Find A Financial Planner

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Find A CFP® Professional
What is a Certified Financial Planner? If you have a question, you can also Ask a CFP Professional.
-- From The Financial Planning Association 

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Find A NAPFA-Registered Advisor
"Fee-Only financial planning means that NAPFA members are compensated solely by their clients, and do not accept commissions or compensation of any kind based on the products that they recommend."
-- From The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors 

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Find a ChFC or CLU Near You

"The American College (is) the nation's oldest and largest academically accredited educational institution devoted exclusively to financial services." Two of its programs is the Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) and the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designations.
-- From The American College 

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Understand Financial Advisor Designations
Do the MFP, CWM, CLU, ChFC, CFP, CPA, JD, MBA and many other certifications and designations confuse you? "Welcome to the famous list of all of those designations for financial service professionals!"

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Check the Background of Your Investment Professional
Look up an investment adviser firm, or look up a broker-dealer firm or individual using NASD BrokerCheck. "This Web site allows you to search for information about Investment Adviser firms regulated by and electronically registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or state regulators."
-- From National Association of Securities Dealers 

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Check Out Brokers and Investment Advisers
The SEC gives you tips on how to protect your money by checking out brokers and advisers first.
-- From U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission 

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Illinois Department Of Security
Call the Illinois Securities Department, toll-free at 1-800-628-7937 to check if a particular securities dealer and/or salesperson is properly registered/licensed to do business in the State of Illinois.
-- From Illinois Secretary Of State 

Commercial:
Find An Advisor
This free information service matches people seeking investment advises with investment advisors. Also check out the online articles, such as How To Avoid Bad Advisors.
-- From Paladin Registry 

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National Investment Firms

A sample of national investment firms that cater to retail investors like you and me.

• Ameriprise Financials
• Charles Schwab
• Edward Jones
• Fidelity Investments
• Vanguard Group

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Online Only Advisors

Many web sites offer online only financial advisement:

• LearnVest
• MyFinancialAdvice
• Wealthfront