Your first meeting with a financial advisor (2024)

FAQs

What happens at the first meeting with a financial advisor? ›

It all starts with a conversation. The path to your financial future starts with your complimentary initial consultation with a financial advisor. Meeting a financial advisor is an opportunity for you to ask questions, talk about your long-term goals and current priorities and get to know each other.

Key takeaways

Ask the financial advisor about their experience, credentials, fee structure and investment philosophy. Be prepared to discuss your current money situation and goals, and bring all your financial information with you.

Very generally, having between $50,000 and $500,000 of liquid assets to invest can be a good point to start looking at hiring a financial advisor. Some advisors have minimum asset thresholds. This could be a relatively low figure, like $25,000, but it could also be higher, such as $500,000, $1 million or even more.

While not everyone needs a financial advisor, many people would benefit from personalized advice to help them build a strong financial future. You don't need to have a lot of wealth to take advantage of a financial advisor.

A financial adviser can help you make financial decisions and plan for the future. This might include advice about budgeting, investing, super, retirement planning, estate planning, insurance and taxation.

A budget, if you have one (or credit or debit card statements to show trends in spending) Pay stubs. Statements/details about any investments. Any insurance policies you have.

It suggests 80% of an outcome is often the result of just 20% of the effort you put into it. Often, by prioritizing the 20% of your efforts that make the biggest splash, you can reduce excess commotion. In that spirit, here are 3 financial best practices that pack a lot of value per “pound” of effort.

Is a 1 fee worth it for a financial advisor? ›

On average, financial advisors charge between 0.59% and 1.18% of assets under management for their asset management. At 1%, an advisor's fee is well within the industry average. Whether that fee is too much or just right depends entirely on what you think of the advisor's services and performance.

Answer: From a regulatory perspective, it's usually prohibited to ever charge more than 2%, so it's common to see fees range from as low as 0.25% all the way up to 2%, says certified financial planner Taylor Jessee at Impact Financial.

Just like working with a doctor or therapist, working with a financial advisor requires a level of transparency and candor that can be daunting. The more you share with your advisor, the better they'll be able to do their job and help you optimize your financial life.

The education process may include detailed help with financial topics. At the beginning of your relationship, those topics may include budgeting and saving. As you advance in your knowledge, the advisor will assist you in understanding complex investment, insurance, and tax matters.

Some advisors want to dive deep into the conversation around your goals, fears and concerns and give you plenty of time to ask questions. Usually, this meeting is scheduled for about an hour.