Financial Planner

Financial planner is a general term that refers to a professional who helps businesses or individuals achieve their financial goals. Financial planners often provide financial a comprehensive range of services including investment advice, wealth accumulation, asset protection, debt reduction, retirement planning, insurance advice, estate planning and even some input on taxes. The Certified Financial Planner (CFP) is a well-recognized professional certification that is given to financial planners who have completed a substantive set of course work, passed a set of exams and participate in continuing education programs. Financial planners often--although not always--work on a fee-basis. Their focus is typically--although not always--on providing objective and comprehensive financial advice rather than receiving commissions on the sale of financial products.

Are Inflation Adjusted Annuities Worth the Cost?

Inflation protection for fixed annuities would seem to be a sensible consideration given the fact that central banks around the world are doing everything they can to reflate in the wake of an historic deleveraging.

After all, the worst possible place to be if and when inflation does kick-in is on the receiving end of nominal (not adjusted for inflation) fixed payments, and most fixed annuities fit this description perfectly.

While the inflation protection makes sense in theory, it turns-out that inflation-protected annuities may not be so sensible in practice...

The Best Financial Planning Resources are Affordable and Far Removed from Wall Street

Laurence Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics and Boston University. Professor Kotlikoff is one of the nation’s leading experts on fiscal policy, national saving and personal finance. 

Professor Kotlikoff is the author or co-author of 15 books and he publishes extensively in newspapers, magazines and blogs on issues of personal finance, financial reform, taxes,...

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Types of Financial Advisors

Fee Only Advisor

Independent Financial Planners on Par with Full Service Brokers

The number of mass affluent investors using an independent financial planner is roughly equivalent to the number using a full service broker . A recent survey of 1,498 households with assets between $100,000 and $1,000,000 reveals that 22% use an independent financial planner as their advisor. The number of mass affluent households using full service brokers is also 22%. The number of households using registered investment advisors (RIA) is 6%--a decrease of 4% from the previous survey in...

NAPFA Provides Consumers with Quality Control while Maintaining Flexibility for Financial Advisors

NAPFA is the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors.

NAPFA membership consists of financial advisors who provide comprehensive...

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