Who Uses Watchdog Services?

We provide free tools and data to investors who use the services of the four types of financial professionals: Financial Planners, Financial Advisors, Money Managers, Registered Representatives, and Insurance Agents. Our tools help investors select new advisors, monitor current advisors, and replace under-performing advisors.

90% of Watchdog Users fall into one of the following categories:

• Investors who have had bad experiences with previous advisors
• Investors who are concerned about current advisors
• Investors who are selecting financial advisors for the first time
• Investors who are responsible for large sums of money (IRA, personal, inheritance)

Bad Experiences

Some Watchdog Users have selected several advisors in the past and they have fired every one of them. The most frequent reasons were bad performance, excessive risk exposure, high expenses, and inadequate services. These Users finally determined the problem may be the processes they used to evaluate and select advisors. They needed a new process that increased their odds of selecting competent, ethical advisors who put investor interests first.

Concerns About Current Advisors

Other Watchdog Users have concerns about current advisors, but they are not ready to terminate the relationship. They typically use Watchdog's quarterly monitoring service to keep a closer eye on their advisors and the performance of their assets.

First Time Users

A significant percentage of Watchdog Users are investors who have not previously used the services of financial professionals. For example, they were in a 401k plan and recently rolled their assets into an IRA. They realize they need professional help, but they do not know a good advisor from a bad one.

Large Sums of Money

Any sum of money is important to most investors. However, the more money they have the more cautious they should be when they select, retain, and replace advisors because they have more to lose.