Can you trust your financial adviser?

Financial advisers are getting no respect from clients these days. Instead, they’re getting hostility from clients whose portfolio values have crumbled.

This year, their phones are still ringing off the hook – but instead of calling to invest money, many clients are calling to complain.

That’s from a Globe and Mail story earlier this week. It attracted more than 200 online comments, many hostile.

It’s natural that people question the value of advice when they lose money. But what’s troubling some clients is the size of their losses. They feel their advisers didn’t build a portfolio that was diversified enough to withstand a bear market.

My Sunday series on investment advisers has a few more weeks to run and I’m also getting lots of online comments, plus some heartfelt letters from readers. I’ve posted some below.

Here’s a question. What do you think can be done to improve the quality of investment advice given to Canadians? What can be done to make salespeople more trustworthy?