It’s wise to find a trusted financial advisor to help you plan for your retirement. This advisor can help you create an investment portfolio, one that includes stocks, bonds, annuities, CDs and other savings vehicles, that will help you prepare financially for your retirement years.

You should make sure, though, that you are working with a financial advisor who has your best interests at heart. Guaranteeing this requires a bit of homework. But if you do the advance research, you just might end up with a trusted financial advisor for life.

Before agreeing to work with any financial planner or advisor, it’s best to interview several candidates first. Ask these professionals about their experience; how long have they worked as advisors? What kind of clients do they typically work with? Do they believe in aggressive investing or are they more conservative when it comes to their clients’ dollars?

Next, ask about their fees. Make sure you know in advance every fee that a financial advisor will charge you. Some will charge a flat monthly fee, while others will charge fees based on the performance of your investment dollars. No one way is superior to another. Just make sure to pick an advisor who charges in a manner in which you are comfortable.

You should also ask for a list of references. Call these references and ask them if the financial advisor is quick to return phone calls, if the advisor follows through on promises. Ask, too, if the advisor has ever pressured clients to make investments that they weren’t comfortable with. Ask, too, if the advisor has ever tried to sell clients financial products in which the advisor had a vested interest. You’ll want to avoid planners who engage in this kind of behavior.

Finally, stay away from financial advisors who make bold promises on the returns that they can bring you. The truth is, not even the savviest financial minds can predict the future direction of investment vehicles. The performance of stocks and mutual funds vary according to so many different factors. It’s impossible for anyone to guarantee how any investment will perform.

If you meet up with advisors who boast that they can time the market perfectly or that they have a perfect track record in predicting big winners, you should run away. These advisors are obviously lying.

Picking a financial advisor is not the easiest of tasks. But with a bit of research, and by asking the right questions, consumers will greatly increase their odds of finding the right planner for them.