Most advisor relationships feel fine until you ask the right questions. Here is what to look for, and what the answers reveal.
Most people do not leave a financial advisor until something forces the question. If you have never experienced excellence, adequacy feels like enough. The gap shows itself when life gets complicated.
The question worth asking is not whether your advisor is a good person. Most are. The question is whether the relationship is structured to serve your interests fully, and whether the advice you are receiving is as complete as your financial life requires.
Start With How They Are Paid
Compensation is the single most clarifying question in any advisor evaluation, and it is the one most people never ask directly.
A fee-only advisor is paid only by the client — no commissions, no referral fees, no payments from financial products. A fee-based advisor, by contrast, may charge fees and also earn commissions on products they recommend. The distinction matters because it shapes, at least in part, what gets recommended and why.
Ask plainly: how are you compensated, and do you or your firm receive any payment from third parties based on what you recommend to me? The answer should be direct. Hesitation or complexity in the response is itself informative.
Understand the Standard They Are Held To
The fiduciary standard requires an advisor to act in your best interest at all times — legally, not just as a matter of principle. The suitability standard, which governs many brokers and commission-based advisors, requires only that a recommendation be suitable for your general situation. Those are meaningfully different obligations.
Ask whether your advisor is a fiduciary, and ask whether they are a fiduciary 100 percent of the time — not just in certain contexts or for certain account types. Some advisors operate under both standards depending on the service, which creates room for ambiguity. A fee-only registered investment advisor is a fiduciary at all times, with no exceptions.
We cover the fiduciary standard in depth in a separate article — including what it means in practice and why the distinction matters for your family. → Read: The Fiduciary Standard Explained
Ask What They Actually Manage
Investment performance is the most visible part of an advisor relationship. It is not the most important part.
The better question is what else they are watching. Are they modeling tax exposure across multiple years? Coordinating with your CPA and estate attorney? Tracking the impact of a business interest, a concentrated stock position, or a deferred compensation plan on the rest of your financial picture? Helping you think through income timing, charitable giving, or what happens to your plan if something changes unexpectedly?
For families with meaningful wealth, the financial picture extends well beyond a portfolio. An advisor who manages only the portfolio is managing a fraction of the situation. Ask specifically: what does your ongoing work include beyond investment management? The scope of the answer — or the narrowness of it — tells you a great deal.
Evaluate the Relationship, Not Just the Returns
Numbers are the easiest part of an advisor relationship to measure. They are not the most useful measure of whether the relationship is working.
Consider whether your advisor contacts you proactively, or only when you reach out. Whether they have asked, recently, what success looks like for your family now — not three years ago when the relationship began. Whether the people who know your situation best are accessible, or whether you spend your time with someone who hands things off. Whether you feel genuinely informed after conversations, or simply reassured.
Does your advisor know enough about your life to give advice that fits it?
The Credentials Worth Verifying
The CFP® designation — CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ — requires rigorous education, a comprehensive examination, demonstrated experience, and ongoing continuing education. It is the most widely recognized credential for comprehensive financial planning and a reasonable baseline expectation for any advisor managing a complex financial life.
Ask whether your advisor holds the CFP® designation, and whether all advisors at the firm do. Also ask how long the firm has been operating, and whether your relationship would be protected by continuity — what happens to your account and your history if your primary advisor leaves or retires.
What the Conversation Should Feel Like
A strong advisor relationship is not transactional. It is built on genuine familiarity — with your goals, your family, your concerns, and the parts of your financial life that do not fit on a spreadsheet.
At Richard P. Slaughter Associates, every wealth advisor on the team holds the CFP® certification. The firm has been fee-only and fiduciary since 1991. The advisory team takes a whole balance sheet view — investments, taxes, income, estate, and the decisions that tend to live between those categories. And 35 years of professional relationships mean that when a client needs a specialist, the right introduction is already there.
Richard P. Slaughter Associates is a Registered Investment Advisor. This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute personalized investment advice. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
CFP Board owns the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, and CFP® (with plaque design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete CFP Board’s initial and ongoing certification requirements.
