There’s relatively little that you and I can do to fix the greed, incompetence and corruption that became so obvious in 2008. However, as individuals we are not required to put our investments at the mercy of Wall Street. And we should not do so.

Imagine how different 2008 might have been if Americans had relied exclusively on competent advice from people who were free from conflicts of interest. No banks and mortgage brokers encouraging people to borrow money they couldn’t possibly afford to pay back. No chief executive officers convincing employees, shareholders, customers and stock analysts that things were rosy when in fact they were awful. No brokers frantically trying to unload securities they would not dream of owning themselves.

While nearly all of us have lost valuable assets in the past year, we haven’t lost one very important attribute: common sense. As we reminded our clients in a letter during the bleak days of October, common sense has not become extinct. In fact, the common sense that we all have can be more valuable than ever in extremely challenging times, like a lifeline thrown to somebody in the water who’s gone overboard.

Common sense tells us that we as individuals can do little if anything to change or control the forces that seem to be reshaping business, finance and the national economy. However, to a significant extent, we can control how we expose our assets to those forces. Our lives will be better in 2009 if we exercise that control.

Arguably the most important thing you can do along these lines is make sure you have the right professional advisor. That means somebody who doesn’t have a financial interest in what you buy or sell, somebody who is independent and whose interests are the same as yours. The best possible partner is somebody who is on your side, giving you advice that’s unbiased and free from conflicts of interest.

Millions of Americans would be better off today if they had realized something that everybody on Wall Street knows: Big Wall Street institutions are neither designed nor legally required to put their customers’ interests ahead of their own.

By contrast, an independent registered investment advisor is legally required to put your interests first. This takes many forms, but it is summed up in the legal concept of fiduciary responsibility. A fiduciary is somebody who is required to be on your side. That is what you need and what you should want.

You’re not likely to easily find such an advisor at a big Wall Street wire house. But fortunately, investors can choose from among a growing number of independent registered investment advisory firms that operate on a fee-only basis. That means no sales commissions, hence no sales culture or pressure. And, as I must emphasize again, no conflict of interest. That is what you need and what you should want.

To understand conflict of interest in a simple example, assume for a moment that you go to a broker for help in managing $500,000. Assume the broker, after a bit of conversation, concludes privately that a portfolio of exchange traded funds would be a very good choice for your money. However, the brokerage commission on those ETFs would be only $250 to $500. Suppose that the broker also believes he might be able to persuade you to buy a variable universal life insurance policy, which could bring a commission as high as $50,000 – a commission that would be disclosed only in fine print that you’re not likely to read.

With a sales manager looking over his shoulder and perhaps a paid trip for the biggest producer at stake, what do you think that broker is likely to do? Even if the broker understands very well that the ETF portfolio is better for you, he knows that the insurance policy is much better for him and the company he works for. The broker has a big financial incentive to put your money into one product instead of the other one. This is a classic conflict of interest.

Now assume that you brought the same set of circumstances to a fee-only independent registered investment advisor with a fiduciary responsibility to you. This advisor would have no financial incentive to steer your money one way or the other. The advisor would be paid the same regardless of where your money was invested. That means she is free to concentrate only on what’s best for you. This is what you need and what you should want.

Another issue that deserves your attention is the matter of the custody of your money. Who holds that money for you? Most independent registered investment advisors use large discount brokerages for custody. Typically when you open an account you move cash or securities directly into a brokerage account at a company like Charles Schwab or Fidelity. The assets are never owned by your investment advisor, not even temporarily while they are being transferred. Typically you will give your advisor limited authority to make trades on your behalf in the account. But the money and securities are always owned by you. As a further protection for you, your advisor will not receive compensation from this custodian.

The result is a clear separation between the advice (from your advisor) and the brokerage function (from the custodian). Here’s what that means: Your advisor won’t have any financial reason to want to generate trades; any commissions from trades will go only to the custodian. Your advisor’s incentive is to make your account grow. This is what you need and what you should want.

Brokers may technically have access to financial products from many sources. But in the real world, the Wall Street “house” will always provide incentives to put clients into products that are produced in-house or have generous compensation schedules. Without ever knowing it, you will be steered to “preferred” products, whether or not they are likely to be best at meeting your needs.

Because independent registered investment advisors aren’t compensated that way, they are free to pick from a huge variety of products. The advisor can choose the best products to meet your needs. That means you can get low-cost, no-load, no-commission products that no broker could ever afford to sell you. That is what you need and what you should want.

By and large, the marketing forces on Wall Street won’t encourage you to make low-cost, low-commission choices. You are the one who must make the right choices. Fortunately, you can do so with relative ease.

You can choose an advisor who has fiduciary responsibility to put your interests first. You can ditch the Wall Street giants with high-risk capital markets divisions and instead get your advice from an independent registered investment advisor whose financial interests are aligned with yours. You can make sure your money is in the custody of a discount brokerage company.

In a nutshell, I’m telling you to do business with a true partner who is on your side of the table.

If that is what you want, you can choose from among many independent registered advisory firms. We’re one of them, and we’d love to help you. We are an independent business owned 100 percent by the people who work here and their families. We have a fiduciary responsibility to our clients, and we have been working hard to earn their trust and loyalty every business day for more than 25 years. Our revenue comes from our clients; they are our bosses. Because our revenue is based on the value of our clients’ portfolios, our financial incentive is to maximize the value of those accounts. That’s exactly what our clients want, too.

For a free consultation with one of our financial advisors, click here . To learn more about our company, visit us at www.Merriman.com . If you know somebody else who could benefit from the choices I have described, I hope you’ll send them to our web site.

Jeff Merriman-Cohen is the Chief Executive Officer at Merriman