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Advisor Account

You're an at-least-semi fat cat. You think you have some Buffett in you (Warren, not Jimmy). You want to be intimately involved in managing your money. You have an X-Files "Trust No One" phone case (The 90s were cool, we get it).

So you set up an advisor account. The advisor works directly with you, the client, to figure out where you're puttin' your dough.  You stay in the driver's seat and decide which investments you want in there and which ones you don't (Apple? Puh-lease—you want something more obscure than that.)

You pay for that kind of control, though—and it's usually a percentage of the assets in your account (so if you're quite a fat cat, you might have to get a little fatter to pay for it). 

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Finance: What's the difference between a...23 Views

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Finance a la shmoop what's the difference between a financial adviser

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and a financial planner? well here's the Venn diagram of a financial adviser in a [Venn diagram appears]

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financial planner and yes you can see that the financial planner is kind of a

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subset of the advisor but well you know pours better coffee in other words all

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financial planners are financial advisors but not all financial advisors

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are financial planners okay so the financial planner what do they do they

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plan financially what does that mean? while the planner looks at your budget

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your rent your insurance your likely taxes and a whole bunch of other little [Financial planner duties appear]

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detailing things that you could probably do entirely on your own if you thought

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about it for five minutes but whatever trauma happened to you and [Man with injuries laying on couch]

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your childhood rendered you somehow incapable of doing so and you called in

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Mommy financial planner who held your hand and help you fill out whatever

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forms establish whatever goals and create whatever programs you needed to

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create whether you're an individual pediatrician, a small business or

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something bigger well financial planners come in a bunch

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of certificated flavors like certified financial planner yeah that's a big

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catchy one and then there's corollary sidebar ones like chartered financial

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consultant and for the really heavy hitter investment planning people well

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there's a chartered financial analyst levels one two and three which is the

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full contact x-rated version of being a hardcore financial planner so then [Types of financial planner appear]

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what's a financial advisor or FA? or FAH as the Dolphins like to call them well

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essentially they are your investment whisperer

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they sit on your left shoulder and your right shoulder whispering about greed [Angel financial planner whispering on mans shoulder]

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and fear and have nothing to do with that scene in Animal House and if you

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don't know what we're talking about go ask your parents right now hit pause go

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ask them.... greatest college movie in history thank you

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specifically a financial advisor is typically a broker in one form or

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another who directly helps execute purchases and sales of securities while

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knowing a thing or three about estate and tax planning, insurance and other

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financial adventures like the joys of owning real estate so a FA must have a

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series 65 license or more the good ones have all passed the series

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seven exam which is the granddaddy and a few are also CPAs i.e hardcore

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accountants if you like not just counting beans but swimming in them well [Man jumps into pool of beans]

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then these are both probably good gigs for you

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)