15 States Don't Want You to Read Online Reviews About (Some) Financial Advisors

While 83% of Americans want to read online reviews about financial advisors before deciding who to hire, several states prohibit small local advisors from publishing reviews online, resulting in a double standard that reduces transparency for consumers.

Most people preparing to hire a financial advisor want to read online reviews to make smarter hiring decisions, but several states still won't let advisors operating small businesses publish reviews.

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Example: California prohibits 2744 small financial advisors from publishing client reviews, while 1809 large firms based in California and out-of-state financial institutions can share client feedback online.

Number of small (state-registered) and large (SEC-registered) financial advisors sourced from NASAA Investment Adviser Section 2024 Annual Report.

Source: Wealthtender (Sept. 2025)Get the dataDownload imageCreated with Datawrapper