Financialjoe, lets you rate your financial adviser

Financialjoe.com is the latest start-up to combine social networking and personal finance.

Financialjoe, of Seattle, Wash., lets people rate the performance of their financial advisers — like what Avvo does for rating lawyers, and the Thefunded does for rating venture capitalists.

The ratings are there for everyone to see, a fresh breathe of transparency in a very important area of peoples’ lives. It’s been a challenge to find input of investment professionals until now. Have other people lost money with this person, has he been reprimanded by state regulators, and where can I get better advice?

It is started by Shawn Tierney, a financial planner for Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, along with two former Microsoft employees

The site two weeks old and light on reviews. It ranks top advisors, but the top investment advisor has only one review. The person reviewing, of course, may be friends with the advisor and have an interest in providing a positive review — you just never know. Like with Avvo and Thefunded, the reviews should be treated with caution, but at the same time it can be worth a visit to double check there’s not a long list of grievances against someone you’re considering hiring.

Users can sign up to get an email message every time a new rating is posted on their advisor.

There’s a review of the site by the Seattle Times.

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