Financial Planners

"The free-falling Nasdaq and slumping Dow are sending many a do-it-yourself investor scurrying for advice from financial planners," says Financial Planning Perspectives newsletter. "It's not that clients of financial planners are immune to bad markets, but, unlike go-it-alone investors caught up in the high-tech hype or water-cooler advice, most financial-planning clients keep a more diversified portfolio, so they aren't hit as hard when a particular sector tumbles." More excerpts: "Financial planners help keep clients from overreacting to market vicissitudes.

As a senior financial planner with Baltimore money manager T. Rowe Price, Stuart Ritter spends much of his time on the job - and off - educating people about personal finance. April is Financial Literacy Month, and as many surveys show - including one by Price - we have a long way to go before we're a money-savvy nation. That means Ritter has his work cut out for him. Ritter took some time to answer questions about personal finance as it relates to parents and their children.

A story in the Sunday Business section listed an incorrect phone number for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The correct number is: 1-800-862-4272.The Sun regrets the error.Financial planners had several chances to continue raising the standards of their profession in 1992, but couldn't manage it. Maybe they'll do better in 1993.The delay is unfortunate for the industry, because as people start putting their income tax records together in the next few weeks, many will once again ask themselves whether they need long-range financial and investment advice.

Baltimore police arrested five people last week accused of impersonating city tax collectors and going to the homes of elderly residents to rob them. These are disturbing allegations. But apparently, scam artists who pretend to have ties to the government so they can take advantage of older consumers aren't all that rare. That's what senior advocates are telling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the federal agency with a mandate to promote financial literacy among those 62 and older and protect them from fraud and abuse.

FOR FINANCIAL planners and investors who use them, this month marks the changing of the watchdogs. It has opened a hole in the investor-protection net.Until last Tuesday, investment advisory firms, including financial planners who give investment advice, had been regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.The SEC rarely got around to checking planners, especially the little guys. But at least the planners were making key disclosures on the SEC's form ADV (for "adviser").The ADV, Part 2, lists the planning firm's services and investment methods, the principles' education and business background, and the way customers are charged.

IF YOU WORK with a financial planner, some valuable new disclosures will be coming your way. Thanks to a law just passed by Congress, plus a new initiative by state regulators, you'll be able to learn a lot more about the person who guides your investment decisions.The new rules cover investment advisers. That doesn't mean stockbrokers. You already have access to a stockbroker's background and disciplinary history, just by calling your state's securities commission.vTC Investment advisers manage your assets or advise you on how to manage them.

MANY PEOPLE have the same financial questions, whether they are executives earning a generous six figures or grade-school teachers making a fraction of that, financial planners say. What size mortgage can I afford? Do I need long-term-care insurance? Should I buy or lease a car? And this year, people are bombarding advisers with questions about how to become a real estate investor or whether the outcome of the presidential election will affect their investments. "There are a certain number of questions that we go over and over and over again," said Sheryl Garrett, a Kansas financial planner and author of Just Give Me The Answer$.

Struggling through the jungle of mutual funds to find one that won't bite you in the wallet is getting tougher as more and more funds, ravenous for your cash, keep appearing.Financial planners and money managers who set up portfolios of funds for their clients must make that trek regularly. So several were asked what criteria they use in determining which funds to buy for their clients.Good performance is a given. But the planners used three words constantly in explaining how they determine what caused a fund's performance: "managers," "risk" and "Morningstar."

Whether you're saving for retirement or your children's college fund or wondering how best to make the most of your money, financial planners say they can help consumers set and reach achievable goals.But consumers would be wise to first do some research of their own -- on financial planners.Most planners carry a designation awarded by a college, board or association, each of which sets its own standards for education, experience and ethics.For instance, there are certified financial planners, chartered financial analysts, chartered financial consultants and accountants, among other types of advisers.

What a difference five years -- and a recession -- make. When financial planners were asked in 2004 for the most frequent questions from clients, the queries were largely about investing in real estate, how big of a mortgage they could swing and whether to buy or lease a car. The real estate market has since imploded, and many homeowners and would-be real estate moguls are underwater on mortgages. And the government is now giving money away to get consumers to buy or lease new cars to rescue the auto industry.

Financial advisers often have an alphabet of professional designations behind their names, but the dominant one remains "CFP," or certified financial planner. The CFP Board, which sets the national standards for financial planners, has announced in the past year or so a series of changes meant to strengthen the designation. It beefed up the ethics curriculum and hired a director of investigations to make sure planners comply with standards. And this summer, it will begin disclosing whether members have filed for bankruptcy within the past five years — something that could affect a consumer's decision to hire them.

Got a retirement or estate planning but don't have the $150 to $300 an hour to pay for professional advice? Now, or at least Thursday and Tuesday, you can get your questions answered without having to pay. From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12, you can call or submit questions online to a planner with the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors . The trade group is partnering with Kiplinger's Personal Finance in...

A couple of years ago, Joe and Marlene Everett were 50-something empty nesters with a daughter out on her own and a son away at college. Now, thanks to the weak economy, the Everetts are once again all living under the same roof in Woodbine. It's a bit of a financial strain, admits Marlene Everett, but one the couple has taken on willingly to help kids who don't yet earn enough to live on their own. "We enjoy them being here right now," the 54-year-old mother says. "This is the last time they will live at home before branching out. " More American families are finding themselves in a similar situation, according to the federal government.

W. Riley "Skip" Whorton, a semiretired financial planner and life insurance agent, died Aug. 27 of leukemia at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Timonium resident was 68. Mr. Whorton was born on Long Island, N.Y., and then moved with his family to Whortonsville, N.C., where his father worked in the family seafood business. In 1950, he moved to Ellicott City when his father and uncle moved the business to the old Wholesale Fish Market on Market Place in downtown Baltimore.

Kennedy "Ken" Rice, a financial planner and a fitness enthusiast, died July 31 of a cancerous brain tumor at his Cape St. Claire home. He was 37. Mr. Rice was born in Washington and raised in Laurel. He was a 1990 graduate of St. Vincent Pallotti High School, where he had been a defensive tackle on the school's football team for four years. He also had been a starter on the school's undefeated 1989 team and had earned all-conference honors that year. In 2008, he was inducted into the St. Vincent Pallotti High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

What a difference five years -- and a recession -- make. When financial planners were asked in 2004 for the most frequent questions from clients, the queries were largely about investing in real estate, how big of a mortgage they could swing and whether to buy or lease a car. The real estate market has since imploded, and many homeowners and would-be real estate moguls are underwater on mortgages. And the government is now giving money away to get consumers to buy or lease new cars to rescue the auto industry.

Gayle Lomax of Columbia figured she had successfully launched her first child from the nest four years ago when her daughter moved to Washington to attend Howard University. But six months ago, her daughter was back home, no longer able to afford her apartment on a part-time job and saddled with more than $5,000 in credit card debt. The 22-year-old has finished school and is working as a waitress while searching for a job in television production. "The prospects aren't really good. She may be home longer than a year or so," said Lomax, a single parent.

What would happen if your brokerage firm went bust?That's just one of the questions answered in a free, 39-page booklet from the Securities and Exchange Commission.The booklet, called "What Every Investor Should Know," outlines the various functions of the SEC. It also defines some of the most common -- and not so common -- investments.To order a copy, write to SEC, Publications Unit, 450 Fifth St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20549....* Like all professionals, financial planners come with a variety of strengths and weaknesses.