AdvisorCensus / Guides
Guides to choosing and checking a financial advisor
Every firm page on AdvisorCensus shows what the firm filed on Form ADV. These guides explain what each filed fact means, where the public record lives, and how to use it when you compare firms. They are written from the filings and the rules, not from any firm's marketing, and they never recommend a firm.
Estas guías también están en español.
Fee-only, fee-based, and commissions: what Form ADV Item 5.E tells you
How advisory firms are paid, how to read the compensation arrangements on a firm's filing, and what each arrangement means for the advice you get.
6 minute read · updated 2026-09-24
SEC-registered, state-registered, or exempt: what an advisory firm's registration means
Who regulates an investment adviser, why the $100 million line matters, and what an exempt reporting adviser is.
5 minute read · updated 2026-09-22
How to read a financial advisor's disciplinary disclosures
What Form ADV Item 11 asks, where the detail lives on IAPD and BrokerCheck, and how to weigh a disclosure.
6 minute read · updated 2026-09-24
What regulatory assets under management means, and what it does not
How RAUM is defined on Form ADV, why it differs from the number on a firm's website, and how to use it when comparing firms.
4 minute read · updated 2026-09-22
How to read a Form ADV
Part 1, Part 2A, Part 2B, and Form CRS: what each part contains and where to find the answers that matter to a client.
7 minute read · updated 2026-09-22
How to verify a financial advisor in ten minutes
Checking registration, disclosures, and the firm behind an individual adviser with public records: IAPD, BrokerCheck, and state regulators.
5 minute read · updated 2026-09-24
Questions to ask a financial advisor, keyed to their filing
Twelve questions, each tied to something the firm already filed so you can compare the answer with the record.
6 minute read · updated 2026-09-22
Types of financial advisors: RIAs, broker-dealers, dual registrants, and insurance producers
The regulatory categories behind the job titles, and how to tell which one you are talking to.
6 minute read · updated 2026-09-24
Start with a place
The guides make most sense next to a real list: open financial advisors in the United States, pick your state or metro area, and use the filters for how firms are paid, who regulates them, how much they manage, and how long they have been registered.
Cite this page
AdvisorCensus guides, part of AdvisorSEO Max, operated by BH Monitor Services, LLC. https://advisorcensus.com/guides