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1. Look for the standard in financial planning competency, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER(tm). A CFP(r) certificant has had to take 15-18 college credit hours in the topics of financial planning, taxes, investments, insurance, and estate planning. Then pass a rigorous two day exam. And have a minimum of 3-5 years of financial planning experience before they are vested with the title, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER(tm).

2. It can be argued that the better financial planners do not work for the large Wall Street Institutions. Most financial planners work for small independent firms who are not associated with companies that push product on their clients.

3. Ask what software they use to create financial plans for their clients. Some of the "industry standard" software programs are: NaviPlan, ExecPlan, and MoneyGuidePro to name a few. Just because a planner doesn't use one of the industry standard programs shouldn't mean that their necessarily bad planners but that you should be asking questions before hiring them.

4. Make sure the planner is going to work with you on a Fiduciary basis. This means that they are going to recommend only what is in your best interest. A planner who tries to sell you a product is generally a red flag that they aren't looking out for your best interests.

5. Make sure that they are properly licensed. A stockbroker will be licensed with an organization known as FINRA. Some planners will also be licensed with FINRA, but in order to provide you with financial advice they need to be either regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the state in which they are doing business depending on the size of their practice. To verify that they are registered with the SEC or the State they need to provide you with a document known as an ADV and the planner should be listed in the ADV as someone who is registered as providing advice.

6. Read the ADV. This is a wonderful document that tells you a lot about the planners' business; it will tell you how many clients they have, the average size of their clientele, how they are compensated and disclose all conflicts of interest that they may have.

7. Some of the more vetted financial planners will be members of an organization known as the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA). This is considered the premier organization of fee-only financial planners.

8. Interview the prospective planner that you are about to hire. Understand how they think, what their speciality is, and most importantly how they are going to get paid for their services. Be very very careful with a planner who is going to provide you with a free financial plan as that person more often than not has a motivation to sell you something.

9. Ask for a sample financial plan. If they are reluctant to share this with you because they are afraid to share information with you about a client of theirs then walk away. I am not suggesting that the planner disclose info about another client to you, they should however very easily be able to go into their financial planning program and change the names to something generic and scrub the data to remove all identifying info (some financial planning software programs like NaviPlan do this automatically for the planner with the click of a button).

10. Last but not least, go to a person who works hand in hand with financial planners like an accountant or estate planning attorney for a referral. Accountants and estate planning/tax attorneys know the difference between a good and bad planner. Chances are they are a client of the person they'll refer you to.

The US Treasury has unveiled a new $100 bill. The new bill has some new security features including a 3D security ribbon.