How to Find the Right Financial Advisor

Ready to get serious about your finances, but don’t know how to find the right advisor? You’re not alone. Here’s a simple framework that cuts through jargon and empowers you to ask the right questions.

In This Guide:

1. Services: Do They Handle More Than Investments?
2. Credentials: CFP® for Planning, CFA® for Portfolios
3. Fiduciary vs. Broker: Whose Side Are They On?
4. What’s Your Planning Process?
5. Do You Specialize in My Life Stage?
6. Are You a Fee-Only Financial Advisor?
7. Team or Solo: Who’s Got Your Back?
8. How Much Will This Cost Me?
9. Any Hidden Conflicts I Should Know?
10. Background Check:Any Red Flags?

2 Great Ways to Start Your Search

Good advisors have strong client retention and excellent relationships with other professionals in the area. A great way to build an advisor list is a referral from someone you trust. Here’s where to look:

1. Trusted clients – Ask friends, family, or colleagues in similar situations for recommendations
2. Professional partners – Your CPA, estate planner, or corporate lawyer knows quality advisors and understand your situation so can make a good recommendation

Armed with names, reach out and start your research. The CFP® Board through their Let’s Make a Plan initiative designed to educate Americans about accessing sound financial planning has a helpful list of 10 Questions to Ask Your Financial Advisor.

1. What services do you offer?

Aim for a firm that bundles comprehensive financial planning + discretionary investment management for 1% or less of your portfolio. That means:

• Building a plan to accomplish your long-term goals
• Retirement roadmap with year-by-year milestones
• Smart tax planning
• Insurance gap analysis (not sales pitches)
• Estate planning wishes documented and updated
• Quarterly strategy huddles, not “call us if you need us”

2. What are your qualifications and credentials?

Since you’re looking for an advisor who will provide financial planning and investing advice, it’s important that they have the right credentials to do both. The financial planning services should be provided by a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER®, and the portfolios should be managed by Chartered Financial Analyst® charterholders. These credentials demonstrate professional commitment, the proper educational background, mastery of requisite core knowledge, and the ability to pass difficult qualifying exams. They also have continuing education requirements and strict ethical standards. 

CFP® Snapshot

To earn the CFP® certification, you have to complete the CFP® Board of Standards’ education requirements in the financial planning areas listed below, develop a financial plan, and pass a difficult comprehensive exam that has about a 60% pass rate. 

• Professional conduct and regulation 
• General principles of financial planning 
• Education planning 
• Risk management and insurance planning
• Investment planning
• Tax planning
• Retirement savings and income planning
• Estate planning 

CFA® Snapshot

The CFA® program is a rigorous graduate-level program that takes at least four years to complete and more than three hundred hours of studying per level. There are three levels, and the historic pass rate for each is between 40 percent and 60 percent.

• Economics
• Corporate finance
• Investments
• Quantitative modeling
• Financial reporting and analysis
• Investment asset classes
• Ethics
• Portfolio management
• Wealth planning

3. Will you have a fiduciary duty to me?

Choose fee-only fiduciaries—paid by you and obligated to act in your best interest. Brokers who follow the lower suitability standard are not as good a fit.
Standards Comparison Table:

Standard	Obligation	Product Menu	Disclosure Required
Suitability (Broker)	Recommend “suitable” products	Usually limited to company offerings or shorter menu	Minimal
Fiduciary (Fee-Only)	Act in YOUR best interest	Typically open architecture	Full transparency on all compensation

“Pay advice fees, not product commissions.”

4. What is your approach to financial planning

I covered this in the answer to question one (explanation of comprehensive).

5. What types of clients do you typically work with?

Look for extensive experience with your life stage and situation.

Common client-types:

• Pre-retirees (50-65): Focus on building toward a successful retirement and tax-efficient withdrawal strategies
• Business owners: Pulling cash from the business tax-efficiently and exit planning
• Young professionals: Equity compensation, appropriate savings targets
• Physicians: Liability protection, retirement planning, and practice transitions

6. Will you be the only advisor working with me?

A team-based approach means you’ll have more than one point of contact who knows you well, depth of practice and specialization, and continuity if anything happens to your primary advisor.

7. How will I pay for your services?

I answered this in question one. Fee-only means:

• No commissions
• No revenue-sharing with fund companies
• No insurance sales quotas
• Just transparent fees paid directly by you

8. How much do you typically charge?

You’ll see one of three models: percentage of assets, flat retainer, or hourly—ask for a dollar example of each.

Typical asset-based fee structure:

• 1.00% on first $2 million (=$20,000/year on $2M)
• 0.75% on $2-5 million (=$22,500/year on next $3M)
• 0.50% above $5 million (negotiable for larger portfolios)

9. Do you stand to gain from the financial advice you give me?

I covered this in the answer to question three.

Questions that highlight conflicts:

• “Do you receive any compensation beyond my fee?”
• “Does your firm have proprietary products?”
• “Are there any soft-dollar arrangements?”

10. Have you ever been publicly disciplined for any unlawful or unethical actions in your career?

Background Check in 5 Minutes:

1. SEC ADV → Check disciplinary history at adviserinfo.sec.gov
2. FINRA BrokerCheck → Review complaints at brokercheck.finra.org
3. State securities → Verify registration in your state
4. CFP Board → Confirm certification status if claimed

Next Steps & Resources

You now have a roadmap to vet advisors like a pro. The best advisors are interviewing you as much as you’re interviewing them—it should feel like a two-way conversation about fit.

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