You use your brokerage when you want to buy a stock or sell a mutual fund, or when you want to open an IRA account. But many brokerages want more of a relationship with you. They want to do more for you -- namely, make more money from you.

What, you might ask, do they want to do? Well, I'm not aware of any brokerages offering to wash your car or walk your dogs (yet), but more and more brokerages -- as well as banks and other financial institutions -- are offering financial planning services as they seek out the business of those with questions about retirement, estate planning, and the like. As Susan Ladika reported in the Tampa Bay Business Journal, more and more brokerages are encouraging their employees to earn credentials such as the CFP (certified financial planner) designation.

Ladika noted: "At Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER), a policy was implemented five or six years ago requiring trainees to complete portions of CFP coursework in order to graduate from the firm's training program, and they are encouraged to obtain CFP designation within three to five years." Raymond James Financial (NYSE:RJF) has signed up Kaplan University [a subsidiary of The Washington Post (NYSE:WPO)] to train its employees, and roughly 25% of its advisors are now CFPs. Citigroup's (NYSE:C) Smith Barney brokerage includes many CFPs, too, as do plenty of other brokerages.

The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), an association of fee-only financial advisors, recently expressed concern over this trend, criticizing Smith Barney's plan to change the title of its brokers to "financial advisors." As NAPFA chair Peggy Cabaniss explained, "The term 'financial advisor' should be reserved for professionals who give objective financial advice and who always put the interests of their clients first. It should not be co-opted by salespeople whose only loyalty, both financially and legally, is to their employer."

If you're looking for advice about retirement or estate planning (or taxes or saving for college or investing in general), good for you! Too many people ignore these subjects out of intimidation or some other dastardly emotion. You don't have to sign up with an expensive, full-service brokerage to get good advice, though:

  • You can take advantage of a free trial of our Rule Your Retirement newsletter, which delivers concise, practical guidance on getting your retirement ducks in a row. It showcases some solid stock, bond, and mutual fund recommendations, too. A free trial will permit you to check out all past issues in their entirety.

  • You can find out more about free consultations available from your brokerages, banks, and others -- just to gather some opinions and ideas. If you want to learn more about picking a good brokerage, drop by our Broker Center, which features a handy comparison table and some special deals from the likes of TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ:AMTD), E*Trade (NYSE:ET), Sharebuilder, and Fidelity.

Whatever you do, don't leave everything in someone else's hands. Take the time to read up on whatever is recommended to you. Look for conflicts of interest, such as when a brokerage employee is encouraging you to do things that generate commissions for the brokerage. As always, be an informed financial consumer.

Longtime Fool contributor Selena Maranjian owns shares of The Washington Post.