How We Define You

Green: When you say [you're researching] “financial advisors,” who do you mean–brokers, RIAs?

Harrington: All of those. What’s your term for the generic?

I always say our readers are “independent advisors.” Some of them are RIAs, many of them are fee-based, some are fee-only, but also folks that are affiliated with independent broker/dealers, and even wirehouse brokers who behave in an independent manner–they would tend, on the wirehouse side, to be the more accomplished, more the corner-office-type guys and gals–people who can pick and choose which distributors they’re going to work with, for example. And they’ll do that with their clients’ best interests in mind, not just what benefits them the most.