fee. The managers provide similar services and have similar track records; however, one is three times as expensive as the other with no offsetting benefits.

Probability of Success

Your ultimate challenge is selecting the advisor with the highest probability of helping you achieve your financial goals. And that begins with a clear understanding of what your needs are. Because advisors don't have audited track records, you have to base your decision on all the above factors - and look for proof that the advisor has the right credentials, knowledge, experience, integrity and trust.

Comfort Zone

Your selection process must be rational, thorough, and objective for you to pick the best advisor for your situation. Only as a last step, when you've completed your objective evaluation, can you let some subjectivity creep into your selection process. At this point, you've done your homework, so pick the professional you are most comfortable with.

* (This article was provided by Paladin Registry, an online firm that helps investor evaluate, and select investment professionals, www.paladinregistry.com)