Money management may not be rocket science, but you have to do your homework, participate in and understand what your financial adviser is doing. You can't just hand over money and assume that someone else will take care of everything for you.

One thing that is rarely explored in articles about male financial advisers is why a woman will so easily trust a man, whom she barely knows, to take care of her finances for her.

It isn't smart, but it's understandable when a wife turns over all responsibility for marital finances to her husband. Love and trust are the basis for marriage in the first place. But choosing an adviser requires a different set of guidelines than choosing a husband.

The fine print in an advisory situation, whether medical, financial or legal, is that there is no guarantee of results. A doctor can provide give you probabilities and statistics; a lawyer has the option of an appeal process. A financial advisor can only offer "past performance is no guarantee of future results", a phrase we often overlook, but which is in the fine print of every financial agreement between yourself and your advisor.

Participating as a partner wih your financial adviser means reading your reports and statements, understanding what the numbers mean and comparing them with the previous ones so you can track change. Your advisor works for you. It's your money that is generating money for your advisor. Unlike a marriage where all kinds of emotions kick in to cloud financial decisions, this is a business relationship.

You need to meet or talk with your financial adviser on a regular basis. You need to ask questions if you don't understand something. Remember, there are no dumb questions when it comes to money. There are only unanswered questions - and as the client you are always entitled to answers.