Are you trying to track down a great financial advisor to help you with all your wealth management needs? It shouldn’t be too tough to find one in your area.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are over 200,000 financial advisors operating throughout the country at this time. That should make it easy for you to enjoy the benefits of hiring a financial advisor.
You need to know how to find a good financial advisor prior to hiring one, though. You can do it by figuring out the right questions to ask a financial advisor and then using those questions to your advantage when speaking with your different options match-trade.
We’ve come up with a long list of financial advisor questions that you should make sure you ask before entering into a working relationship with one. Check out eight of them below.
1. How Long Have You Been a Financial Advisor?
When you start communicating with a financial advisor for the first time, you should kick things off by asking them one simple question. You should inquire as to how long they’ve been working as a financial advisor.
You don’t necessarily need to work with a financial advisor that has been in the industry for three decades now. But you also don’t want to work with one that’s only been involved in the industry for three months, either.
In a perfect world, you want a financial advisor on your side who has been in the game for at least a few years at this point. It’s what makes this one of the top questions to ask a financial advisor.
2. What Qualifications Do You Have to Work as a Financial Advisor?
When you look at a financial advisor’s name, you might see a whole long list of initials behind it. This might lead you to believe that they have to be qualified to do their job since they’ve racked up so many initials over time.
Oftentimes, this is the case. But at the same time, you should have some general idea of what those initials mean and what qualifications a financial advisor has as a result of them.
You should check with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to see exactly what qualifications a financial advisor has. You’ll feel more comfortable working with someone once you’ve learned more about their professional designations.
3. How Often Will I Be Able to Get Access to You?
Ideally, you want to be able to pick up the phone and call your financial advisor or email them any time you want and get a speedy response. But there are some financial advisors who have a lot of clients and therefore can’t always get back to people right away when they call or email them.
You should ask a financial advisor how much access that you’re going to be able to get to them before you start working with them all the time. You don’t want to get stuck with a financial advisor who doesn’t ever answer your calls or acknowledge your emails when you need them most.
You might not need to get in touch with your financial advisor all the time to ask questions. But it’ll be nice knowing that you could do it if you had to.
4. What Philosophy Do You Believe In When It Comes to Investing?
All financial advisors can help you invest your money and try to get it to grow over time so that you’re all set up for retirement. But not all of them are going to rely on the same philosophies while doing it.
There are some financial advisors who don’t mind practicing patience when it comes to the stock market. They won’t ever get too high or too low when the stock market goes up and down.
There are other financial advisors who like to be as safe as they can possibly be when they’re in charge of someone else’s money. They won’t take too many risks and will be as careful as they can while managing your account.
You’re welcome to work with a financial advisor who uses whatever philosophy you want. But what’s important is picking one that shares an investment philosophy with you. It’ll help you to get on the same page with them right from the very beginning.
5. What Approach Would You Take to Investing My Money for Me?
While you’re in the process of running through your list of questions to ask a financial advisor, a financial advisor should also ask you a bunch of questions about your financial situation and any goals that you have for the future. Based on your answers, they should be able to come up with their own answer to this question.
A financial advisor should be capable of coming up with a basic strategy that they would employ to help you reach your goals in your desired amount of time. Their strategy should include buying domestic and international stocks from a wide range of different-sized companies.
You don’t want to work with a financial advisor who isn’t quite sure how they would approach investing your money. If they’re confused now, there’s a good chance that they’re also going to be confused later and that they might not take the right approach to your investment opportunities.
You want to have a financial advisor in your corner who is able to take your money and help you build the kind of wealth that you want.
6. How Much Will You Charge Me for Your Services?
Working with a financial advisor is obviously not going to be free. You’re going to have to pay the financial advisor, and you’re also going to be subjected to other fees along the way as you seek to invest your money and watch it grow.
You should be well aware of any and all charges that you’re going to face while working with a financial advisor. If you don’t know what you’re going to have to pay your financial advisor, you could be in for a rude awakening at some point down the line.
The good news is that most financial advisors are “fee-only” advisors who don’t make any commissions for selling products to you. This will mean that you won’t have to worry about them taking advantage of you by trying to introduce you to products that you don’t actually need.
You shouldn’t be shy about comparing the costs associated with different financial advisors. You might be able to save money by going with one option over another.
7. Can You Provide Me With Some References?
Of all the questions to ask a financial advisor that we’ve listed here thus far, this one might be the most important one of the entire bunch. You don’t want to trust a financial advisor to start building a portfolio for you if they don’t have great references who can speak on their behalf.
You should see if a financial advisor can send you some references, and then, you should follow up with them to get the scoop on the financial advisor. The references should be able to give you a good overview of what it will be like for you to work with a financial advisor.
You might want to go the extra mile, too, and look for some online reviews for a financial advisor as well. These reviews will shed even more light on what you can expect from a financial advisor when you give them your business.
8. What Do You Think Sets You Apart From Other Financial Advisors?
As we alluded to all the way at the top, there is no shortage of options out there right now for those in search of a financial advisor. There are usually at least a dozen options in most cities and towns.
With this in mind, you might be able to get some mileage out of asking a financial advisor what they think sets them apart from others. They should be able to talk to you about what makes them different from the financial advisor right up the block.
If a financial advisor doesn’t have enough confidence in themselves to tell you what makes them unique, you might want to look for someone else to help you. You want to know that you have a financial advisor who isn’t afraid to talk about their accomplishments. It’ll instill more confidence in you and lead to a better overall experience.
These Are Just a Few of the Questions to Ask a Financial Advisor
Hiring a financial advisor is one of the biggest steps that you’ll ever take at any point in your life. It’s why you need to take your time when doing it and find the right person for the job.
You can guarantee that you’re able to do this by running through the questions to ask a financial advisor listed here. They should help you land on the best financial advisor in no time at all.
Get more financial tips by reading the other articles found on our blog.
