Pay Dirt: Trusted adviser

Our kitchen sink springs a leak a couple of times a year. It's pretty easy to patch up, and the damage is minimal. But we know this will continue to be a problem because we're not plumbers and it was an amateur hack job to begin with.

Joselyn Hall, a 31-year-old business development manager for GlaxoSmithKline in Minneapolis, compares using a financial planner to using a plumber. "I may have an MBA, but I don't know the ins and outs of financial planning," she said. And unlike our sink, she doesn't want her family's portfolio to spring a leak, which is why they've always worked with a financial pro.

But ever since she and her husband moved from Pittsburgh to Minneapolis 18 months ago with their son, they've been on their own, money-wise. She just hasn't clicked with anyone in the Twin Cities. "I think we got really spoiled because we had a great relationship with our last planner," Joselyn said. "He knew where we were in our lives."

Then there are the planners who haven't bothered to return her calls. And the ones recommended by older colleagues (referrals are always a great place to start) who had her meeting with the junior, junior partners. She's beginning to wonder whether there's anyone out there who will meet her expectations.

Finding a financial planner you can trust is a tricky task, no matter how old you are. But it's especially tough for young professionals who are encouraged to start planning their financial futures from Day One but typically haven't earned the money needed to interest the best and brightest financial pros.

Unfortunately, neither the National Association of Fee-Only Financial Planners nor the Financial Planning Association has any programs that reach out to young people in need of a financial compass.

And many twenty- and thirty-somethings are turned away from the most reputable firms because they "aren't revenue generators," said Michael Branham, a certified financial planner (CFP) with Cornerstone Wealth Advisors. "When you're 25 and starting out, when you probably need the advice most, you don't meet anybody's minimum." His firm, for example, takes only clients with a half-million dollars -- a pretty middle-of-the-road minimum for fee-only financial planners.

That means young people have fewer places to turn for advice than the established or the well-heeled. One avenue is to work with planners who get paid by selling you investments on commission. They're more likely to agree to manage a small portfolio.

Many people who write about personal finance say to avoid commission-based advisers because they could pick investments that make them the most money instead of what's best for your bottom line.

"I don't think commissions or no commissions should be the litmus test," Katherine Vessenes said. She consults with financial planning firms as president of Vestment Advisors. I agree that you shouldn't categorically avoid commission-based financial planners. For one, many smart, ethical planners who now work as fee-only advisers get their start working on commissions, because getting a job with a fee-only firm is about as tough as getting in to see one if you're young and broke.

So what should be the litmus test? "To me, it's character," Vessenes said. She came up with a list of questions such as, "Do you ever accept perks from vendor reps?" and "Can you promise you'll do only what's in my best interest?" to get a sense of the person.

Both Branham and Vessenes think that finding a CFP, or someone who's on their way to becoming one, is a good initial screen, since the designation has continuing-education requirements and ethical standards to uphold.

Branham suggests meeting with a planner at least once, if not twice, before saying, "yeah, let me hand it all over to you." If there's anything that makes you uncomfortable about the meeting, confront it right there. Or walk away.

If the subject of payment doesn't come up, that's a signal to go somewhere else. Whether they get paid by commissions, an hourly fee or a fee for the percent of your money they're investing (typically called assets under management), ask away until you learn exactly how their pay structure works. If they say the fee and expense info is written in the prospectus, insist they show you the fine print.

Say you find a planner you'd like to work with but don't meet the requirements. Don't give up. Try to sell yourself with a line like, "It's true that we're younger than your regular clients, but we're great savers. And we're looking for someone to nurture us along because we plan to be very wealthy someday," Vessenes said. Some planners might make a deal.

No dice? There are advisers out there who specialize in working with middle-income folks, like the pros affiliated with the Garrett Planning Network.

Or look for someone sympathetic to being young and in need of advice. Jill Gianola, a fee-only planner and author of "The Young Couple's Guide to Growing Rich Together," knocks a hundred bucks off her regularly priced $600 2½-hour financial tune-up session if you're a young couple or single.

In this meeting, her clients pick three areas of their financial life they want to address. Gianola makes specific recommendations to meet these goals and also looks over their investment portfolios to make sure there aren't past sins to address. Then she sends them off to implement the plan on their own. Young people on a budget should expect to do more of their own legwork.

Gianola acknowledges that it's tough for young people to justify spending $500 on a single meeting when they could use the money to buy a sofa instead. "But I'm hoping that what I'm going to provide them with is advice so later on they can buy lots of sofas."

Kara McGuire, 29, works in St. Paul on the staff of American Public Media's personal finance radio program, "Marketplace Money."