Hiring a financial adviser is a key way to manage your retirement nest egg with less stress. Many people get overwhelmed when tackling retirement planning. Even those with big paychecks and a Wall Street education often seek a financial adviser to help them.
It’s a smart thing to do. You leave the investing work to experts. That gives you time and confidence to focus on important things like family and career. However, deciding which adviser to pick is a big deal. They will be looking after your financial nest egg. You will need to know a lot of things about them before deciding who to choose.
Different types of advisers have different credentials. Any financial adviser selling or recommending certain securities must pass Financial Industry Regulatory Authority exams and may need to register with federal and state regulators.
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Certified Financial Planners (CFPs) must have a bachelor’s degree, gain experience in the industry and pass tough exams, which had a failure rate of 38% last year.
Chartered Financial Analysts (CFAs) are seen as having the most rigorous credentials. CFAs are most commonly held by people running investment funds. In 2024 only around 20% passed the three exams required to get the credential.
No matter what type of adviser you choose, you should ask probing questions, much as you would a candidate in a job interview. Be skeptical, but not cynical. Don’t be shy. The adviser is not doing you a favor. They are getting paid on your behalf, cautions Vincent Catalano, chief markets strategist at Stuyvesant Capital Management. “Try to see who this person really is and is this a good fit for you,” he says. “Never forget it’s your money and you are hiring someone to do work on your behalf.”
Here are the questions that financial experts say you should ask.
1. Does the adviser’s company have a fiduciary responsibility?
A fiduciary is legally bound to put the best interests of the client above their own. “That means the investments made have to be suitable for the client,” says Winston Justice, CEO of Sage Spring Private Wealth. That means highly risky investments, such as wildcat oil-drilling stocks, will likely not be suitable or in the interests of someone relying on dividend income. Fiduciaries need to pass a series of tests to gain that status, he says.
2. How is the adviser compensated?
“People respond to incentives,” says Brian Glenn, chief investment officer, private wealth adviser at Premier Path Wealth Partners. “If you are paid more to do one thing rather than another.”
Some advisers get paid perfectly legal kickbacks for selling their clients certain mutual funds, Glenn says. These are part of 12b1 fees, which cover the cost of marketing for mutual fund companies.
Other forms of pay often come down to a fixed fee related to the value of the assets under management or trading commissions. Justice says the compensation question is an “uncomfortable question to ask.” But it’s necessary to get a more transparent understanding.
3. How often does the adviser expect to meet with you?
“You should go for annual meetings, at a minimum,” says Drew Boyer, a certified financial planner at Boyer Financial Group in Columbus, Ohio.
“If someone is unwilling to do that it might be that they have too many clients,” says Boyer. “I offer up quarterly meetings. I want clients to know that we are available.”
4. How many clients does the adviser serve?
“If the adviser is spread so thin, then maybe you won’t get the service you need,” Boyer says. “You can’t be a one-man bank and take care of too many people.”
“Most financial advisers probably serve 200 to 300 clients,” Boyer says. “It depends on if there is an assistant or junior adviser.” More than that could mean you don’t get the attention and care you pay for.
5. What experience does the adviser have?
This will tell you whether you are talking to a rookie. You want an adviser who knows how to handle a rough market.
Rule of thumb: At least 10,000 hours on the job — that’s about five years. “That’s a good amount of time and they will have seen enough market twists and turns,” says Boyer.
You can do your own checking via the Securities and Exchange Commission Investment Adviser Public Disclosure website. It has employment records and details of disciplinary actions.
6. Check out what car the adviser drives.
Hope that Lamborghini in the parking lot belongs to the doctor next door, not your adviser. A car can indicate how the adviser deals with his or her own money, and that will influence how they will approach managing your investments. “Clients don’t want to see you driving sports cars,” says Richard Rosso, director of financial planning at Real Investment Advice. “I manage myself frugally… I drive a Toyota hybrid. It lasts forever, and it’s safe.”
7. Look at what’s on the adviser’s bookshelf and ask what publications they read.
The question really asks the adviser something simple: “Are they set in their ways while the world changes around them or are they staying up to date with new trends?” says Rosso.
The financial world is changing fast and will continue to do so. New technology like artificial intelligence is here to stay, and you want an adviser who knows how to use it for your benefit.
8. Who owns the firm?
What you’re looking for here is how many layers of management there are and how close top managers are to a client, says Premiere Path’s Glenn. “An adviser in a big firm may have many bosses and shareholders up the chain.”
Too many layers could mean the owners aren’t likely to be on the front line. They may get detached from customer needs. Smaller firms might not have big names but it’s more likely that the owners will be hands-on with clients.
9. What is the adviser’s first experience with money?
It’s kind of a marriage, and you want to understand whether the adviser is philosophically aligned with you — sort of like asking about children before you tie the knot.
“It can sometimes throw advisers off,” Rosso says. But that can be good because you’ll learn much more about the adviser and whether they will be a good fit.
10. What does the adviser say about his or her personal finances?
Not all advisers will want you poking into their personal finances. “Some advisers will say ‘How dare you!’” Rosso says. Such a reaction might not be expected, but it is a reasonable question because, like the car, it will tell you a lot about that person. The response may indicate the adviser is more focused on their own status than putting a potential client at ease.
Of course no one likes to talk about their own finances, so reluctance to answer shouldn’t necessarily be a deal-breaker. But any insight into how the adviser handles his or her own finances is valuable.
Note: This item first appeared in Kiplinger Retirement Report, our popular monthly periodical that covers key concerns of affluent older Americans who are retired or preparing for retirement. Subscribe for retirement advice that’s right on the money.