When I first started contemplating retirement, one of biggest concerns was – where would the money come from to support my semi-lavish lifestyle. After a bunch of research, I decided that my needs and worries would best be met by a competent financial advisor and wealth manager. My keen engineering mind decided to approach the solution by developing a rating system using a graded set of questions I would ask each potential advisor. I graded each advisor on a 1-3-5 scale and gave a 1-10 importance to each of my questions. Some simple multiplication and addition provided a ranked list of advisors. I am quite happy with my choice and the results, so I thought that I would provide that list of questions to the thirsty masses. The exercise is left to the student, but do please feel free to ask questions.
Potential Advisor Questionnaire
- Fiduciary responsibility?
- How do you charge and how much?
- How do you make money?
- Licenses and credentials (#CFAs, #CFPs, #CPAs, etc)
- What services do you provide?
- What types of clients do you specialize in?
- Sample financial plan
- What is your investment approach?
- How much contact do you have with clients?
- Will I be working with you or with a team?
- How are you unique?
- How will I access my information?
- Where will my portfolio be held?
- How do you do research and learn what to invest in?
- How did you handle 2008?
- What is the past performance of your model portfolios
- How will you track and report performance net of fees?
- Do you sell anything?
- Number of Clients
- Number of clients that own a business
- Number with DB plans
- Amount under management
- Average client amount under management
- How long in business
- Advisor staff numbers and certifications (CFA, CFP, CPA, etc)
- Support staff numbers
- Tell me about the last client that you lost
