What questions should I ask a fiduciary financial advisor?
The seven questions below are the ones every prospective client should ask a fee-only fiduciary advisor before hiring them. Send them in writing and ask for written answers. A fee-only fiduciary will answer them quickly and clearly. Anyone who hedges, redirects, or asks to "schedule a follow-up call to discuss" is signaling something. Read the signal. The questions cover the four things that matter most: legal duty, how the advisor gets paid, conflicts of interest, and the planning process you would actually go through. Ten minutes spent on these questions can save you years of fee drag, mismatched advice, or getting put into the wrong product. The questions are pulled from the SEC's investor guidance, the CFP Board's Code of Ethics, and what NAPFA member firms commonly answer in plain English on their own websites.
The seven questions
- Are you a fiduciary at all times when advising me, including on insurance, annuities, and rollovers? The right answer is "yes" with no caveats.
- Are you fee-only, or fee-based? Fee-only means paid only by clients. Fee-based means paid by clients and product sponsors.
- What is the all-in cost of working with you on a $500,000 account? A fee-only advisor can quote one number including every fee and product expense.
- What is your CRD number and your firm's CRD number? Both are public. Verify them on adviserinfo.sec.gov and brokercheck.finra.org.
- What conflicts of interest exist in your practice, and how are they disclosed and managed? Every advisor has some. The honest ones name them.
- What does the first year of working with you actually look like? Look for a clear planning process, not just an investment pitch.
- What happens if I want to leave? A fee-only fiduciary has no surrender charges, no exit fees, and no awkward retention pitch.
What good answers look like
A real fee-only fiduciary will answer "yes" to question 1, "fee-only" to question 2, give you a single dollar number for question 3, and walk you through their planning process for question 6. Anything else is a signal.
Save the email replies
Print the answers or save them in a folder. If anything ever goes wrong with the relationship, those written answers are the cleanest record you have of what the advisor promised. They also help if you decide to switch advisors later — the new firm can compare notes on what you were told.
What not to ask in the first meeting
Skip "what return will you get me" and "what is your favorite stock right now." Both questions reward salesmanship over process. A fee-only fiduciary's edge is planning and behavior, not stock-picking.