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What is a NAPFA Registered Financial Advisor?

Jeff Rose, CFP® | September 07, 2021

NAPFA, which stands for National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, is a professional association for fee-only financial advisors. NAPFA works to help consumers seek conflict-free financial advice.

Today many consumers are faced with a tough choice when it comes to who will manage their money.

This choice is made harder with the plethora of financial advisors out there. Some of these people, posing as financial advisors, give you an overload of information as well as a sales pitch for a product that may not be for your benefit.

These “self-serving” advisors that are out for their own interest is why NAPFA was created.

What is a Fiduciary?

These fee-only advisors serve in a fiduciary manor. A  fiduciary is a person legally appointed and authorized to hold assets in trust for another person. The fiduciary manages the assets for the “benefit” of the other person rather than for his or her own profit (investopedia.com). This differs from a normal financial advisor in the fact that some advisers do not always invest for the benefit of the client. Most financial advisors are paid fully or partially by commissions, this means they have an incentive to promote products that maximize their income.

NAPFA prides itself on the fact that this association looks out for the best interest of the client. Saying this, NAPFA only takes advisors that meet their organization’s highest standards. Those standards are:

  • They must meet stiff credentialing and educational requirements.
  • They must be primarily engaged as holistic financial advisors (rather than merely investment or tax advisors).
  • They must meet the most rigorous continuing education requirements in the industry.
  • They must submit to outside professional review, to ensure that they do not have the conflicts of interest that commissions bring.
  • They must submit a financial plan for review by peers, before they can be admitted.

Fee-Only Financial Planner Definition

What exactly defines that a financial planner is fee-only?

These registered advisors do not sell any product on commission, and therefore have no outside conflict of interest. They are compensated directly from the clients.  NAPFA advisors have one common goal, to look out for their client’s best financial interest.

One thing that I’ve noticed about NAPFA advisors is that they are very proud of their organization and take it very seriously.  A fellow blogger and CFP® professional, Roger Wohlner, is very active in the NAPFA community.   I asked him to share why NAPFA membership is so important to him.   Here’s what he had to say:

“NAPFA is an organization of fellow fee-only advisors who are uniformly committed to doing what is best for our respective clients and each of us state this via signing a fiduciary oath which we reaffirm annually.”

“Moreover, the organization is made up of a very diverse group of advisors who have a wealth of knowledge and experience which they are willing to share with fellow members. If I have a question about a client issue, I frequently will post that question in the NAPFA discussion forum and will always receive a number of useful responses. In other cases I will contact a fellow member directly and have always found them to be generous with their time and expertise.”

“In short I find that my membership in NAPFA allows me to leverage the knowledge of my fellow members in order to benefit clients. This extra knowledge base is especially important for those of us who are solo practitioners.”

You can see more about Roger on his blog Wohlner Financial or his firm Asset Strategy Consultants.

How to Find a NAPFA Advisor

If you’re interested in hiring a NAPFA advisor, the best thing to do is first visit their website. From there you’ll see the Find an Advisor spot on the homepage.  You can search either by address, zip code or name and after selecting “search” you’ll have a list of the closest NAPFA registered advisors in your area.

NAPFA Resources

On the NAPFA website, they have many helpful links and resources. They can help you locate a NAPFA qualified advisor in your area. They also have helpful educational materials to help you select the financial advisor that is right for you. NAPFA has educational webinars, from qualified advisors, on many different topics.

NAPFA also hosts educational conferences. These conferences have classes for advisors wanting to join NAPFA, as well as classes for advisors that want to refine their skills.

Through NAPFA and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, the website hosts free financial advise several times a year. You can check for upcoming dates or watch the live video chat through their website and Kiplinger’s Facebook page.

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About the Author

Jeff Rose, CFP® is a Certified Financial Planner™, founder of Good Financial Cents, and author of the personal finance book Soldier of Finance. He was a financial planner for 16+ years having founded, Alliance Wealth Management, a SEC Registered Investment Advisory firm, before selling it to focus on his passion - educating the masses on the importance of financial freedom through this blog, his podcast, and YouTube channel.


Jeff holds a Bachelors in Science in Finance and minor in Accounting from Southern Illinois University - Carbondale. In addition to his CFP® designation, he also earned the marks of AAMS® - Accredited Asset Management Specialist - and CRPC® - Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor.

While a practicing financial advisor, Jeff was named to Investopedia's distinguished list of Top 100 advisors (as high as #6) multiple times and CNBC's Digital Advisory Council.

Jeff is an Iraqi combat veteran and served 9 years in the Army National Guard. His work is regularly featured in Forbes, Business Insider, Inc.com and Entrepreneur.

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