Liz Weston of AskLizWeston.com answered a question which ended:

I have a hard time trusting anyone in the financial world.

She answered in a blog entitled “Fee-based” isn’t the same as “fee-only”:

It’s possible, but rather unlikely, that you were dealing with a fee-only financial planner. Some planners charge fees, but they also take commissions — and annuities tend to pay fat commissions.

If you want advice that’s free of such conflicts, you’ll need to look for a true fee-only (not fee-based) financial planner. You can get referrals from the National Assn. of Personal Financial Advisors at http://www.napfa.org

I wish that every investor understood what the difference is.

We have had consumers who are interested in our services who say that they are only considering fee-only financial planners. But when asked who else they are considering list three “fee-based” advisors in our area. Consumers deserve a fiduciary standard of care. Here are ten questions to ask any financial advisor before you work with them.

I really wish investors understood what the difference is.