What is the difference between a fiduciary and a suitability standard?

The fiduciary standard requires advisors to act in your best interest — recommending the best available option for your specific situation. The suitability standard only requires that recommendations be suitable for you, even if a better option exists. A suitable recommendation might cost you more, generate a higher commission for the advisor, or simply be less optimal than alternatives. The fiduciary standard is meaningfully stronger.

How do I verify that my financial advisor is a fiduciary?

Ask directly: 'Are you a fiduciary? Are you always a fiduciary, or only sometimes?' Review their Form ADV Part 2, publicly available at adviserinfo.sec.gov. Look for NAPFA membership at napfa.org, which requires both fee-only compensation and fiduciary status. Confirm they are a Registered Investment Adviser, not solely a broker-dealer.

What does it mean to work with a fiduciary financial planner?

Working with a fiduciary means your advisor is legally obligated to put your interests first at all times. They must disclose any conflicts of interest, recommend what is genuinely best for your situation rather than what generates the most compensation, and maintain loyalty to you rather than to the products or institutions they represent.

Is a fee-only financial advisor always a fiduciary?

Not automatically — but fee-only and fiduciary are closely related. NAPFA requires all members to be both fee-only and fiduciary, making NAPFA membership a reliable way to verify both. The fee-only compensation model removes the most common structural incentives for conflicted advice, which is why fee-only advisors are typically also fiduciaries.

What is the difference between a fee-only and fee-based fiduciary?

A fee-only advisor is compensated exclusively by client fees and cannot receive commissions or third-party compensation. A fee-based advisor may be a fiduciary in their planning capacity but can also receive commissions in a separate brokerage capacity — meaning their fiduciary duty applies only sometimes. Fee-only is the stricter and more transparent standard.

FIDUCIARY Financial Planning Scottsdale, AZ

What is a fiduciary financial advisor?

The most important question to ask before hiring any financial advisor — and what the answer actually means for the advice you receive.

The legal obligation most advisors don't have

A fiduciary financial advisor is legally required to act in your best interest at all times — not just when it's convenient, and not just when it doesn't conflict with their own financial interests. That sounds like a baseline expectation. It isn't.

Most people assume their financial advisor is legally required to act in their best interest. Most of the time, they're wrong. The fiduciary standard is not universal in financial services — and the industry hasn't always made it easy to know who is and isn't held to it.

Understanding fiduciary duty is closely connected to understanding how advisors are compensated. Fee-only advisors — who receive no commissions or product-based compensation — are naturally aligned with fiduciary principles. The two concepts reinforce each other.

"Most people assume their financial advisor is legally required to act in their best interest. Most of the time, they're wrong."

Fiduciary vs. suitability — the standard that actually matters

For most of financial advisory history, brokers operated under a "suitability" standard — they only needed to recommend products that were suitable for you, even if a better option existed. A suitable recommendation might cost you more, generate a higher commission for the broker, or simply be less optimal than alternatives.

Suitability standard: The recommendation doesn't hurt you and isn't completely inappropriate for your situation.

Fiduciary standard: The recommendation is the best available option for your specific situation, regardless of how it affects the advisor's compensation.

The SEC's Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI), enacted in 2020, raised the bar for brokers somewhat — but it still falls meaningfully short of the full fiduciary duty that applies to Registered Investment Advisers. If your advisor is a broker operating under Reg BI, they are not operating under the same legal standard as a fiduciary RIA.

Who is — and isn't — required to be a fiduciary

Held to fiduciary standard — always

Registered Investment Advisers (RIAs) and their investment adviser representatives
NAPFA members — fiduciary status is a membership requirement alongside fee-only compensation

Held to fiduciary standard — when providing financial planning

CFP® certificants — fiduciary duty applies specifically during financial planning engagements

Not automatically fiduciary

Broker-dealers, insurance agents, and many financial professionals who use titles like "financial advisor," "wealth manager," or "financial consultant" may not be fiduciaries — even if those titles sound equivalent. The title doesn't determine the legal standard. The registration type does.

The most important thing you can do before hiring any financial advisor: ask directly, "Are you a fiduciary? Are you always a fiduciary, or only sometimes?" Some advisors wear both hats — they're fiduciaries in one capacity but not another. That distinction matters significantly.

How to verify fiduciary status

Ask for written confirmation that they are always a fiduciary — not just in certain capacities
Review their Form ADV Part 2 on the SEC's IAPD database — publicly available, discloses legal obligations and compensation
Check for NAPFA membership— requires both fiduciary duty and fee-only compensation
Confirm they are a Registered Investment Adviser (RIA), not operating solely as a broker
Ask specifically: "Do you receive any compensation from third parties for recommendations you make to me?"

Dynamic Financial Planning's ADV is publicly available through the SEC IAPD database and discloses our fee-only, fiduciary structure in full.

What fiduciary means in practice — across every recommendation

Investment recommendations

A fiduciary recommends investments based on your goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance — not on which funds pay the advisor a distribution fee. Low-cost index funds get recommended when they're the best option, even though they generate minimal advisor compensation.

Insurance recommendations

Insurance products carry some of the highest commissions in financial services. A fiduciary evaluates insurance based on your actual protection needs — not on which policy produces the largest commission.

Overall planning

A fiduciary looks at your complete financial picture and makes recommendations that serve your long-term interests — including recommending against complexity, against products with high embedded costs, and against strategies that benefit the advisor more than you. This is the foundation of the planning philosophy at Dynamic FP — the compensation structure and the legal obligation work together to ensure the advice is genuinely yours.

Common questions

Can I trust a non-fiduciary financial advisor?

Some non-fiduciary advisors give genuinely good advice. But without a legal obligation to act in your best interest, you're relying on their personal ethics rather than a legal standard. The fiduciary requirement is a structural protection — it doesn't guarantee good advice, but it removes the most common structural incentives for advice that isn't in your interest.

Is a CFP® always a fiduciary?

CFP® certificants are required to act as fiduciaries when providing financial planning services — but not in all capacities. A CFP® who is also a registered broker is a fiduciary in their planning role but may not be in their brokerage capacity. An RIA who is a CFP® is a fiduciary in both. This is why asking about fee-only status alongside fiduciary status matters — the two together are the strongest protection.

Does fiduciary mean my advisor can't make mistakes?

No. Fiduciary duty is about process and intent — making recommendations based on reasonable analysis and putting your interests first. It doesn't guarantee outcomes. Markets move, circumstances change, and even well-reasoned advice can produce disappointing results. What fiduciary duty guarantees is that the advice is given in your interest, not the advisor's.

How is Dynamic Financial Planning structured as a fiduciary?

Dynamic Financial Planning is a Registered Investment Adviser — legally required to act as a fiduciary at all times. Anthony Syracuse is also a CFP® certificant and a NAPFA member, each of which independently requires fiduciary conduct. The firm is fee-only — compensated only by client fees, with no commissions or third-party compensation of any kind. Read more about Anthony's background and how Dynamic FP is structured.

The only thing we're incentivized to do is give you the best advice possible.

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Fee-only, fiduciary, flat-fee planning — serving clients nationally from Scottsdale, AZ.

Dynamic Financial Planning LLC is a registered investment adviser in the State of Arizona. Information provided for educational purposes only. Not investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Advisory services provided only under a written agreement. All investing involves risk.