The financial media pundits’ have been stirring up, to the point of near hysteria, the “crisis” state of the U.S. economy.  Banners float across your television screen and headlines read much like the warning from our friend Chicken Little – “the sky is falling, the sky is falling!”

One of the more frequently asked questions of a financial planner is, “What does a financial planner do?”  Rarely have I heard a good, thorough and understandable response to this query.   Some individuals believe a financial planner is someone who provides investment advice.  Others believe a financial planner helps prepare one for retirement.  Many believe that anyone providing financial planning advice generally must be a financial planner.  While all of these items are part of what a financial planner is, none of them fully capture a planner's scope of service.  My goal with this short paper is to lay aside some of the misconceptions about financial planners and provide a clearer understanding of a financial planner's duties.