How do I check whether my financial advisor is a fiduciary?

Search your advisor’s name on the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site at adviserinfo.sec.gov. If the firm is registered as an investment adviser, it owes you a fiduciary duty under the Investment Advisers Act, and the person advising you works under that duty. If your advisor appears only as a broker on FINRA BrokerCheck, they work under a different standard, one that attaches to each recommendation rather than to the whole relationship.

That’s the short answer. The longer one: many advisors are registered both ways, registration tells you the duty exists but not how the advisor is paid, and the forms your advisor filed answer most of this in writing. This is the check I’d run on anyone, and the one I’d expect you to run on Harvest Lane.

Where do I look up my advisor?

Three places. All free, all online.

1. IAPD. The SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site lists firms registered with the SEC and with state regulators. Search a firm and read the Form ADV it filed. Search an individual representative and see current registrations, employment history, and disclosures about certain disciplinary events. Harvest Lane’s record is there under CRD 340042.
2. BrokerCheck. FINRA’s BrokerCheck covers brokers, brokerage firms, and investment adviser firms. An individual’s report shows ten years of employment history from Form U4, current registrations or licenses, and a disclosure section covering customer disputes, disciplinary events, and certain criminal and financial matters.
3. The Utah Division of Securities. The Division’s Verify a License page points you to IAPD for advisory firms and to the Division’s own online database for licensed individuals and companies. Or call the Division at (801) 530-6600.

The words to look for are "investment adviser." The Division’s own FAQ says it plainly: unlike brokers, investment advisers generally owe their clients a fiduciary duty. Someone who appears only as a registered representative of a broker-dealer doesn’t carry that duty.

What if my advisor is registered as both?

Then ask which hat they wear for each account, because the duty changes with the hat.

The SEC’s 2019 interpretation of the adviser standard says the duty is a duty of care plus a duty of loyalty, requires the adviser to serve the client’s interest and not put its own interest ahead of the client’s, and applies to the entire advisory relationship. The same day, the SEC adopted a separate conduct rule for brokers, usually shortened to Reg BI, which its announcement describes as applying when a broker makes a recommendation to a retail customer. One duty covers the relationship. The other covers the recommendation.

So the same advisor can be a fiduciary on your managed account and earn a commission on a product sale, legally. Ask, in writing: "On which of my accounts are you acting as an investment adviser, and on which as a broker?" Then check the answer against Form ADV Part 2A, Item 10, where advisers describe their other financial industry activities and affiliations.

What does the paperwork say?

Two documents.

Form ADV Part 2A is the brochure. The SEC’s investor bulletin says it has 18 items, written in plain English, covering the adviser’s services, fees, conflicts of interest, and disciplinary history, with a summary of material changes sent to clients every year. The form’s instructions number the parts you want: Item 5 is fees and compensation, Item 9 is disciplinary information, Item 10 is affiliations. Most advisers' current brochures are on IAPD.

Form CRS is the relationship summary. The SEC’s compliance guide says SEC-registered advisers and broker-dealers must give retail investors a short summary under five headings: introduction; relationships and services; fees, costs, conflicts, and standard of conduct; disciplinary history; and additional information, delivered before or at the time you enter an advisory contract. That requirement is written for SEC-registered firms. Harvest Lane is state-registered, so for us the brochure does that job. Our fees are tiered, as described in Form ADV Part 2A. You get the brochure before you sign anything.

Is the word "fiduciary" on the website enough?

No. A website is marketing; the registration and the filings are the record. My own policies and procedures require me to approve every page of this site before it runs, this one included. Check the record anyway.

Two private standards add a layer. NAPFA members take a Fiduciary Oath and work fee-only, which NAPFA defines as being paid only by the client, with no compensation to the advisor or a related party that depends on a client’s purchase or sale of a financial product. CFP Board’s Code and Standards require a CFP professional to act as a fiduciary at all times when providing financial advice to a client. Both are promises to a private organization. They sit alongside the registration; they don’t replace it.

Then ask one question, in writing: "Are you a fiduciary for me at all times, on every account?" A clean yes is easy to give. A long answer is an answer too.

If the record, the brochure, and the sales pitch don’t line up, send me the statements and the brochure. I’ll read them against the record and tell you what I’d change, and if the answer is nothing, I’ll say so. If you’re in Utah, we can go through it at the office in Sandy.