The typical annual review goes like this. Forty minutes on what the market did. Five minutes on your accounts. “Any questions?” And you cannot think of one.
You are the client. It is your meeting. Here are nine questions that make it useful. Email them a week ahead so there is no excuse for a vague answer.
About the cost
1. What did I pay last year, all in, in dollars? Their fee, plus the expenses inside the funds, plus anything else. One number.
2. Did you or your firm receive anything from a product I own? A commission, a bonus, revenue from a fund company. If yes, how much.
If the dollar answer surprises you, the Advisor Fee Calculator shows what it adds up to over time.
About the results
3. How did my accounts do against a plain index version of the same mix, after fees? Over three to five years, not one.
4. What did you change in my accounts this year, and why? “Nothing, on purpose” can be a good answer. “I am not sure” is not.
About the plan
5. Am I on track for what I told you I want? A yes or no first, then the reasoning.
6. What would have to happen for the plan to change? A job loss, a market drop of a certain size, a sale of a business. A good plan names its triggers in advance. That is what The Pre-Decision is for.
7. What can we do about my taxes this year? Not next April. This year, while there is still time to act.
About them
8. Are you a fiduciary on every account I have with you, and will you put that in writing? If you want to check before you ask, here is how to look it up in five minutes.
9. What did you get wrong this year, and what did you change? The best question on the list. Watch how they take it.
“Any questions?” is not a review. A review is when they answer yours.
If you are within a few years of retiring, add two
10. Which accounts will I draw from first, and why that order? The order changes the tax bill, sometimes by a lot.
11. What happens to my plan if the market falls hard in my first few years? This is the risk that sinks retirements, and it has less to do with average returns than with timing. You can test your own numbers against three real bad starts with the sequence of returns calculator.
How to read the answers
You are not looking for perfect answers. You are looking for straight ones.
A good sign: numbers given in dollars, a clear yes or no before the explanation, and at least one “I do not know, I will find out” that actually gets followed up.
A bad sign: every answer turns into a market commentary, a question in writing gets a phone call instead of a reply, or the mood changes when you ask about fees.
If several answers come back foggy, that is information. It does not mean you leave tomorrow. It means you now know what to press on. I wrote a separate piece on whether to stay or go.
Related questions: is my advisor doing a good job, how much a financial advisor costs, how to check if your advisor is a fiduciary and financial advisor red flags.
One question for this week: when is your next review? Put it on the calendar, and send the nine questions seven days before.
As always, if you want to talk any of this through, the door is open. Genti