1. What is a fiduciary?
Fiduciaries are legally obligated to prioritize their clients’ best interest as opposed to brokers (also called financial advisors) who will prioritize the interests of their firm. Regardless of your approach or politics, you need to know with whom you are dealing. Starfox Financial Services is fulltime fiduciary advisor.
2. Are you working with a Fiduciary Advisor?
Bestselling author Tony Robbins says in Money: Master the Game, “If there is one single step you can take today, it’s to align yourself with a fiduciary; an independent registered investment adviser (RIA for short).” Starfox Financial Services is an independent RIA and a fulltime fiduciary advisor. Be wary as some advisors are part-time fiduciaries so it can become difficult to know when they may be acting in your best interest.
3. Does your firm receive third-party compensation from investment firms?
Fully-independent RIA’s such as Starfox Financial Services do not receive third party compensation from investment firms as opposed to most broker dealers or hybrid firms.
4. Does your firm offer proprietary funds?
Starfox Financial Services does not offer proprietary funds. Proprietary funds tend to be more profitable to broker-dealers.
5. Where will my money be held?
“A fiduciary advisor should always use a third-party custodian” (like TD Ameritrade) “to hold your funds per Tony Robbins. You then sign a limited power of attorney that gives that advisor the rights to manage the money but never make withdrawals.” TD Ameritrade as a custodian has over one trillion in assets is financially strong and has never taken a bailout. Starfox Financial Services is financially strong as well.
6. How are you compensated?
Clients agree to a fee in writing before we work on their behalf. For a vast majority of clients, the fee is taken out of a client’s accounts that are in our care monthly in arrears (i.e., fee for March taken out in April).