What is a Registered Investment Advisor?
A Registered Investment Advisor is a person or firm that provides investment advisory services for compensation in connection with providing advice on the management of investments for others.
An Investment Advisor, by definition, is considered to be acting in a fiduciary capacity on behalf of clients and who is held to a higher standard of disclosure and due diligence.
Most Registered Investment Advisor’s are compensated on a fee basis, usually as a percentage of assets under management, rather than a commission basis. Traditional broker-dealers are required to provide disclosure statements on all account forms explaining their interests are not always tied to their clients’ best interests and that they may be compensated from the owners of the investment products they are offering to their clients for sale.
