The Right Way to Hire Financial Help - 2nd Ed.: A Complete Guide to Choosing and Managing Brokers, Financial Planners, Insurance Agents, Lawyers, Tax Preparers, Bankers, and Real Estate Agents

Charles A. Jaffe

1 Needs better focus
A previous reviewer who accused the book of having too much fluff is, unfortunately, only slightly exaggerating. If the author had taken the time to tighten up the book and used only half as many words as he did, the resulting book would have been first rate useful. As it is, the book is a serious test of one's patience and concentration. The ideas are very reasonable, but the reader has to struggle to separate the wheat from the chaff.

2 Forces you to practice due diligence
Some people might think that Jaffe's book is obvious. But what's obvious to some may be revolutionary and important to others.

The book outlines questions that should be asked of any financial proessionals one is considering hiring, and suggests interviewing at least three of each type of adviser to learn differences and to become comfortable.

Jaffe's advice is so good that it is almost impossible not to gain many times the cost of the book in better financial planning and better peace of mind that one has proceeded with due diligence.

3 From a Jaffe fan: This book is what we have come to expect
I read Mr. Jaffe's column every week in the Boston Globe and bought this book after hearing him talk on this subject atthe Globe's personal finance conference (he autographed the book for me).

This book gave me exactly what I have come to expect from Mr. Jaffe: Clear, insightful, unafraid commentary that helped give me the courage to go through with choosing a financial planner. I learned which questions to ask, and I took the book with me and asked those questions. And while it's early to tell (Mr. Jaffe says all the time that anything less than one year is not really long enough to judge), I am happy with my financial planner and expect to stay that way for a long time.

As for the reviewer who thought this book was redundant, he must have skipped the introduction. That's where Mr. Jaffe explains why parts of the book are redundant and advises more knowledgeable investors to skip the parts that they don't need.

If you do that, this book will give you exactly what you need. It certainly did for me.

4 Lots of fluff
As with many books these days, the author seems to have been desparately trying for the maximum number of pages as his primary goal. Large margins, explaining the obvious, repetition, unnecessary quotes, all add up to a book that's only about 25% actual content. If this book was 75% shorter, I'd give it two, maybe three stars. But most of the useful info in this book could be found on the web. A shorter book might have been worthwhile to avoid having to search for it on the web, but having to wade through all the fluff negates this potential benefit.

5 A lifesaver
I had worked with financial planners befor but I was never comfortible. Then I read about this book in the local paper. I bought it. I used it. I just hired a planner, and this time I am comfortible. This book is the reason. I recomend it!

6 It really worked!
My wife and I read Mr. Jaffe's column all the time and bought the book after the Boston Globe reprinted some of it. We had been having a hard time finding a financial planner.

Once we knew what to ask and what to listen for, we weren't so scared about hiring the wrong person. We interviewed three advisers and hired the one who gave us the answeres we liked the best. He even told us it was the best first interview he ever had with a client.

The book made us feel good that we picked the right person.