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Who is the best person to talk to about retirement planning?
It depends on the decision, not the title. Financial advisor is a job description, not a licence, so ask which licence sits behind it. A CPA handles the tax side, an hourly or flat fee planner builds the plan, an investment adviser manages a portfolio, and a licensed insurance agent places income and life insurance contracts. Pick the person whose licence covers your decision and whose pay does not depend on your answer.
Financial advisor is a job description, not a licence.
There is no exam called financial advisor. People with very different licences print it on a business card, and so do some people whose only licence is to sell insurance.
So the title tells you almost nothing. The licence behind it tells you two things that matter: what that person is allowed to sell you, and what legal duty they owe you while they do it.
To be clear about who is talking. opfinances.com is a licensed insurance agency, not a financial advisor and not a fiduciary. This page is general education, not advice about your situation.
Three licences sit behind most retirement conversations, and each one sells something different.
An investment adviser representative has passed the Series 65 or 66 and works under a registered investment adviser. They are paid for advice, usually as a fee, and they owe you a fiduciary duty on that advice.
A registered representative has passed the Series 7 and works for a broker dealer. They sell stocks, bonds, mutual funds and variable annuities, usually for a commission. Since 2020 they must act in your best interest when they recommend something, which is a real standard but a narrower one than an ongoing fiduciary duty.
A licensed insurance agent holds a state licence. That covers life insurance and fixed and indexed annuities. A variable annuity needs the securities licence as well, because part of it is an investment.
That is the part most people never hear. The licence decides the menu. Someone with only an insurance licence cannot recommend an index fund, and someone with only a securities licence cannot place a fixed annuity. Each one will tend to see your problem in terms of what they can offer.
CFP and CPA are credentials for thinking, not licences to sell.
A Certified Financial Planner has passed a comprehensive exam, met an experience requirement, and agreed to a fiduciary standard when giving financial advice. It is a strong signal of training. It is not permission to sell anything, so a CFP who sells products also holds one of the licences above.
A CPA is licensed for tax. Many retirement decisions are really tax decisions wearing a different coat: which account to draw from first, whether to convert pre-tax money, how a pension lump sum lands on your return. A CPA or an enrolled agent answers those without anything to sell you.
An estate attorney is the only one on this list who can draft the documents that decide who gets what. Nobody else should be doing that part.
The best person is matched to the decision in front of you.
When to claim Social Security, drawdown order and tax brackets, whether to convert: a CPA or an hourly planner, a few hours, once.
Ongoing management of a portfolio you do not want to run yourself: an investment adviser, paid a fee you should see in dollars.
Turning part of a balance into income you cannot outlive, or protecting a survivor: a licensed insurance agent. Any guarantee in that contract depends on the claims paying ability of the issuing insurance company, not on the agent.
Most retirements need two or three of these people for a few hours each, not one of them forever. The expensive mistake is asking one person to answer a question their licence does not cover.
Some people hold more than one licence and can change hats in the same meeting.
A dual registered professional can give you fee based advice in one sentence and sell you a commissioned product in the next. That is legal. It also means the duty they owe you can change between the two.
Both broker dealers and investment advisers must give retail clients a short document called Form CRS that spells out their services, fees and conflicts. Ask for it at the start. Then, for every recommendation, ask which capacity they are acting in and how they are paid on that specific thing.
You can check every licence in five minutes, and you should check ours too.
FINRA BrokerCheck shows brokers and their disciplinary history. The SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site shows advisers and their Form ADV. The CFP Board lets you verify a certification. Your state Department of Insurance has a licence lookup for agents, and in California that is the CDI.
Look us up the same way. Our licence lets us place insurance and annuity contracts. It does not let us manage your investments or give you tax advice, and when your question is one of those, the honest answer from us is to send you to someone whose licence covers it.
Before you decide
Questions worth asking.
Which licences do you hold, and which one are you using for this specific recommendation?
Can I see your Form CRS, and where would I look you up on BrokerCheck, the SEC adviser site, or the state insurance licence lookup?
Is there anything you would recommend for my situation that your licences do not let you sell?
Are you acting as a fiduciary on this recommendation, and will you put that in writing?
How are you paid on this recommendation, in dollars, and does that change if I choose something else?
Which part of my question should go to a CPA or an estate attorney instead of you?
Related
What is the difference between a financial advisor and a financial planner?
In everyday use, very little, because neither title is a licence on its own. What separates people is the licence and credentials behind the title: an investment adviser representative gives advice under a fiduciary duty, a registered representative sells securities under a best interest standard, an insurance agent sells insurance contracts, and a CFP has a planning certification. Ask which of those the person actually holds.
Is an insurance agent a good person to talk to about retirement?
For the insurance parts, yes: income you cannot outlive, survivor protection, and long term care funding. For investment management or tax decisions, no, because an insurance licence does not cover them. opfinances.com is a licensed insurance agency, not a financial advisor and not a fiduciary, and we say that for exactly this reason.
How do I check if a financial professional is legitimate?
Use the public lookups. FINRA BrokerCheck covers brokers, the SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site covers advisers, the CFP Board verifies certifications, and each state Department of Insurance lists licensed agents. Check the name, the licence type, and any disciplinary history before you share account details.
Should I talk to a CPA before retiring?
Usually yes, because many retirement choices are tax choices: the order you draw from accounts, Roth conversions, and how a pension or 401(k) distribution is taxed. A CPA or enrolled agent can answer those for a fee without selling you a product, which makes their answer a useful check on anything a salesperson recommends.
Do I need a fiduciary for retirement planning?
It helps to know whether the person owes you one. A fiduciary duty applies to investment advisers on their advice and to CFPs when giving financial advice. Brokers must act in your best interest when recommending, which is narrower. Insurance agents follow state insurance rules. Ask in writing which standard applies to each recommendation.
Where this fits.
This question sits inside a bigger one. 401(k) Rollover walks through the whole decision rather than this one piece of it.
On Point Finances is a licensed insurance agency, not a tax, legal, or investment adviser. This page is general education, not a recommendation, and reading it does not create a client relationship.