GET RIGHT ADVICE FROM YOUR INVESTMENT PROFESSIONAL

This "Financial Focus" column is prepared by Edward Jones Investments, headquartered in St. Louis. Jones includes branches throughout the nation, including Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

Like most people, you probably have some important goals you want to achieve. You might want to pay for your children's college education. You might want to purchase a vacation home, and you certainly want to be able to enjoy a comfortable retirement. To achieve these and other objectives, you will need to create a solid, long-term financial plan, and you might well want to enlist an expert to help you.

How can you find the right financial professional for your individual needs? Start by asking your friends and relatives who they use. Then, after you've collected a few referrals, conduct some interviews. Ask the professionals how they work, what they specialize in and if they've had experience helping people in situations similar to yours. It's extremely important you feel a good rapport with the people you choose -- after all, they will be helping you make some very important decisions that have a major impact on your life.

Once you have selected a financial professional to work with, what can you expect from that person? The Forum for Investor Advice, the national association of the financial services industry, has some suggestions. To make them easy to remember, the FIA has developed the acronym ADVICE, which stands for the following traits:

Accountable -- Financial professionals should make suitable recommendations based on their knowledge of the investment world and on the information they've gathered about your financial needs and goals. Furthermore, financial consultants should suggest ways you can adjust your portfolio in response to changes in the financial markets and in your personal situation.

Dependable -- A financial professional should provide advice based on the knowledge and judgment from training and experience. Professionals' skills should also be supported by current technology.

Valuable -- Financial consultants should add value by providing information and expertise that you might otherwise not have access to.

Individualized -- All recommendations coming from financial professionals should be tailored to your circumstances. Financial consultants should recommend only those products and services that fit within your tolerance for risk, your investment preferences and your time horizon.

Caring -- Financial professionals must be sensitive to your family situation, your investment personality and your preferred methods of interaction.

Educational -- Financial professionals should provide you with clear, comprehensive, objective and timely information to help you understand your investment choices and should be able -- and willing -- to take the time necessary to explain anything that is unclear to you.

Remember, when you're working with a financial professional, you're not just buying an investment -- you're building a relationship. That's why it's important you select a professional who will provide you with the right ADVICE.

The Southeast Missourian does not recommend that readers buy or sell stocks featured in this column, which is provided for informational purposes only.