Financial and investment advice is available from a variety of professionals - accountants, stockbrokers, financial planners and, occasionally, attorneys. It is important to distinguish among these individuals based on the primary focus of their professional services and the way they are compensated for advice.

• Accountants and attorneys are not trained to provide investment advice, nor are they full-time students of the capital markets and the economy. Financial planning and investment advice are incidental to their primary focus and training.
  
  
• Stockbrokers and financial planners are investment professionals in the sense that their major interest and experience is in investments and providing financial advice. All stockbrokers and most financial planners are compensated primarily, if not exclusively, by selling financial products for which they receive commissions. Many view this as a conflict of interest.
  
  
• Recently, “financial consultants” selling mutual funds have begun to appear in bank lobbies. They and/or their employers are receiving commissions, in one form or another, from the fund groups they represent. In some cases banks are selling their own funds.

The SEC officially designates investment counselors as registered investment advisors. At AKJ Asset Management, we find that many clients and others refer to us simply as “money managers”. What is important is that only investment counselors offer advice and asset management on a “fee only” basis. We do not receive sales commissions and we are not selling financial products. This is your assurance you are served by professionals whose only interest is your financial well-being.