A financial advisor is a catch-all term that includes financial planners and investment advisors. Most online advisors offer both investment management — whether it's carried out by a human or a sophisticated computer algorithm — and financial planning services or tools. Certified financial planners, or CFPs, are trained extensively in several areas of financial planning, including retirement, taxes, insurance, and estate planning. They also abide by the fiduciary rule, which means they're legally obligated to put their clients' interests ahead of their own and their firm's. All CFPs must be fiduciaries, but not all fiduciaries have to be CFPs.