What Questions to Ask a Financial Advisor About Retirement
Twenty questions for a meeting with a financial advisor about retirement, starting with how the advisor is paid and who holds your money, then moving to the plan itself: withdrawal order, the assumptions behind the projection, health coverage before Medicare, and what your spouse would live on. Written for a first or second meeting, before you sign anything.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Are you acting as a fiduciary to me at all times, and will you put that in writing?
Why ask it
The words matter less than the willingness to sign them. Some advisors act as fiduciaries when planning and as salespeople when a product is involved, so ask whether the duty applies to every recommendation or only to some.
How exactly are you paid, and what would that come to in dollars in the first year?
Why ask it
A percentage sounds small and a figure does not. Ask for the total including fund charges, platform fees and any trading costs, since the headline advisory fee is often less than half of what leaves your account.
Do you or your firm receive anything from a third party for what you recommend?
Why ask it
Commissions, revenue sharing, referral payments and sales targets all shape recommendations, and none of them are visible on a statement. A straight no is easy to give, so hesitation or a long explanation is the informative outcome.
What are your qualifications, and what did that credential require?
Why ask it
Letters after a name range from multi-year examined qualifications to weekend courses aimed at marketing to retirees. Ask what the study and ongoing requirements are, and check the answer with the awarding body.
Can I see your regulatory filings and disclosure record?
Why ask it
In the United States this means Form ADV and Form CRS, plus the public adviser and broker databases; other countries have their own registers. You are looking for complaints, disciplinary history and any business the firm does not disclose upfront.
Who actually holds my money, and how do I check the balance without going through you?
Why ask it
Assets should sit with an independent custodian, and you should have your own login and statements. Any arrangement where money is paid to the advisor's own firm, or where you only see reports the advisor produces, should stop the conversation.
What do your typical clients look like, and what is your usual account size?
Why ask it
You want someone who deals daily with situations like yours, whether that is a public pension, a small business sale, a special needs child or a portfolio much smaller than their average. Being an outlier usually means less attention and less relevant experience.
If all I want is a written plan, what would that cost on its own?
Why ask it
Some advisors will do project or hourly work, which is often the better value if your investments are simple and your questions are one-off. An unwillingness to price anything except ongoing asset management tells you what the business is built on.
How much do I need before I can stop working, and how did you arrive at that number?
Why ask it
The number is less interesting than the method: what spending figure they used, whether it includes tax, and what they assumed about the mortgage and the cars. If the answer arrives without those inputs, it is a sales figure rather than a calculation.
What assumptions are inside that projection?
Why ask it
Ask for the return, the inflation rate and the age the plan runs to, then ask what happens if you lower returns by two points and live five years longer. A plan that only works under optimistic inputs is worth knowing about now.
Which accounts would we draw from first, and why that order?
Why ask it
Withdrawal sequencing changes lifetime tax and how long the money lasts, and it is one of the clearest tests of whether someone is planning or just managing investments. Expect reasoning about tax brackets, not a rule of thumb.
What is the plan if the market falls badly in my first two years of retirement?
Why ask it
Selling into a decline early in retirement does lasting damage, so you want a concrete answer: cash reserve, reduced withdrawals, a spending floor. "We stay the course" is a slogan rather than a plan.
How do I cover health insurance between the day I stop working and the day Medicare starts?
Why ask it
This gap catches early retirees, and the cost can decide whether retiring at sixty is possible at all. If you are outside the United States, ask the equivalent question about private cover and what your public system does not fund.
When should I claim Social Security, and how does the answer change because I'm married?
Why ask it
Claiming age affects the payment permanently, and for couples the survivor's benefit makes it a joint decision rather than an individual one. Ask them to show both the single and survivor outcomes side by side.
If I die first, what does my spouse actually live on? Show me the numbers.
Why ask it
Pension survivor elections, benefit changes and a shift in tax status can cut household income sharply while most costs continue. Ask for the figure on paper, and ask what would need to change to make it workable.
What is your view on annuities, and would you or your firm be paid if I bought one?
Why ask it
Guaranteed income has a real place in a plan, and it also carries some of the largest commissions in the industry. Asking both halves in one breath tells you whether the recommendation is about your income floor or about theirs.
How do taxes shape the plan, and would converting some savings to a Roth make sense in my case?
Why ask it
The answer should reference your own bracket now versus later, not a general enthusiasm for conversions. A blanket yes or a blanket no, without asking about your income between retiring and claiming benefits, means the analysis has not been done.
What have you assumed about long-term care, and how would we pay for it?
Why ask it
Care costs are the most common way a workable plan comes apart, and many projections quietly leave them out. Ask what the plan assumes, then ask what happens if one of you needs care for three years.
How often will we meet, who will I actually be dealing with, and what happens when you retire?
Why ask it
Advisors are often close to their clients' age. Ask about succession, who covers when they are away, and whether your calls go to them or to a service desk, since that is the day-to-day reality of the relationship.
What would make you tell me the plan is off track, and how will you report that?
Why ask it
You want a defined trigger and a comparison against something other than a good year: a benchmark, a funding level, a spending limit. Advisors without a defined off-track signal rarely deliver bad news early.
Getting a useful meeting
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
What to bring
- Recent statements for every account: workplace pensions and retirement plans, old plans from previous jobs, brokerage accounts, cash savings.
- Your Social Security or state pension estimate, plus any defined benefit pension paperwork showing the survivor options.
- Last year's tax return, which answers more questions in five minutes than an hour of conversation.
- A realistic figure for what you actually spend in a year, from bank statements rather than memory. Everything in the plan depends on this one number.
- A short list of what you want retirement to look like: the age, the location, whether you intend to work part-time, and anyone you expect to support.
Understanding how you are paying
- A percentage of assets means the fee grows as the portfolio does, and it is charged whether the advice changes or not. Ask what the figure will be in ten years, not just this year.
- Flat fee, retainer and hourly arrangements make the cost visible and are often cheaper for straightforward situations. Ask whether the firm offers them at all.
- Commission-based advice can be legitimate, but the product with the largest commission and the product best suited to you are not reliably the same one.
- Add fund and platform charges to the advice fee to get a single all-in number, and compare that across advisors rather than comparing headline rates.
- Ask what happens to the fee if you move to cash, or if you stop taking advice partway through the year.
Reading the answers
- Precision about your situation is a good sign. Someone who quotes general rules without asking about your tax position, your spouse's pension or your mortgage is not planning yet.
- Any pressure to decide in the first meeting, especially about an insurance or annuity product, is a reason to leave and think.
- Be wary of confident predictions about markets or interest rates. Nobody has that information, and offering it usually precedes a product.
- Ask for the plan in writing, with the assumptions listed. Advice you cannot re-read later is very hard to hold anyone to.
- Notice whether they explain trade-offs. Every retirement plan gives something up, and an advisor who never mentions a cost is describing a sales pitch.
Before you sign
- 1Interview at least two advisors, ideally with different fee models, and ask each the same fee and fiduciary questions.
- 2Check the regulatory record yourself in the relevant public register rather than accepting a summary.
- 3Read the agreement for how to leave, what notice is required, and what happens to your accounts if you do.
- 4Confirm that checks and transfers go to the custodian, never to the advisor personally or to a firm account.
- 5Take the paperwork home. If a plan only makes sense while the advisor is explaining it, that is a reason to wait rather than a reason to trust it.