dana anspach, sensible money writer-- join us now. dana, good morning. how do you know if it's a track record you can actually trust? ponzi schemer bernie madoff had a great track record. > >yes, absolutely. his track record was so good that it was actually one of the ways that they helped identify what he was doing was a scam. consistent returns with low risk...it's what we all dream of but it's simply not possible. it means that track records aren't as important as people think they are when you go to hire someone. > >what should you do because even word of mouth may work against you. > >i think there's two things you can do. one, you have to understand the difference between someone who is strictly a money manager or an investment advisor and someone who is delivering holistic financial planning advice. if it's truly a money manager, you really need multi-millions of dollars before you hire that kind of person. then a track record becomes relevant. but that doesn't apply to most of us. most of us need someone to help us figure out how to allocate our