Broker Check

Interviewing a Financial Advisory Firm

When interviewing a prospective advisor there are 3 key things you need to find out:

  • What is the advisor’s professional and relevant personal history?
  • What type of clients do they best serve?
  • How do they serve their clients?

Once you answer these 3 questions you will have a good idea if they are suited to your current and future needs.

Client Centered

Digging deeper into those 3 topics here are some additional points to consider when seeking to establish what could become a lifetime relationship with a financial advisor:

  • Based upon the advisor’s framing of his professional and personal history do they appear to have an adequate amount of training and experience to handle your current and future planning needs?
  • Is the advisor a generalist or a specialist with a focus on specific clientele that is congruent with you? (An advisor who works with retirement and tax planning daily tends to be more experienced within the subject matter then one who does so on a one-off basis)
  • Does the advisor’s financial planning process, investment management strategy, communication style, and meeting frequency align with what you desire out of an advisory relationship?

It is likely that you won’t make any decisions after your initial meeting with an advisor as you are gathering information that you will use to compare this advisor and this advisory firm with others you may interview. However, even if you interview only one firm or one advisor, the above questions will assist you in evaluating the potential value a given advisor or advisory firm is likely to bring to you and to your family.

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