15 Questions to ask when Choosing a Financial Advisor

Choosing the right Financial Advisor

In our last episode, we explored the four criteria for evaluating the value of financial advice: competence, coaching, convenience & continuity. We’re taking it further today and exploring how you can assess the process of hiring a financial advisor or financial planner.

A good evaluation goes beyond an advisor’s financial performance. A thorough evaluation should give you a sense of their processes, structures, and how they will help you attain your goals. To help you to get the most out of your due diligence, we’re sharing our insights on which questions you should ask when trying to figure out who is the right advisor or firm for your financial circumstances.

In this episode, Marcelo and Keith talk about how to do a self-evaluation to gain clarity on the type of investor you are and which services you need, what makes a good investment philosophy, how to test if a firm’s practices align with what they say, common mistakes investors make when evaluating advisors, and so much more.

Thank you for listening!

Financial planning and your investment plan

• Why we’re talking about choosing financial advisors (1:48)
• Determining what type of investor you are and which financial services you need (2:35)
• Reviewing the competence of the financial advisor (5:15)
• Defining and aligning your investment philosophy (6:37)
• How to ask a potential financial advisor about their investment philosophy (9:07)
• Assessing a financial advisor or firm’s consistency across their client base and over time (12:00)
• Common mistakes Canadian investors make when evaluating financial advisors (14:06)
• Getting clear on how a financial advisor or firm works (17:02)
• The advantages of a financial advisor/coach over a facilitator (20:31)
• What excellent financial service should look like (23:25)
• Why your financial advisor needs to have a plan in place for continuity of financial advice for your whole family (25:40)
• Understanding your financial advisor’s succession plan (28:41)
• What to expect from effective discovery and proposal meetings (29:48)
• Our final takeaways (34:50)
• And much more!