"How do we find financial planners, or estate planners to help execute in our best interests?" It's a great question. The standard reply one would get from a talking head on CNBC is "Find a licensed Financial planner, and then get at least three references, then make sure that you see if he is working towards his own goals and not yours, etc etc" That's a fine canned response, but what's it really mean? Not much.

As you know, we believe that the person most suited for your personal finances is You. No one cares about you, like you. So, premise one is that you actually care about what's going on and want to take the action steps necessary to achieve your gols. What I find is that too many people tend to think that estate planning is too overboard for their abilities and they pass along the responsibility to someone else. That isn't particularly an attractive way to go. Here is what I suggest.

The hardest part of finding good financial planning is to find a person who really knows his "stuff" but has the time to deal with you on a personal level. In other words consider your tax preparer. Once a year you trot into his or her office with a box load of papers, you wade through it for a couple hours and you're done. You probably won't see them again for a year. With a financial planner this is a major no no. An awful lot can change in the course of a year and you want the ability to contact this person and discuss changes in tax laws, stock directions, allocations, real estate, etc. on at least a monthly basis. So, along with finding a skilled person, one needs to find one who won't blow you off when you call. But more importantly, not only shouldn't he blow you off, he has to listen to your concerns and make movements based on your feelings too.

How do you find a person like that? Well it's not easy, but it's possible. The first thing to do is this, contact the person who handles your house and or life insurance. No, you don't want the salesman, you want the brokerage owner. For instance, my friend's house is insured by State Farm and his local broker is a wonderful guy who's been in the insurance and "money" business for 28 years. Even if you don't know your broker personally, he has a reason to listen to your question and help you. See, you pay this man through your premiums. He will try and help you if he can. So, start there. A common line of thought would be "Hey Joe, I'm looking for a financial planner to help me get things set up for my retirement, help with my taxes, and help me build a secure environment. I don't want some pushy guy who is going to try and sell me all sorts of services, I want to pay someone for his knowledge. Do you know of anyone that sounds right for the job?" Will Joe know someone who can help? Probably, financial planners contact insurance companies all the time trying to increase business.

Your life insurance provider is also a good place to start, although so many life insurance companies have financial advisory services that are nothing more than offices run by 20 somethings that are reading the old company script. This is obvously not acceptable, but in some cases your insurance man may be doubling as a CPA, or a financial planner on the side. If so, and you like him, start asking him the questions. Your boss is generally a good place to ask too. Don't be embarrassed, in fact, keep your head up. If your employer is successful, chances are he's gone through the same questions you are going through. Find out who he uses. We have found that the human resources department of mid sized companies are often a treasure trove of info like this. You can bet that if your HR person is nailing down 150 grand a year, he's talked to many planners both on the corporate level and personal level. Ask him. First he will be shocked because most people don't think about using him for that info, but then he will take a certain pride in feeling that you find him important enough to ask.

If "Joe" is a square guy, he will give you a couple names that will help you. It's your job to weed through them and see if any of them fit the bill. What's the most important thing to ask your new prospect? I can sum it up in one paragraph. Ask him if he thinks it's okay to "stay the course, suffer losses now, because in the long run you will win" If he gives you that line of crap, say "Sorry no thanks" and move on. If you ask him "how can I maximize my returns, while limiting my risks, and avoiding the tax man to the best of my ability", and he replies, I like to stay liquid, and safe. I take risks when appropriate, but only when we can maximize the return and minimize the tax liability" this is a guy you want to meet. The economy changes, the stock market changes, and your planner should be flexible. Make sure you tell this person that you want to stay involved, and that a personal relationship is paramount to success. If he's not willing to field phone calls at 9 pm after you've had an usettling day, then move on. Pay him well for his services, but make it known that you will be involved and you will want interaction.

That doesn't mean call him ten times a day. That means that if you see something changing, you want to talk about it and the ramifications of it. Suppose you have several homes and you start seeing property values dipping in your area because of poor manufacturing employment. We'd certainly be on the phone asking him "when should we sell one and then what should we do with the proceeds?". He might have suggestions you haven't thought of and a discussion is probably necessary. He'll know if you can sell the home without taking a tax hit, and if so, how to minimize it by applying the proceeds to another avenue. That's his job.

Finally, don't think your planner is going to be on top of everything. The guy will have a lot of clients if he is any good, and he won't know everything that is going on in your accounts every day. It's going to be your job to keep track of certain things and "get back to him" about them. Never stray too far away from your own records and ask the right questions when they arise. Remember, it's YOUR money, not his. If you have a gut feeling that you are doing something wrong, tell him about it, tell him why you think it's flawed and come up with something that satisfies both of you.

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