The Right Way to Hire Financial Help -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- How to start looking for help -- A pocketful of money beats a mouthful of excuses -- Recruit advisers before you need them -- Overcoming sins of commission -- Do you want your mother's decorator? A guide to referrals -- Friends don't let friends become clients, most of the time -- Defning a match made in heaven -- Your first meeting with an adviser -- Swimming through alphabet soup -- They're smarter than I am -- how do I keep control? -- Getting blood from a stone -- how to get good answers from references -- Hiring a financial planner -- Hiring a broker -- Where to check the background of a broker/®nancial planner, where to ®le complaints -- Hiring an insurance agent -- Your state insurance commissioner/ independent agents organizations -- Hiring an accountant or tax preparer/tax planner -- Checking out tax planners -- Hiring a lawyer -- The State Bar Association near you -- Hiring a real estate agent -- State Boards of Realtors -- Hiring a banker -- Better Business Bureaus -- How to get a group of individuals to function as one unit -- Utility infielders -- can one adviser handle two jobs? -- Breaking up is hard to do -- The Last Word -- Index.