Questions To Ask Financial Advisors
We encourage you to pose as many questions as possible to your current financial planner / financial advisor or your potential future investment advisor. We feel our value to you becomes most apparent once the competitive landscape is fully understood.
Don’t know what questions to ask? We do; please see below:
ASSET SAFE HARBORING
1. Which financial institution will serve as a custodian for my assets?
PRIORITY OF INTERESTS
2. Do you serve as a fiduciary financial advisor, who places my interests above yours? (A trusted advisor, or similar, is not held to the same standard as a fiduciary advisor; specifically ask if the advisor is a fiduciary).
3. Do you potentially earn any commission dollars from our relationship? Will you earn a commission if I purchase life insurance, invest in mutual funds, open a bank account, receive a mortgage, receive a new credit card or buy an annuity? If so, what is that total commission amount, both initially and over time?
4. Do you potentially earn any referral fees from our relationship, internally or externally?
FEES
5. What is your financial advisor fee structure? Are you fee-only?
6. In addition to paying your financial advisor fee, what is the embedded management expense ratio of equity funds and ETFs that my capital will be invested in?
7. In addition to paying your financial advisor fee, what is the initial fee and/or embedded annual fee of mutual funds that my capital will be invested in?
8. In addition to paying your financial advisor fee, what is the embedded management expense ratio of bond funds that I will invest in?
9. In addition to paying your financial advisor fee, what is the embedded initial fee and total annual fee of annuities that my capital will be invested in?
10. How frequently will my portfolio be rebalanced? Will embedded rebalancing fees be charged? What is the annual embedded rebalancing fee charged to my capital?
11. Is my potential portfolio constructed internally or by a third-party? Are any additional embedded fees paid internally or to the third party, and if so, how much, and at what frequency?
12. What are the total fees I would expect to pay on an annual basis, including your financial advisor fee, embedded fees for funds I will be invested in (including ETFs and bond funds), mutual funds, annuities, rebalancing fees, referral fees, commissions, and all other items?
CREDENTIALS
13. What is your educational background and what designations do you hold? Are you a Chartered Financial Planner (CFP) who can assist with my planning and asset allocation, or a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) who focuses on value-enhancing investment structures?
14. How much professional investment experience do you have?
INVESTING - STOCKS & BONDS
15. I understand that the U.S. stock market (S&P 500) has historically fallen in over 25% of years since 1928. What investment strategies, beyond diversification, protect my downside loss exposure while generating income & enabling me to participate in robust years?
16. Will I have international stock exposure? If so, what are the key risks of owning international stocks?
17. Can you explain to me how bonds lose value when interest rates rise?
18. Why do long term bonds lose more value than short term bonds when interest rates rise?
19. If stocks uniformly fall 10% this year, and bond yields uniformly rise 1% this year, what will be the total loss of my portfolio, before fees? In the same scenario, what will be the total loss of my portfolio, after fees?
ANNUITIES
20. If annuities are recommended, how do they function? Can you please explain in detail and also elaborate upon the multiple layers of fees, including initial fees and recurring fees. Please explain the potential penalties, including discounted sale of investment value, that I may incur if I want to sell the annuities sooner than expected.