WASHINGTON -- I'm sure I don't have to tell you that the financial road we all have to travel these days is bumpy and full of potholes. There's just so much to deal with. For those of us who need help with our money, it may be worth paying to have a financial adviser pave the way for a headache-free ride. But where should you begin your search?  I hate to tell you this but anybody can play a planner.
    
``Financial planners'' are not regulated by any uniform state or federal laws. Thus their qualifications and business practices can vary considerably. And to complicate matters, the industry has any number of confusing credentials, and each professional organization that bestows those titles says their badge is best. 
    
But is it best to hire a Certified Financial Planner (CFP)? Is a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) good enough? Can you be well served by a Personal Financial Specialist (PFS), Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) or a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)? See what I mean? Picking a financial planning professional is tough, especially since you won't really know how good the person is until after you've made or lost money.

    
To take some of the guesswork out of choosing a financial adviser, Jack Waymire, author of ``Who's Watching Your Money? The 17 Paladin Principles for Selecting a Financial Advisor'' has created an online service, the Paladin Registry (www.paladinregistry.com). Waymire hopes the service will do for the financial planning industry what Morningstar has done for mutual funds. That is, his goal is to establish a well-known rating service for planners.
    
``I hear investors say, 'I don't even know the right questions to ask, and even if I did, I don't know a good answer from a bad one,''' Waymire said. Well, Waymire asks the questions, lots of them. Planners who want to be selected for the registry have to answer more than 140 questions, he said.
    
For example, they have to disclose any history of investor lawsuits or compliance problems. The service does not do extensive background checks but when planners disclose such information, the complaints against them are investigated, Waymire said. Based on the information the financial planners supply, such as work experience, education and credentials, planners are rated on a five-star scale. Only professionals with three, four or five stars are admitted to the registry.
    
The registry currently contains detailed profiles and disclosure statements for 450 financial professionals. Forty-two percent of the advisers have advanced degrees and more than 80 percent have multiple certifications, the most common being a CFP.  No financial services company or adviser has an equity stake in Paladin nor do any of them pay the company to be listed, Waymire said. Paladin makes money by charging advisers a small fee when a match is made with an investor. The adviser is charged $24, $36 or $54, depending on what service the client is looking for.
    
For their part, the financial professionals listed in the registry agree to fee-only compensation from client matches received from the service. The fee can be ether an hourly rate, a fixed fee or a fee based on assets under management.
    
To help people narrow their search, registry entrants are broken down into three categories:
     -- Planners. These advisers are paid to either review or develop a financial plan for you. 
     -- Advisers. These professionals help you decide how to invest your money by recommending various investments.
     -- Investment Managers. This would be an adviser who has authority, albeit limited, to make financial decisions on your behalf without prior approval.
    
``I really commiserate for people looking for a planner,'' said Howard S. Gartenhaus, a financial adviser based in Rockville, Md., who earned a five-star rating from Paladin. ``In many cases you are entrusting your life nest egg to somebody you really don't know. So any method to make that an easier process has got to be good for the consumers.''
    
Waymire, who says he's worked in the financial services industry for 29 years, much of it as president of a financial service company, wants investors to move away from selecting advisers based on their likability. ``I hear investors say my adviser is nice,'' he said. ``But nice doesn't have anything to with competency or integrity.''

I do hope this registry works. But even if you decide to go it on your own, at least follow these few tips:
     -- If an adviser claims to have a certain credential, check it out. For example, if they say they are a CFP, check with the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. at www.cfp-board.org or call toll-free at 888-237-6275. Find out if there has been any disciplinary action against the planner.
     -- Make sure the adviser is properly registered. So many investors could be spared the heartache if they would do this one thing. The SEC can help you check out brokers and advisers. Go to www.sec.gov/investor/brokers.htm. Find registration and other background information on investment professionals and firms by checking with NASD at www.nasd.com or call 800-289-9999. The North American Securities Administrators Association can give you the telephone number of your state securities agency. Go to their Web site at www.nasaa.org and click on the link for ``Contact Your Regulator.''

Listen to Michelle Singletary discuss personal finance every Tuesday on NPR's ``Day to Day.'' To hear her reports online go to www.npr.org. Readers can write to her c/o The Washington Post, 1150 15th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20071. Her e-mail address is singletarym@washpost.com. Comments and questions are welcome, but due to the volume of mail, personal responses may not be possible. Please also note comments or questions may be used in a future column, with the writer's name, unless a specific request to do otherwise is indicated.
    
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