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Impartial investment advice

I'm thinking about the question of financial planning & investment advice: where should people go to find it? Financial planners with certification symbols after their names? Brokers? Private Bankers? Newsletters? The wise old codger down the street?

After discussing this sort of thing briefly with a couple I met yesterday, I am still wondering. What is best option for people seeking intelligent, impartial advice suited to their needs? By impartial I mean that product selling is not guiding the advisor's recommendations. Does such a thing exist?

And what is more likely to be the determining factor in securing good advice: having a lot of money or the investor's level of education & awareness? I wonder how many savers and investors get access to quality "wealth builders/planners" that can think for themselves and are committed to the people that have entrusted them with their money.

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