If your planner is registered with state or federal authorities, get his Form ADV, which tells you about compensation and connections to financial firms.

FORBES: Advice You Can Trust

Around the same time that President Obama was signing the Dodd-Frank Act in July 2010, the SEC finalized long overdue changes to Part 2 of the Form ADV, which is the tool investment advisory firms use to provide information to the public and individual clients about their services, fees, and employees.

FORBES: What Do You Really Know About Your Financial Advisor?