Once you start writing, talking, hosting a program about finance you become a finance expert. So without naming anybody you now know who are the financial experts to whom this country turns to. For example all channels now know what is wrong with Indian cricket – though of course none of them knew before the Indian team went to the West Indies. Correct?

There is a big difference between a financial adviser and a doctor. If your doctor is giving you bad treatment or poor advise, your body tells you. However in case of a financial adviser you might know at the end of a very long period of time.

So spending time to find out who is a real expert is important – a popular website may have attained popularity because of good SEO techniques, not necessarily because of good content. A financial planner who is savvy – right from creating a weekly newsletter, a monthly call, chocolates for your birthday, flowers for your wedding anniversary – may be good at PR, not necessarily at finance. A stubborn consultant refusing to listen to you MAY ACTUALLY be delivering you better service than a flamboyant one.

It is really difficult to judge a service provider, ignoring visual, aural and other signals. However it is necessary for you to find out whether you are being served well in what you want. After all I cannot choose a tailor just because he stitches dresses for Lalu Prasad Yadav, can I? Maybe choosing Mr. Vilasraon Deshmukh’s tailor could be a better choice – even though Yadav is a far smarter politician!