How to Check a Financial Advisor's Record in Twenty Minutes
Last updated August 2026
Short answer
Five free public checks, in order: BrokerCheck for the individual and the firm separately, the SEC's adviser search for the firm's Form ADV, your state securities regulator if the firm is small, the certifying body for any credential claimed, and a plain search of both names. Form ADV Part 2A is the most informative document available to you, because the rules require it to disclose how the firm is paid and what conflicts follow from that. Two findings should end the conversation: no registration anywhere, and the adviser holding the assets themselves. Walnut is informational and is not an investment adviser.
This is the one piece of advice-shopping that is entirely mechanical. Everything else about choosing an advisor involves judging things you cannot observe. This part is a set of public databases, free, and the whole sequence fits in the time before a first appointment.
The five checks, in order
1. Look them up on BrokerCheck
FINRA runs a free public search covering brokers and many investment adviser representatives. Search the individual by name, then search the firm separately, because the two records are distinct and a clean individual can sit inside a firm with a history.
What to read: You are looking for employment history, licences held, and the disclosures section. Frequent moves between firms in short succession is a pattern worth asking about even when nothing is formally disclosed.
2. Look up the firm's Form ADV
The SEC's adviser search publishes Form ADV for registered investment advisers. Part 2A is the brochure, written in plain language because the rules require it, and it is the single most informative document available to you before a meeting.
What to read: Read the fee section, the conflicts section and the disciplinary section. The brochure has to disclose how the firm is compensated and what conflicts arise from that, which is the same question you would otherwise be asking them to answer about themselves.
3. Check state records if the firm is small
Advisers below a certain size register with state securities regulators rather than the SEC, so a firm missing from the federal database may be perfectly legitimate and registered locally. Your state securities regulator publishes its own search.
What to read: Absent from both is the finding that matters. Anyone giving investment advice for compensation should appear somewhere, and no record at all is not an administrative quirk.
4. Verify the credentials they claim
Certification bodies maintain public verification tools, and the well-known marks can each be checked directly against the issuing body. Anyone may call themselves a financial advisor, but a specific certification either exists on the register or it does not.
What to read: Check that the mark is current rather than lapsed, and note whether any public discipline is recorded by the certifying body, which is separate from regulatory discipline.
5. Search their name and the firm's name plainly
A basic search alongside terms like complaint, settlement or the regulator's name. This catches items that predate the current registration, involve a different business, or were resolved without a formal disclosure.
What to read: Treat what you find as a question to ask rather than a conclusion. The point is to arrive at the meeting already knowing what to raise.
Step two is the one almost nobody does and the one that changes the meeting most. A firm's brochure has already answered, in writing, the questions you were planning to ask about fees and conflicts, which means you arrive able to ask about the specifics rather than spending the first half-hour establishing basics.
How to read a disclosure without over-reacting
| What you see | How to weigh it |
|---|---|
| A customer complaint that was denied | Common in long careers and frequently means little on its own |
| A settled customer dispute | Read the amount and the allegation. A pattern of similar allegations matters far more than one item |
| A regulatory action | More serious. Ask directly what happened and compare the answer to the record |
| A criminal or financial disclosure | Bankruptcies and liens appear here. Relevant judgement information for someone handling money |
| Termination for cause | The most serious entry available, and it warrants a direct explanation |
The distinction that matters is between one item and a pattern. Anyone with a twenty-year career and thousands of clients may accumulate a disputed complaint, and treating that as disqualifying would rule out plenty of good advisers. Several complaints alleging the same behaviour is a different finding, and so is anything a regulator initiated rather than a customer.
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Two findings that should end it
They are not registered anywhere
Not with the SEC, not with your state, not as a representative of a registered firm. Someone giving investment advice for compensation should appear in a public record, and a confident explanation for why they do not is itself the answer.
They custody the assets themselves
Money should sit at a recognised third-party custodian sending statements to you directly. When the adviser both directs the investments and holds them, the structural check that prevents the largest frauds in this industry is missing.
The second is structural rather than about character, which is why it is worth checking even when you have every reason to trust the person. Statements arriving from an independent custodian are what make it possible to notice that something is wrong, and no amount of good intent substitutes for that.
What the record cannot tell you
A clean record establishes that nothing has gone wrong badly enough to be recorded. It says nothing about whether the advice is any good, whether the fee is reasonable, or whether this person is right for your situation, and those are the questions that actually determine whether hiring them was worth it. The check on this page removes a category of risk rather than answering the question, which is why it is the beginning of the process rather than the end of it.
Next: how to vet an advisor covers the judgement half, and questions to ask covers the meeting itself.
FAQ
How do I check a financial advisor's background?
Five free public checks: BrokerCheck for the individual and the firm, the SEC's adviser search for the firm's Form ADV, your state securities regulator if the firm is small, the certifying body for any credential claimed, and a plain search of both names. Twenty minutes, before a first meeting.
What is BrokerCheck?
A free public database run by FINRA covering brokers and many investment adviser representatives. It shows employment history, licences and a disclosures section listing complaints, regulatory actions and certain financial events. Search the individual and the firm separately, because a clean individual can work at a firm with a history.
What is Form ADV and why does it matter?
The registration document registered investment advisers file, published free by the SEC. Part 2A is a plain-language brochure that must disclose how the firm is paid, what conflicts of interest arise from that, and any disciplinary history. It answers, in writing and in advance, the questions you would otherwise be asking them about themselves.
Is a disclosure on an advisor's record a dealbreaker?
Not by itself. A denied customer complaint is common across a long career and frequently means little. What matters is the pattern: several similar allegations, a regulatory action, or a termination for cause are different in kind from one disputed item, and any of them deserves a direct question.
What if I cannot find the advisor in any database?
That is the most important finding on this page. Some legitimate small firms register with a state rather than the SEC, so check there too. Appearing nowhere at all is not an administrative quirk, and a confident explanation for the absence is itself an answer.
How do I verify a financial certification?
Go to the body that issues the mark, each of which maintains a public verification tool, and confirm the certification is current rather than lapsed. Note that anyone may use the general title financial advisor, so the specific credential is the part that can be checked.
What is the single most protective question to ask?
Who holds the assets. They should sit with a recognised third-party custodian that sends statements to you directly, so the advisor can direct the money without ever holding it. Nearly every large fraud in this industry involved that separation being absent, and one question establishes it.
Should I check an advisor I already work with?
Yes, and periodically rather than once. Records are updated, firms change, and disclosures can appear years into a relationship. It takes a few minutes and there is no downside, since the databases do not notify anyone that they were searched.
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Walnut is informational and is not an investment adviser, and nothing here is investment advice. Registration requirements and database coverage vary, and records reflect what has been reported rather than everything that has occurred.