How to Find a Qualified Financial Advisor for Seniors

As you grow old, your requirements also change. Right from your interests and hobbies to your health and finances, age can influence most aspects of your life. Therefore, it is important to find the right kind of assistance to help you navigate through this new phase in life.

As baby boomers are aging with every passing year, the percentage of people over the age of 65 is also increasing in the United States. Baby boomers are people who were born between the years 1946 and 1964. As per the numbers revealed by the United States Census Bureau in the year 2020, the percentage of people aged 65 and more has substantially increased since the year 2010. From 2010 to 2020, their population grew by 34.2%. In just one year, from 2018 to 2019, the population grew by another 3.2%. In fact, these numbers have also pushed the median age to 38.5 years in 2020 from what was previously 37.2 years in 2010.

These increasing numbers indicate that the senior citizens of the U.S make up a sizable population in the country. Financial planning is as important for them as it is for someone below the age of 65. It is a misconception that financial planning is only essential for the working population who are saving for their retirement. Post-retirement, life slows down, and there is a massive shift from capital appreciation to capital preservation. However, this is not entirely true. You can require financial advice and planning even after retirement and in your old age. This is primarily because your financial needs never end, and inflation is constantly increasing. Therefore, it is important to continue saving and investing money with the help of a financial advisor for seniors.

Professional financial advice for seniors can help you live a financially secure life. It can offer you various benefits and allow you to live stress-free. If you are looking for the best financial advisors for seniors, but do not know how or where to find them, you can benefit from the suggestions mentioned in this article:

How to find a financial advisor

Here are some ways to find the best financial advisors for seniors:

1. Ask for recommendations: You can ask your friends and family members for recommendations for the best financial advisors for seniors in your area. Senior financial advisors are more common than you think, and you can easily find a competent professional near you. However, make sure to take recommendations from people you trust, so you can be certain of the financial advisor’s credibility and trustworthiness. Also, do not blindly go with an advisor just because they have worked with someone you know. Instead, gauge their performance after meeting them and discussing your requirements with them. Make sure that you and the professional are on the same page and understand each other’s point of view well. Having a straightforward conversation can enable you to set the right expectations from the very start. This would eliminate the possibility of disagreements later.
2. Look for a financial advisor who is a fiduciary: There are two types of financial advisors – fiduciary and non-fiduciary. Fiduciary financial advisors are legally bound to make investment recommendations in your interest and not their own. These financial advisors ensure that they place your benefits over their own. Hiring a fiduciary financial advisor can give you confidence that all investments and financial decisions are being taken to benefit you alone. If you choose a financial advisor who is not a fiduciary, you risk being exposed to a certain amount of bias. Non-fiduciary advisors may work with banks or investment companies and recommend products and tools merely to earn a commission through them. These investments may or may not benefit you, but they would surely help them earn some money in between. So, be careful and consider hiring a fiduciary to be extra sure.
3. Search online databases: You can look for the best financial advisors for seniors on verified online databases. These databases narrow down the search to your area and requirement. Here are some options that you can try:
   • Certified Financial Planners (CFP): The CFP directory can help you hire a Certified Financial Planner. You can look for services, such as retirement planning, elderly care, budgeting, inheritance, retirement health care, Social Security planning, tax planning, and more. You can also select the proximity of the professional from your location and modify your search from 5 miles to 100 miles, depending on your preference and convenience.
   • Financial Planning Association (FPA): This directory allows you to look for a financial advisor as per the state you reside in.
   • National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA): This directory contains fee-only fiduciary financial advisors. You can pick one based on your location.
   • Wiser Advisor Financial Advisor’s Directory: You can use this directory to find the right vetted financial advisor for your needs in your area. The advisors are pre-screened and you can review the matched profiles. In addition, you do not have to pay any match fee and you’re not placed under any obligation to hire an advisor.

   Directories can be a great place to hire credible and reliable professionals. You can access them online from the comfort of your home and trust the professionals without any worries.

4. Check the credentials of the financial advisor: A financial advisor is someone who is involved in some of the most crucial money related decisions you can ever make. Therefore, it is vital to choose someone who you can fully rely on. To be sure of the professional’s merit and expertise, hire someone with the required qualifications and certifications. You can look for the following certifications in a senior financial advisor:
   • Personal Financial Specialist (PFS)
   • Certified Financial Planner (CFP)
   • Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
   • Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP)
   • Certified Retirement Counselor (CRC)
   • Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA)

In addition to this, you must also look at the past performance of the professional. You can inquire about the number of clients the financial advisor manages at a time to understand whether or not they will be able to offer you the time and attention you want. It is also crucial to check if the financial advisor has any lawsuits, complaints, or criminal allegations against them. These days, you can check customer reviews for professionals online. Read the feedback of the previous clients on Google or the official website of the advisory firm and then make a decision.

What are some things to keep in mind when hiring a financial advisor for seniors?

Some other things that you can pay attention to while hiring a professional financial advisor for seniors include:

• Do not pay any large sums of money upfront: Seniors can be victims of various scams and fraudulent schemes. So, make sure that you research thoroughly in advance and do not make any decisions in haste. If a professional asks for a high sum of money upfront with a promise to double it or increase it substantially in a short amount of time, you should take a step back and try to verify the legitimacy of such a claim. In this case, try to look into the credentials of the professional and then proceed. It can also help to start with a one-time consultation first. If you like the individual, you can proceed with a longer contract.
• Trust your instincts: Always trust your instincts. If you seem wary of a person’s intentions, do not work with them. Your instincts may or may not be right, but they will offer your peace of mind which is very important in money matters. If you do not like someone or find an imbalance in your ideas and goals and theirs, it can be better to not engage with them at all. In this case, you can look for another individual. There are several qualified professional financial advisors in the market,so take your time in making your decision.
• Stick to reliable sources only: When asking for recommendations or looking for professionals on the internet, refer to only those sources that are reliable. The internet is full of scams and frauds as well as unverified websites. Hiring someone from such a source can be extremely risky.

Why do you need professional financial advice for seniors?

Here are some reasons why you need a financial advisor:

• To plan your healthcare expenses: Health care is one of the most crucial aspects to focus on in retirement. Not only can health expenses contribute to a substantial chunk of your retirement expenditure, but they can also lead to stress and worries. A financial advisor can help you save for your health related expenses with a number of strategies like using insurance (long term care insurance, critical illness insurance, general health insurance), federal Medicare plans (A, B, C, and D), health savings account (HSA), etc. A professional can also offer financial advice for seniors to help them efficiently use all of these accounts and plans in their hour of need.
• To make an estate plan: Although estate planning is not limited to old age and should be done much earlier in life, it can still require extra attention once you cross 60 years of age. You may have to update your estate plan according to the changing needs of your loved ones and changes in your relationships. For instance, if you get divorced, remarried, or widowed, you would have to alter your estate plan and will. If your children get divorced, widowed, or remarried, or if they have biological or adopted children, you may want to reflect these changes in your will and estate plan. Family feuds can also trigger a change in your estate plan. You may want to remove or add certain beneficiaries or change their inheritance based on recent events. All of these modifications must be updated on your estate plan at the earliest, and a financial advisor can help you do so.
• To ensure financial stability for the rest of your life: Since your sources of income are limited in retirement, ensuring financial stability for the rest of your life can be a tricky task. It is important to ensure that you continue finding ways to earn more money. This can be through various measures. While working post retirement may not be feasible for all people, a financial advisor can help you create other streams of income. For instance, you can continue investing in low risk investments, such as debt funds, fixed income instruments like certificates of deposit, bonds, commercial papers, etc., to continue the inflow of funds without exposing yourself to too much risk. You can also talk to a financial advisor about renting or leasing real estate to earn some money.
• To implement retirement appropriate strategies: Financial security does not end with saving money. Using this saved up money is also crucial. If you use your retirement income quickly, you risk running out of funds in your later years. If you live too frugally, you may be unhappy and not get to enjoy your life’s savings. Therefore, it is important to strike a balance. This can be done with sound planning and withdrawal strategies. Right from helping you with your Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) and avoiding penalties to ensuring that you do not deplete your savings sooner than necessary, a financial advisor can offer you assistance in various ways.
• To minimize taxes: Your tax liabilities do not end in retirement. So, you must employ strategies to reduce your tax output. This is essential especially in retirement, as you already have restricted income in this phase. A financial advisor can help you devise ways to lower your taxes legally. This can help you maximize your investment gains and use your money effectively without it getting eaten up by taxes.

To summarize

If you are above the age of 60, you must consider hiring a financial advisor for better financial advice. These professionals can understand your unique requirements and financial goals that come after a specific age. Moreover, they can enable you to enjoy financial security for the rest of your life.

If you wish to be financially secured and live a comfortable life, look for a financial advisor in your area at the earliest. Use the free match service and get matched with 1-3 vetted financial professionals who can help meet your unique financial needs and requirements.