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South Dakota Financial Planner Awarded Industry Five Star Quality Designation

Post a Comment December 10, 2009 – 11:05 am | Post Link |  Print This Post |

Fee-only financial planner Rick Kahler has been awarded the Paladin Registry’s Five Star quality designation, reserved only for those professionals who meet the Registry’s high minimum standards for credentials, ethics, and business practices. Less than ten percent of today’s practicing financial planners and advisors meet the Registry’s standards.

The Paladin Registry is an independent information services firm that provides free education, search, and documentation services to those who use financial planners and advisors. Kahler, president of Kahler Financial Group, was first admitted into the Registry in 2004.

Jack Waymire, Paladin founder and author of Who’s Watching Your Money? The 17 Paladin Principles for Selecting a Financial Advisor (Wiley, 2003) said, “Millions of people hire the wrong advisors for the wrong reasons and fire them within two years.  The Registry solves the quality problem by having the highest minimum standards in the financial services industry.”

Waymire noted only a small percentage of practicing planners and advisors can meet the Registry’s strict requirements. Paladin Registry Five Start quality designates must be Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) or Investment Advisor Representatives (IARs) who acknowledge their fiduciary status, provide independent advice, and work for fees.

“With trust and satisfaction in the financial service industry at an all time low, and fraud and scandals continuing to dominate headlines, consumers need to be diligent in understanding the credentials of their financial advisors,” Kahler noted.  “You will find numerous guides at Paladinregistry.com on how to determine the backgrounds and ethics of potential advisors.”

Earlier this year Kahler become the first advisor from South Dakota accepted into the National Association of Financial Advisors (NAPFA).  Membership in NAPFA is granted only to Fee-Only advisors who are paid directly by their clients. Members receive no commissions or other incentives for selling financial products. Those forms of compensation create potential conflicts of interest.

Kahler also recently published his fourth book Wired for Wealth: Change the Money Mindsets That Keep You Trapped and Unleash Your Wealth Potential(HCI Books), co-authored with Brad Klontz, Psy.D. and Ted Klontz, Ph.D.