How to choose a Christian financial advisor: a step-by-step guide

What does “Christian financial advisor” actually mean?

It is a description a firm gives itself. It tells you the firm wants to bring faith into money decisions. It does not tell you the firm is registered, qualified or a good fit. You have to check those things yourself.

Two tests matter, and they are separate. The first is professional: is this person licensed, is the record clean, and are the fees and conflicts clear? The second is personal: does this team understand how your faith shapes what you do with money? A firm can pass one test and fail the other. Do the professional test first. It is quick, and it is free.

Our page on what a Christian financial advisor does covers the role. This guide covers how to pick one, in a process you can finish in a few evenings.

What should you do before you ever call an advisor?

Check the SEC record, read the firm’s two plain-English disclosure documents, and write down your own goals. Doing this first keeps the call about your family instead of the advisor’s pitch. It also lets you spot answers that do not match the paperwork.

Here is the order that works:

1. Write your goals. Three or four sentences. What do you want your money to do in the next ten years? Who depends on it? What do you want to give?
2. List what you own. Accounts, real estate, company stock, insurance, any trust or will. Rough numbers are fine.
3. Search the advisor on the SEC site. The steps are in the next section.
4. Download the firm’s documents. You want Form ADV Part 2 and Form CRS.
5. Compare at least two or three firms with the same questions.

The SEC says plainly why step three matters. As the agency puts it: “Unlicensed, unregistered persons commit much of the investment fraud in the United States.” A background check takes about five minutes.

How do you check an advisor on adviserinfo.sec.gov?

Go to adviserinfo.sec.gov, search the person’s name and the firm’s name, and read both records. The site is the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure database. It shows registration status and disciplinary history for advisers and their firms, and it costs nothing.

Follow these steps:

1. Open adviserinfo.sec.gov, or start from Investor.gov’s “Check Out Your Investment Professional” page, which sends you to the same database.
2. Search the individual first. Confirm the name, the current firm and the licenses listed.
3. Search the firm. Open its record and look for the registration status and the date it registered.
4. Read the disclosures section for each. Disciplinary events, if any, are listed there.
5. Open the firm’s Form ADV. Part 2 is the brochure. The relationship summary (Form CRS) is also listed for firms that serve retail clients.
6. If the search points you to a broker record, follow it to FINRA’s BrokerCheck and read that record too.

Investor.gov explains that the database lets you “find out if your investment professional and his/her firm is licensed with the SEC, with a state(s), and/or with FINRA.” It also covers any disciplinary history.

The table below shows what to look for and what to do with it.

The database covers registration and discipline. It does not tell you whether a firm is a good fit for your family or whether its faith claim is real. Those take conversation.

What do Form ADV and Form CRS tell you?

They tell you what the firm does, what it charges, who pays whom and what conflicts it has. Both are written in plain English. Both are public. Read them before you talk, then ask about anything that confuses you.

The SEC describes Form ADV Part 2 this way: “The brochure is the primary disclosure document for investment advisers and must be delivered to advisory clients.” It covers the adviser’s business practices, fees, conflicts of interest and disciplinary information.

Form CRS is shorter. Investor.gov says a firm’s relationship summary tells you about the services a firm offers, the fees and costs you will pay, conflicts of interest, the required standard of conduct, whether the firm and its professionals have reportable legal or disciplinary history, and key questions to ask.

Here is how to use each document.

The SEC’s advice on pay is direct: “you should always feel free to ask questions about how and how much your adviser is being paid.” If the fee is a percentage, ask what it comes to in dollars for your own accounts. This guide lists no fees, because they differ by firm and change.

What should you ask in a first call?

Ask about duty, pay, conflicts, team, process and faith. Ask every firm the same questions and write down the answers. The table below is a working checklist. Print it and take notes in the right-hand column.

You can also use the “conversation starters” at the end of any firm’s Form CRS. The SEC encourages it. As Investor.gov puts it: “It’s important that you understand an investment, including its risks, before you buy it. If you are not getting that information from your broker or investment adviser, push for it, and if you don’t get it, consider finding an alternate broker or adviser.”

What does a fiduciary advisor owe you?

A fiduciary owes you a duty to put your interests first. Ask whether the duty covers all of your accounts and all of the advice, then confirm the answer in the firm’s documents. Our glossary entry on fiduciary explains the term in plain words.

Do not stop at the word. People use “fiduciary” loosely. Read the Form ADV and Form CRS sections on standard of conduct and conflicts. Then ask: “Where in your documents does it say that?” A firm that is sure of its answer will point you to the page.

Our compare page on fiduciary, fee-only and fee-based advisors sorts out three terms that often get mixed together. The glossary entry on fee-only advisor explains one of them.

How do titles and credentials fit in?

Treat letters after a name as a reason to ask questions, not a reason to trust. Credentials differ a great deal in what they require. Some show real training. Others can be earned quickly. The SEC warns about this directly.

Investor.gov says: “If a broker or adviser has initials after their name, don’t assume that makes that individual more qualified than another.” It adds that some titles may mean the person can sell only certain products. It points readers to a FINRA list that shows how hard each designation is to earn.

Faith-based designations work the same way. The Certified Kingdom Advisor designation is one example. Ask what it required, who grants it and whether it changes how the person works with you. Then check the registration on the SEC site as you would for anyone.

How do you tell whether the faith is real?

Ask for specifics. Real faith-based planning changes decisions you can see: how giving fits the tax plan, how investments are screened, how the team talks about money, and what happens when your values and a tax shortcut disagree. A slogan changes nothing.

Try these questions:

• Show me a decision where faith changed your advice. What did you do?
• How do you help a family give on purpose, not only by year-end impulse? Our guide on donor-advised funds for Christian givers shows one tool.
• How do you handle investments that fit our convictions? Our page on biblically responsible investing covers the topic, including the trade-offs of screening.
• What do you do when a client’s wishes and the most tax-efficient path point in different directions?

Listen for humility. Faith-based planning is about stewardship, meaning care for what has been entrusted to you. A good advisor can explain how that idea shapes the work without telling you what to believe.

What red flags should end the search?

Walk away if the advisor will not put answers in writing, discourages you from reading the documents, cannot be found in the SEC database, or pressures you to decide on the first call. Any one of these is enough.

Watch for these:

• No record. The person or firm does not appear in the SEC database and gives no good reason.
• Vague pay. You cannot get a clear answer on all costs in dollars.
• Pressure. “This offer ends Friday.” Good advice survives a week of thought.
• Faith as a closing tool. Scripture used to hurry you or to quiet your questions.
• Guarantees. Any promise about investment results. Nobody can promise them.

How does Seek First answer these questions?

Seek First publishes its answers on its own site. Here is what the firm says, in its own words.

• Registration. Seek First Inc. is an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD 312546). You can search that number or the firm name on adviserinfo.sec.gov and read the record yourself.
• Duty. On its FAQ, the firm asks “Are you a fiduciary?” and answers “Yes.”
• Team. The firm says its team has “over 100 years of combined experience in the financial services industry.” Its site names the founder and CEO, Scott Pearring, CFP®, a tax director who is a CPA, and an estate planning attorney.
• Services. Retirement Planning, Tax Strategy & Filing, Investment Management, Trust & Estate Planning, Risk Management and Impact Planning. You can read how they fit together on how we serve.
• Who it works with. “We work with families who have more than $1 million in investible assets.” Our entry on investable assets explains the term.
• Faith. The firm takes its name from Matthew 6:33. The passage tells believers to seek God’s kingdom first and trust him with the rest.
• Giving. “At Seek First, we give away 100% of our profits every year.”
• First step. A 20-minute complimentary consultation.

Use the same table with Seek First that you use with every other firm. Fees are on the firm’s FAQ in the firm’s own words, and the firm’s Form ADV and Form CRS are on the SEC site. Compare, then decide. This page is general education, not individual advice. Ask your own CPA or attorney about tax and legal questions.

Next step

If you are choosing an advisor now, our overview of the Christian financial advisor role is the place to start, and how we serve shows how Seek First is organized. When you want to test the questions above on a real team, schedule a free 20-minute call or phone (866) 398-4044.