How do I check an advisor's disciplinary history?
You can check a financial advisor's disciplinary history in about ten minutes using two free public databases. The first is FINRA BrokerCheck. It covers any advisor who is or was registered with FINRA. That includes most brokers and many dual-registered reps. The second is the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site. It covers Registered Investment Advisers and the people who work for them. Most advisors show up in at least one of the two. Many appear in both. You can search either site by name, firm, or CRD number. Both list employment history, registration status, exam history, and any disclosure events. Disclosure events include client disputes, regulator actions, criminal matters, civil judgments, and bankruptcies. Run the search before you sign anything. A clean record is not a guarantee of good advice. A dirty record is almost always a reason to walk away.
Step-by-step
- Get the advisor's full name and, if possible, their CRD number.
- Go to brokercheck.finra.org. Search by name. Confirm the right person from the list (cities and firm history help).
- Open the Disclosures tab. Read every event. Note the year, type, and outcome.
- Switch to adviserinfo.sec.gov and search the same person. Read the same tab.
- Save both PDFs.
What counts as a serious red flag
- A pattern of customer disputes with arbitration awards or settlements.
- Any regulator action by FINRA, the SEC, or a state.
- A criminal disclosure of fraud, theft, or breach of fiduciary duty.
- Suspension or barring from any securities firm.
- Three or more job changes in five years (signal, not proof).
A single, old, settled item is not the end of the world — ask the advisor to walk you through it in writing. A pattern is a different problem.
What both sites do not cover
State-registered insurance agents who do not also hold securities licenses do not appear in either database. For those, check the state department of insurance website where the agent does business. Most state insurance sites have a search tool by name and license number. The format and detail varies state by state, so plan to spend an extra ten minutes if your advisor is insurance-only.
What if the advisor is not in either database
A "financial coach" or "money mentor" who has never been registered with FINRA or the SEC will not show up in either database. That is not always a red flag — many fee-only planners outside the AUM model still register as state RIAs — but you should ask why. If they are not registered anywhere, they are not subject to either rule, and you have no public record of disclosure events to work from.