Scott Plaskett, CFP at IronShield.ca, takes time away from his busy schedule of helping people plan for their future and retirement to explain the various ways that Financial Planners get paid:

Commission based
Fee Only
Fee based

We also take time to discuss the 12 Key Questions You Must Ask A Financial Planner Before You Hire One, a report he makes available on his website.
Here are a few of the highlights:

Ask if they charge fees for their services
Ask if they sell products as well as provide advice
Ask the advisor if they are going to work with you personally or with one of their assistants once the initial plan is implemented.
Ask how often you can expect to get together to review the plan
Ask to see their Letter of Engagement. Don't know what that is? Then listen to the interview (click the player above)

To download the report and find out more about Scott Plaskett:
Visit http://IronShield.ca

For more about the Key to Retirement podcast visit http://ironshield.ca/category/podcast

For more about Fee Based Financial Planning Mastery podcast: http://feebasedfinancialplanningmastery.com/

 
New segment: The YNAB Minute
Each episode I will share a tip or trick in YNAB, the awesome budgeting and checkbook tracking software program from YouNeedABudget.com.

Using YNAB caused me to abandon my Excel spreadsheet for a number of reasons. One is that it automatically arranges transactions in chronological order. That may not sound like a big deal to you, but for a guy who used to match up his Excel budget with a printed copy of his bank statement, this helps me save time.

Try YNAB for yourself for 34 days with no risk. It's a different animal, but not far from the Zero Based budgeting that has helped so many people get out of debt and save money.