How to check a financial advisor's record

You can check any US financial advisor’s record for free in about 15 minutes. Search the person and their firm on the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site and on FINRA’s BrokerCheck, and you’ll see their registrations, past firms and any complaints or sanctions. It’s worth the time: in a study of all US financial advisers from 2005 to 2015, 7% had a misconduct record, and advisers with one were five times as likely as the average adviser to have another.

This guide is about an advisor’s record: who they are, where they’ve worked and what’s gone wrong. To check how they’re paid, see how to tell if an advisor is fee-only.

Why the record matters

The researchers also found that about half of advisers lose their jobs after misconduct, but other firms rehire many of them. A clean record isn’t a guarantee. A pattern of problems is the single best warning you can get before you hand over money.

Step 1: Get the exact name and number

Ask the advisor for their full legal name, their firm’s name and their CRD number, the ID regulators assign to every registered firm and individual. It appears on their record on both sites below. Searching by number avoids mixing them up with someone of the same name.

Step 2: Search the SEC’s adviser site

On adviserinfo.sec.gov, search the individual first, then the firm.

For the person, look at:

• Registration status. Are they currently registered as an investment adviser representative, a broker, or both? In which states?
• Employment history. How many firms in how many years? Several short stints can be worth asking about.
• Disclosures. Any customer disputes, regulatory actions, terminations, criminal matters or financial events like bankruptcy.

For the firm, open Form ADV:

• Part 1, Item 11 lists the firm’s own disciplinary history.
• Part 2A, Item 9 describes it in plain language in the brochure.
• Part 2B, the brochure supplement, covers each advisor’s background and disciplinary information. SEC-registered firms keep it rather than file it, so if it isn’t on the SEC site, ask the firm for it.

The site covers state-registered advisers as well as SEC-registered ones. Firms with less than about $100 million under management generally register with their state, so a small local firm is just as searchable.

Step 3: Search BrokerCheck

BrokerCheck covers brokers and brokerage firms, current and recent. It shows the firms they’ve worked for, their employment history for the last 10 years inside and outside the industry, their licences, and disclosures about “customer disputes, disciplinary events and certain criminal and financial matters.”

Former brokers stay on BrokerCheck for 10 years after they leave the industry. Those with a final regulatory action, certain criminal convictions, or certain arbitration awards against them stay on permanently.

If the advisor shows a current broker registration alongside an adviser registration, they’re dual registered and can earn commissions. Our guide to fee-only vs fee-based vs commission explains what that means for you.

Step 4: Read each disclosure carefully

A disclosure is a reported event, not a verdict. Read the details before you decide.

Then ask the advisor about anything you find. A good advisor explains it plainly and without being asked twice. One who didn’t mention it first is telling you something too.

Step 5: Check the SEC’s enforcement list

The SEC’s Action Lookup for Individuals lists people named in SEC court cases or administrative proceedings where a judgment or order was issued, including people who were never registered. It currently covers actions filed between October 1, 1995 and September 24, 2025, and it leaves out cases still pending, so treat it as one check among several.

Step 6: Verify credentials

A credential is only worth something if it’s real and current.

• CFP: The CFP Board’s verify page shows whether someone is certified now, and lists anyone CFP Board has publicly disciplined. Since June 30, 2020, CFP Board can also publicly sanction a CFP professional for a personal or business bankruptcy. You can also call CFP Board at 800-487-1497.
• CFA and CPA: Our guide to CFP vs CFA vs CPA lists where to verify each.
• Anything else: If the letters after a name are unfamiliar, FINRA’s professional designations database explains what each one takes and whether you can verify it.

Step 7: Ask your state regulator

Your state securities regulator registers and examines smaller advisory firms and keeps records the national sites may not. The SEC site doesn’t show certain customer complaints filed before March 2002; for those, contact a state where the advisor is registered. Find yours through NASAA.

If the advisor sells insurance or annuities, check their licence with your state insurance department too. An agent who only sells insurance may not appear on either site at all.

In Canada

1. Registration: Search the Canadian Securities Administrators’ National Registration Search. It shows whether the person and firm are registered and in which category.
2. Sanctions: Check the CSA Disciplined List for people sanctioned by Canadian securities regulators.
3. Dealer advisors: For advisors at investment dealers regulated by CIRO, the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization, its AdvisorReport shows their regulatory history.
4. Titles in Ontario: FSRA’s Check Credentials tool shows whether someone using the planner or advisor title holds an approved credential, is in good standing and has been disciplined. Our guide to financial planner vs financial advisor explains the rules there and in Quebec.

What the record won’t show

The databases show what was reported to regulators. They won’t show a complaint the client never filed, a firm’s private settlement that didn’t have to be reported, or an advisor who is simply not very good. For that, use the first meeting: our questions to ask a financial advisor and our guide to the warning signs of a bad advisor cover what to listen for.