Dear Liz: One subject I’ve never seen you address is the use of proprietary funds by financial advisors.

We’ve taken over the finances of my in-laws, whose advisor put their money in a well-balanced portfolio, but all within a proprietary fund group. We are more or less stuck with continuing with their advisor because only certain agents can manage those funds. Also, getting out of the funds would require paying substantial capital gains.

I am counseling my adult children as they make their investment choices to do as we have done and stick with funds that could be ported to other advisors or managed personally so they don’t get in a similar situation. Thoughts?

Answer: Proprietary mutual funds have enough potential disadvantages that people should do plenty of research before committing their money.

Brokerages and other financial institutions create their own proprietary or “house brand” funds to compete with the “name brand” or third-party funds managed by outside companies. But while a name-brand fund can be moved to another brokerage, a proprietary fund is typically just that — proprietary to the firm that created it, and not transferable. To get your money out, you would have to sell the proprietary fund and suffer any tax consequences.

Brokerages typically say that proprietary funds allow them to customize investments for their clients. That may be true, but proprietary funds also allow them to make more money, creating a conflict of interest.