How to prepare for hiring a financial planner…the AMD way
If you have made it this far welcome to my first blog post! Blogging (or really any form of writing) was something I genuinely had zero interest partaking in previously. Partially because I do not believe I am good at writing in any formal manner, but also because I did not understand the purpose in the first place. I always thought it was lame and was written by chronically online people complaining about anything and everything that crossed their mind. But in the age of advancing Artificial Intelligence capabilities, I believe it is important that the human side of my advising style is available to clients and potential clients to show the importance of where AI capabilities stop and the human element of advice takes over. So going forward, I will be writing to this blog monthly regarding topics of financial planning, investing, behavioral finance, insurance products, retirement, current events, opinions, and more so the readers can get a better understanding of me, how I formulate my planning process, and how having a human advisor will never be fully replaced by AI. So read on!
As for my first blog topic, I think it is only right to write about how I would prepare to choose a financial planner as someone in the planning business. Rather than provide basic questions for you to ask your advisor that are easily obtainable from a simple google search (i.e. “Are you a fiduciary?”), I believe that you should first get crystal clear on your own needs and what kind of financial professional you want to help you. Take the time to develop answers to the list of questions below prior to hiring your new financial professional to give yourself a good starting point. It is important to remember that personal finance is PERSONAL, and a financial plan should be focused entirely on YOU, not on a specific product or service model. Feel free to use this list as a guideline for your personal use to help interview me, your current advisor, or other advisors you are considering hiring.
1. How long do I expect to work with a financial planner?
In general, most financial planners are looking to provide a lifetime worth of service for you, from the early days of your career all the way to your retirement. They want to be there to help you navigate the early days of your career, start a family, buy a house, send kids to college, prepare for a successful retirement, and ultimately pass assets onto the next generation. This is an extremely basic path which can be highly customized, but you get the picture. In addition to an ongoing relationship, some advisors work on a project based or one time engagement model. Are you looking for someone to guide you through these milestones? Or is a one-time plan a better fit for your needs? Do you want to manage your investments yourself, but only want help with planning side?
2. How confident am I explaining my current financial situation?
No financial planner expects you to know everything about your own financial situation, especially not me. That is what we are here for. But as the owner of a couple to potentially a dozen financial accounts and policies, you should be able to summarize your information and what you need help with. It really can be as simple as needing help with organizing multiple accounts scattered across different banks and brokerage firms. Be able to at least locate your accounts, know what kind of accounts they are, who is listed as the owner of the account, and the company that holds the funds or has issued the policy. From here, summarize a couple of topics you would like to discuss based on what is keeping you up at night. Are you looking for help with what you should be invested in? Do you need someone to be there to reinforce good savings habits? Maybe you have an inheritance that you were not expecting and need guidance? Once you have this information ready it makes your discovery meeting with your potential advisor much smoother, and you can move quicker to the goals portion rather than focusing mostly on data collection.
3. How often do I expect to hear from an advisor?
This in my opinion is probably one of the most, if not the most, common complaints I hear from prospective clients searching for a new financial advisor. When they signed up with their previous advisor the clients thought he/she would be proactive in calling with planning opportunities, but instead the phone never rings. All they get are yearly reviews and a three-day response time between emails and phone calls. Before entering an advisory relationship, you should make sure you know what level of communication you expect from the advisor. Do you want your advisor to have a set schedule of when they will be contacting you? Do you want your advisor to proactively reach out to you with ways to improve your plan? Are you the type that wants to be called at every market drop to discuss what is going on? Or are you hands off and ok with a yearly meeting only?
4. How does my advisor get paid?
While there is no morally correct way to get paid for providing financial advice, it’s important to know that there are multiple ways financial advisors earn their living. Going through the different compensation structures is a completely separate blog post on its own. Before signing the new client documents, it would be worth getting a better understanding of how your new advisor will be compensated. Make sure you are comfortable with their options, because this will eliminate any unwanted surprises down the road. Does my advisor work on a commission basis only? Are they paid hourly, or by the project? Do I pay them a fee for ongoing service?
5. Have I been given a recommendation before my voice has been heard?
This is almost self-explanatory, but unfortunately it still happens even today in 2026. If someone has reached out to you saying that one product or fund will be the secret to your financial goals, but you have not given them any information about your situation yet, how can this make any sense for you? It would be like a doctor writing a prescription before you told them your symptoms, or a mechanic offering to replace your transmission without turning on the car. If you are being sold a product before finding out what you need help with, it is important to push back with some questions. How did they come up with that recommendation? What are the alternatives, and how does this product compare? Would they also recommend this product to themselves and their family?
6. BONUS - What does the advisors financial plan look like, what does it include, and what do they avoid?
If you are up for it, I believe this is a totally valid question to ask any prospective advisor. If they love the industry as much as they should to provide proper value, I think they would love to discuss it with you (excluding major details). How did you navigate your first child financially? How did you weigh the cost of buying a house versus continuing to rent? Have you done retirement projections and how did you determine what your cost of living will be?
If they can answer these questions, this basically shows the advisor is putting their money where their mouth is and is sticking by their own advice. If they fumble and show they do not even have a plan to explain, well that is a problem.
Quick disclaimer - This does not mean what they do is what you should be doing. That is one of the main disclaimers on all financial media. Just because it works for someone else does not mean you should do it too. What I mean by this question is without going into details on $ amounts, tickers, and specific financial products, your advisor should be comfortable communicating what their goals are, the systems they are using/used to achieve them, and if it is the same level of thoughtfulness they give each client.
In the end, this is not supposed to be the absolute definitive list that you need to follow or else your entire financial future will burn to the ground (insert YouTube thumbnail with a gasping face and a wildfire background). This list exists to give you an alternative way of preparing to hire a financial professional. I hope this helps give you confidence going into your meeting with a prospective advisor. If I can be of any assistance to you please feel free to schedule a meeting with me on my website, send me an email to andrew@amdwealth.com or give me a call at 609-288-2379.
Thank you,
Andrew
The information presented in this blog is the opinion of the author and does not reflect the views of any other person or entity unless specified. The information provided is believed to be reliable and obtained from reliable sources, but no liability is accepted for inaccuracies. The information provided is for informational purposes and should not be construed as advice. Advisory services offered through AMD Wealth Management LLC, an investment adviser registered with the state of New Jersey.