Are you treating yourself like an Investment Advisor or like a stock broker? There is a huge difference, or at least a potential difference in how an investment advisor would manage your portfolio versus how a broker would handle it.

If you are managing your own retirement account, your own investment account to develop wealth, you should be acting as a self-employed Investment Advisor. In SEC jargon that means you have a fiduciary obligation to manage the account for the best results regardless of other personal objectives. This applies equally to your spouse's account.

In plain English this means that you should trade to meet the goals and objectives of the account owner. That's right; a stock broker may or may not do that. A stock broker may be influenced by the research reports of his company and want to sell you what his company recommends or what pay's him the best commission.

Financial planners and investment advisor representatives have a legal responsibility to put aside their personal objectives and desires when advising or making trades in your behalf. Hopefully you are treating yourself the same way by doing what is best for your portfolio and not for your ego.

Speaking of financial planners and investment advisors, remember that they get paid for managing your portfolio and some ways they pay themselves are more lucrative than others. They earn their money one of two primary ways:

• Commissions - when they place a trade for certain types of mutual funds they can get as much as 6% off the top. They may even get commissions for stock and ETF trades. And they may get more commissions when a position is sold.

• Flat Fee - they charge a percentage of the value of your portfolio; usually around 1% to 1.5% on an annual basis. This ties their management performance to the future value of your portfolio. A good way to do it, in my opinion.

Back to how you treat yourself.

Managing your portfolio in a fiduciary manner means:

• Emotions must be kept in check. Don't buy or sell because you like Ford's latest car model, or hate it or your wife thinks a certain brand lipstick stinks. If Wells Fargo is going down but that's where you bank, don't let your emotional bond keep you from acting in the best interest of your retirement account.

• News reports and broadcasts must be kept in perspective. What makes headlines today may be so old in a week that the effect on a stock or industry (ETF or mutual fund) may be meaningless whether the news pushed you towards buying or selling.

• Tips from friends are just that. A tip may lead you to do research and analysis but that is the only direction it should lead. Think about it; who ever decides on what to buy at a restaurant based on how much they are going to tip at the end?

Responsible investing and management of your portfolio should be based on solid analysis. If you are doing it yourself, then a good technical analysis program that allows you to customize it to fit your particular goals and objectives would be my recommendation. In this fashion you take out ego and emotions and can base your decisions on what is best for you.

Author Raymond Dominick is the designer of Dynamic Investor Pro investment software for stocks, ETFs and mutual funds. He has been investing in the markets since his teenage years. An experienced business manager and journalist, he has been a registered investment advisor representative, also a professional photographer who loves escaping to the wonders of Glacier National Park in Montana.
 View his software at: http://www.dynamicinvestorpro.com