Under: Understanding Fiduciary Wealth Management
Verifying any adviser — in 60 seconds.
Two free public databases, fully searchable, will tell you whether any firm or individual is who they say they are.
SEC IAPD (the investment adviser database)
The SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure database (adviserinfo.sec.gov) is searchable by firm name or individual adviser. For any registered investment adviser, it provides:
- Form ADV (the full firm-level disclosure document)
- Registration status (RIA, dually-registered, or not registered)
- State + federal jurisdictions where the firm is registered
- Disciplinary history (formal SEC actions, settlements, etc.)
- Fee structures (in Form ADV Part 2A — the brochure)
- Conflict-of-interest disclosures
- Assets under management + client count
If a firm claims to be a fiduciary, ask them to point you to their Form ADV. Every RIA has one and is required to deliver it to clients. Inability to produce it on request is itself diagnostic.
FINRA BrokerCheck (the broker-dealer database)
FINRA BrokerCheck (brokercheck.finra.org) is the parallel database for broker-dealer registered representatives. Search by individual name to get:
- Current registration with broker-dealer firms
- Employment history across firms
- Any disclosure events (customer complaints, employment terminations, regulatory actions, criminal disclosures)
- Examinations passed (Series 7, Series 66, etc.)
Reading the disclosures honestly
Not every disclosure is disqualifying. Many advisers have at least one event in their history — frivolous customer complaints get filed, employment ends contentiously, life happens. What matters is the pattern and the severity. A single dropped customer complaint from 1998 means little. A pattern of customer settlements, terminations from prior firms, and regulatory actions deserves direct conversation.
The right move is to ask any adviser candidate directly: "I noticed [specific disclosure event] in your record — can you walk me through what happened?" Honest answers here are diagnostic — defensive ones are too.
The 60-second verification checklist
- Search the firm on SEC IAPD — confirm RIA registration
- Open Form ADV Part 2A (the brochure) — read the fee section, the conflicts section, and any disciplinary disclosures
- Search the individual adviser on BrokerCheck — note any disclosure events
- If the firm is dually registered, ask the hat-switching question directly
Want to walk through a Form ADV together — yours, ours, or a candidate's?
A 30-minute conversation. We'll translate any firm's Form ADV into plain English so you can evaluate it on its merits.
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