Guardian was flying home from their trip to Wall Street, when they overheard a conversation between a small group of employees at a cafe.

“We want to hire someone to invest our profits, but I’m not sure how to tell if we can trust them to do the right thing,” said one of the members.

Guardian decided it was time to see if they needed help finding a reliable advisor.

“So I heard you need help finding a good investment advisor, I know just how to help you,” Guardian interjected.

The group looked confused until one spoke up, “How do you know how to help us and who even are you?”

“Guardian is the name, protecting investors and their assets is my game,” Guardian replied, walking closer to the group. “Do you run background checks on all financial professionals you’re considering?”

“Well, of course we do, we run every type of inquiry we can with Commercial Investigations”.

Guardian paused and continued, “If you’re looking to find an investment advisor, did you know they can run an inquiry called IAPD?”

The group looked at each other, trying to figure out what an “IAPD” actually is.

“IAPD stands for Investment Adviser Public Disclosure, which is a database maintained by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and state securities regulators.”

Andrew, a group member with a name tag, spoke up, “What exactly can that search tell us about a person?”

“That’s a great question! It can provide information on an investment advisor’s professional background, including their qualifications, registrations, and any disciplinary history.”

“How does that really tell us if they would be good at managing our money? We need to know if they’re reliable and won’t put our investments at risk.”

“The IAPD search can reveal if your potential advisor has had any regulatory actions, customer complaints, or disciplinary events in their career. It also shows their employment history and qualifications,” Guardian explained.

The group looked at each other with big smiles, knowing Guardian just saved them a whole lot of time trying to find a trustworthy investment advisor.

Andrew looked at the group and said, “I think that settles it, we’ll be calling Commercial Investigations in the morning to get this added to our report for our potential investment advisor. Thank you so much for your help, Guardian!”

Guardian began the rest of their trip home, satisfied, knowing that they helped a group find the right person to manage their investments.