Selecting and Evaluating Financial Advisors

This unit teaches students how to identify and avoid common tax mistakes, understand the drivers of poor tax decisions, and critically evaluate financial professionals’ fee structures, qualifications, and service models. Building on prior units in personal finance and financial mathematics, students will prepare actionable plans for engaging advisors, verifying credentials, and implementing recommended strategies.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze sample tax filings and case studies to identify common tax mistakes and recommend corrective actions to prevent future errors when working with advisors
• Evaluate advisor compensation models by calculating and comparing proportions of income from client fees versus commissions, money management versus hourly planning, and determining an advisor’s effective hourly fee
• Apply vetting criteria to assess whether a financial professional provides tax or legal services, holds appropriate education/experience and liability insurance, and can supply relevant client references
• Demonstrate the ability to develop an implementation plan that includes specific strategy and product recommendations, conflict-of-interest considerations, and step-by-step procedures for executing and monitoring the plan