A domestic goddess I am not.

When I was someone’s employee, I would hire out for most household tasks — one, because I had the money, and two, because it was fun to be the “boss” in at least one area of my life. I did not admit that the real reason I had someone else do this stuff is because I really did not know how.

But now that I am self-employed, not nearly so well-paid, and painfully aware that I am the boss of no-one except myself, I am daily confronted with my lack of knowledge about all sorts of common things, both business and domestic. Printers and scanners confound me.

As do curtains. The windows in the guest bedroom have been naked for years, and it is finally getting to me, now that I work from home. I suppressed my urge to call my interior designer of yesteryear, and turned instead to Google as the ultimate font of wisdom. I read everything I could about how to install curtains and immediately and hopelessly got lost in the vocabulary: finials, grommets, hollow wall anchors, holdbacks, yikes! So I pointed myself toward Pottery Barn and bought whatever they said I needed. Installation is another matter altogether which may take another few years.

I can’t help but think that many women face the prospect of hiring financial advisors in much the same frame of mind as I face curtains. You know you probably need one, but have no good understanding of all that professional vocabulary. What’s the real difference between a CSA, a ChFC, a PFS, or a CFP®? But rather than spend time educating yourself, you go instead to someone calling himself an advisor, and nod your head at whatever he says you need. Implementation of the advice is another matter altogether.

Actually it is worse than that, since women’s need for financial advice is usually urgent, unlike bare windows which can safely be left for another few years, as long as I keep the bedroom door shut. In research done by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (one of the credentialing organizations that issues the letters “CFP®” to qualifying professionals) it has been shown that a crisis is often what propels people into financial counseling. For women, this typically means a divorce, death of a spouse, aging parents, or a professional change.

But consider the consequences. The crisis that drives you to seek an advisor may also be one that completely unmoors you, mentally and emotionally. You are vulnerable – apt to be swayed by little things, like the fact that the advisor you like most is the one who keeps a box Kleenex in the conference room – as opposed to the big things, such as the advisor’s experience, education, and ethics. CFP Board research also shows that very few people do background checks on advisors, but instead go to whomever a family member or friend recommends.

As a financial advisor and consumer advocate, this really troubles me. In my twenty years of advisory practice, I can count on one hand the number of times I was asked about my professional credentials. People would hire me usually because they liked me. Now I am the first to admit that there must be emotional chemistry between an advisor and client, but it’s a good idea if likeable goes hand in hand with trustworthy. Bernie Madoff was reportedly a really nice guy…

For this reason, I recently wrote the “Consumer Guide to Financial Self Defense” which has been published and distributed by the CFP Board. It is intended to identify “red flags” that may signal trouble in a financial advisory engagement, as well as to educate consumers about the questions they should be asking. With consumers’ trust in financial experts falling to an all time low in the last few years, it’s time to help consumers understand what competence and trustworthiness should look like.

The Guide is just twenty pages, easily read, and downloadable from www.cfp.net. As the guide’s author, I unhumbly think it’s pretty good stuff. I’ve been asked, however, by reporters interested in the guide to pick two or three of the most important take-aways. So to accomodate word counts and readers short of time, I’ve distilled my advice to the following:

• Trust, but always verify. Ask your advisor which organization(s) supervise his activities – the most likely are the SEC, FINRA, the CFP Board (if the advisor holds the CFP® marks) or some combination thereof. Follow up with these organizations to make sure there are no public disciplinary sanctions on the advisor’s record.
• Ask your prospective advisor if he or she provides services as a fiduciary. This means the advisor must put your interests first, and fully disclose compensation and any conflicts of interest.
• Make sure that you understand both the pros and cons of any investment or financial strategy that the advisor recommends. If you are only hearing the benefits, then you are not hearing the whole story.

Just these three tips can make you far savvier (and safer) than the vast majority of consumers of financial advisory services. How do I know this? Because as a former advisor myself, I am almost never asked for this information. I routinely supplied it, not because I was asked, but because I believed clients need to know.

Now if there were also a Consumer Guide to Decorating, all would be well in my world. No more useless trips to Pottery Barn where I come home with something I did not need or want…

If you’re looking for a financial advisor, we have some resources to help: How to Find a Financial Planner and Meet our Advisors.

This article was originally posted at http://www.WomensMedia.com.