If you've made the decision to work with an advisor, you're going to want to ask them some questions prior to turning over your finances to them. Here's a list of some of the basics-determine what is relevant for your situation, and work with an advisor whose answers and whose methodology seem to fit with your own thinking. The answers listed here are just for some guidance.

Q: Are you registered with a state agency and the SEC?

A: Should be yes...working with an advisor who is properly licensed means that someone is ensuring that the advisor meets continuing education requirements and follows a mandated list of rules.

Q: What licenses, certificates and registrations do you have?

A: Depending upon the answer, you can do a quick internet search to determine the relevancy-for instance, the CFP is a fairly well-recognized credential, "Certified Financial Planner". There are insurance credentials, financial planning credentials, and more. To sell insurance in a particular state the provider must be licensed in that state. Ask about educational credentials, continuing education and how he/she keeps up to date with peers and with the industry. Figure out how tech-savvy the advisor is, if that is important to you (if you do everything online, and the advisor is pen-and-paper, that's not a good match-or vice versa).

Q: What services do you provide?

A: There's no universal right answer here, but make sure the wealth management advisor you're speaking to does work in the area you're looking for-ie, education planning or wealth transfer.

Q: What kind of clients do you serve and how many do you have?

A: The answer here should let you see if you fit within the advisor's target-if you are still in the mode of growing your portfolio, and only have $25,000 to invest-but the advisor tells you he/she works with million dollar clients-you may not be a priority for him. If the advisor has many clients, you many not get the time you need-which may be fine, if you are looking for a limited amount of advice on a single area of focus.

Q: How long have you been in the business?

A: This is a good question to draw out some personal information about your advisor, to see if he/she is the type of person you'd like to work with. If the answer is "1 year", you may be initially frightened away-but if that one year has been with a solid mentor whom your advisor still works with, hand-in-hand, that may be just fine.

Q: What is your philosophy of money management? This question can be followed by:

• What types of investments do you recommend?
• What is your area of expertise?

A: Make sure the philosophy of your advisor matches your own (conservative, for example, if indeed you are). Make sure he or she knows what he or she is talking about when referencing types of investments.

Q: What references can you give?

A: If you've asked for a referral from a friend you trust, this is less important; if the advisor is new to you, there's nothing amiss in asking for a reference.