Rate My Financial Advisor

Rate My Financial Advisor

Check whether your current advisor has fiduciary conflicts, product incentives, planning gaps, or hidden fees.

Most clients do not know what their advisor is being paid, who pays them, or whether they are required to act as a fiduciary on every account. This tool walks through the questions that surface those issues — the same questions we wish more households asked before signing a planning agreement.

The questions matter because the financial services industry runs on three different legal and economic models — fee-only registered investment advisers, fee-based hybrid brokers, and commission-based registered representatives. The differences dictate which products you are sold, what conflicts your advisor is allowed to have, and whether the advice is required to be in your interest at all times or only at the moment of sale. Most clients do not know which model their current advisor operates under. That is the entire point of running the checklist.

If your current advisor passes the checklist cleanly, you have an excellent relationship. Keep it. If meaningful conflicts surface, the right move is a conversation with another advisor — not necessarily us — to see whether a different structure would serve your household better.

The single most useful question on the checklist is also the simplest: who pays you? Fee-only advisers are paid only by their clients. Fee-based and commission-based advisers are paid in part or in whole by product companies — mutual funds, insurance carriers, broker-dealer firms. That payment structure creates a conflict of interest the advisor is required to disclose but is not required to eliminate. The disclosure is on Form CRS. Most clients have never read theirs. We recommend asking.