INDUSTRY INSIGHT
CHOOSING A FINANCIAL ADVISOR
SPONSORED CONTENT
Trusted Advisor
Trust is the firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength in someone or something. The challenge is to know who to trust, particularly when looking for someone to help manage your finances and wealth.
Obviously, there’ s no easy answer, and there’ s no shortage of financial advisors hoping to earn your trust. With that said, there are a few key indicators you can look for to improve your odds in finding an advisor you can trust.
Ask if they are a CFP. A certified financial planner or CFP professional has advanced knowledge and skills relative to financial, estate, investment, tax, and retirement planning. A CFP must also meet certain ethical requirements including the need to put their clients first.
Fiduciary duties in a financial sense exist to ensure that those who manage other people’ s money act in their beneficiaries’ interests, rather than serving their own.
CFPs are held to a fiduciary standard when they are providing financial planning or engaged in the elements of financial planning. This fiduciary standard includes a duty of care, duty of loyalty, and duty to follow a client’ s instructions.
Ask about AIF credentials. When it comes to demonstrating this fiduciary responsibility there are a few financial professionals who have taken the extra steps to earn the accredited investment fiduciary, or AIF credentials showing an even greater commitment to fiduciary standards.
Ask about fees. A fee-only advisor is not transactional and strives to offer the right advice for the long-term. They do not receive commission or other forms of compensation from the products they recommend. There is a high degree of transparency in the arrangement. The feeonly advisor is typically interested in long-term, mutually beneficial relationships based on trust. When their clients do well, the advisor does well.
Ask your Friends and Family. Who helps them manage their finances? Are they happy with the relationship? Are they happy with the service and responsiveness? Is their advisor someone in whom they can place their utmost trust and confidence?
Ask about experience. There is a reason they call it a financial planning“ practice.” Clients learn from their financial advisors, but financial advisors also learn from their clients. What an advisor learns by
working with one client can be shared with other clients and financial problems can be solved.
It’ s not always academic. The analogy of a honeybee spreading pollen among the flowers can be likened to an advisor spreading good financial ideas among their clients. This confidential sharing of ideas and experiences provides a perspective so much greater than any one person can hope to achieve.
Ask about reputation. It can take years to build a trustworthy reputation. For my family, it came naturally based on our family history. John and William Hoge founded the city of Washington in the late 1700s. They both took up arms during the Revolutionary War and both served in the First Continental Congress. They contributed much to the development of this area.
They donated the property where the Washington courthouse is now located and also the property where the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church is located at 119 W. Chestnut Street in Washington, PA. The Hoge Memorial is located behind the Church at 105 Walnut Street, Washington, PA.
Alex Weaver, a young Eagle Scout, refurbished the Memorial recently as one of his Scout projects. There was an article in the Washington Observer regarding the rededication of the Hoge Memorial as a result of Alex’ s efforts.
If you are a local history buff you can check out our website or for more information you can check with the Washington Historical Society. You can also refer to the History of Washington County Pennsylvania with biographical sketches, edited by Boyd Crumrine( 1882).
If you are looking for a financial advisor with a solid reputation in whom you can trust, I hope you will find the tips referenced above helpful.
This Industry Insight was written by Garrett S. Hoge, CFP ®, ChFC ®, MS.
H Financial Management is a private wealth manager based in Southpointe serving the ever-changing financial needs of his clients. Please contact Garrett at H Financial Management, 400 Southpointe Blvd., # 420, Canonsburg, PA 15317, Phone: 724.745.9406, Email: garrett @ hfinancial. net, or via the Web: hfinancialmanagement. com.
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PETERS TOWNSHIP | OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2025 51