21 Questions to Ask a Financial Advisor

A complete interview script for the first meeting: every question grouped by topic, with the answer a good advisor gives and the answer that should end the conversation.

By Karanvir Singh, founder of Quantix Invest

How to use this list

The direct answer to the title: these are the 21 questions, grouped into five topics, and the most important six are the compensation questions at the top. Bring the list to a first meeting, in this order, and write the answers down. A good advisor will not be offended; interviewing is normal, first consultations are typically free, and a professional who is transparent about pay and committed in writing to acting in your best interest has nothing to fear from any question here. An advisor who bristles at the list has answered it.

Two framing notes before you start. First, no single fee model makes an advisor good or bad; hourly, flat-fee, AUM, and even commission arrangements each have honest practitioners, and the vocabulary is explained in the companion guide on how advisor fees work and what they cost. What you are testing for is transparency and alignment, not a particular business model. Second, if you have not yet decided whether you need to hire anyone, read the framework on whether physicians need an advisor first; the cheapest advisor is the one you did not need. This guide is a deeper companion to the parent guide on the first big paycheck and choosing an advisor. Education, not individualized advice.

Fiduciary status and compensation

1. "Are you a fiduciary at all times, in all of our engagements, and will you state that in writing?"

Good answer: "Yes, at all times, and here it is in writing." No hedging, no context-dependence.
Red flag: "We always act in our clients' best interest" without the word yes, or "I am a fiduciary for advisory accounts" (which implies other accounts where they are not). Many professionals hold dual registrations and can switch standards mid-relationship; the phrase "at all times" is what closes that door.

2. "Are you fee-only, or fee-based? Does anyone other than me pay you?"

Good answer: a one-word answer to the first part, then a complete accounting: client fees only, or a plain listing of any commissions, revenue sharing, or referral fees, with the conflicts named.
Red flag: treating "fee-only" and "fee-based" as interchangeable, or any visible discomfort itemizing income sources. The two terms are one letter apart and mean opposite things, and an advisor who blurs them is blurring them on purpose or has not thought carefully about their own conflicts. Either is disqualifying.

3. "What will I pay in total, in dollars, in year one? Include your fee, fund expenses, platform fees, and trading costs."

Good answer: a specific dollar figure with the layers itemized, volunteered comfortably, often before you asked.
Red flag: answering only in percentages, "it depends on the portfolio we build," or any suggestion that total cost is unknowable. It is their business; they know.

4. "What would that fee look like in ten years if my portfolio grows as planned?"

Good answer: an honest projection in dollars, plus an unprompted mention of breakpoints or a conversation about when a different fee model might suit you better.
Red flag: "The percentage stays the same." That is precisely the point: on a percentage model the dollars grow with the portfolio even when the work does not, and an advisor unwilling to discuss that dynamic plainly is hoping you will not notice it.

5. "Will you advise me on moves that reduce your compensation?"

Paying off the mortgage, funding a donor-advised fund, buying an income annuity in retirement, investing in your own practice: each removes assets from management.
Good answer: an immediate yes with a concrete example of a time they recommended exactly such a move, and ideally a description of how their process keeps that advice clean.
Red flag: a pause, a pivot to why those moves are usually mistakes, or a generalized speech about the value of liquidity. This question exposes the AUM conflict faster than any other on the list.

6. "Do you receive anything for recommending specific funds, insurance products, or the custodian you use?"

Good answer: "No," or full disclosure of exactly what and from whom, matching what their Form ADV brochure says.
Red flag: surprise at the question, or disclosure that surfaces only after you mention you will be reading the ADV. Product payments are where commission conflicts hide inside fee-charging firms.

Credentials and track record

7. "What are your credentials, and what did each one require?"

Good answer: substantial designations described modestly: CFP for planning, CFA for investment analysis, CPA or PFS for tax, with honest accounts of the coursework and exams behind them.
Red flag: a string of letters you cannot verify, or designations earned in a weekend seminar presented as equivalent to the substantial ones. Look each credential up; the issuing bodies publish requirements.

8. "How long have you practiced, and how many clients like me do you serve?"

Good answer: specific numbers, plus a description of your situation type that shows they recognize it: for a physician, they should speak fluently about backdoor Roths, PSLF, own-occupation disability, and 403(b)/457(b) pairs without prompting.
Red flag: a client base that is nothing like you, or "physician-focused" marketing without physician-specific knowledge underneath it when you probe.

9. "Have you or your firm ever been disciplined by a regulator, or sued by a client?"

Good answer: a direct answer, with context if the answer is yes. People and firms survive isolated complaints; candor about them is the test.
Red flag: any answer that later disagrees with the public record. Both the SEC and FINRA maintain free public databases of adviser and broker histories; check before or immediately after the meeting, because a mismatch here ends the evaluation regardless of everything else.

10. "Who holds my money, and who sends my statements?"

Good answer: a large independent custodian holds the assets, statements come to you directly from that custodian, and the advisor has trading authority but cannot withdraw to themselves.
Red flag: the advisor or their firm custodies the assets or produces the only statements you see. Nearly every large advisory fraud in modern history shared this exact feature. Independent custody is structural protection and costs nothing; treat it as non-negotiable.

Investment philosophy

11. "Describe your investment philosophy in plain language."

Good answer: something coherent and slightly boring: broad diversification, low costs, tax placement, discipline through cycles, matched to your goals. It should sound like the asset allocation guide rather than a thriller.
Red flag: proprietary models, tactical timing, "we know when to get defensive," exclusive access, or anything that requires the advisor to predict markets to earn their fee.

12. "What do you expect my all-in investment costs to be, and what funds would you actually use?"

Good answer: mostly broad index funds with expense ratios measured in hundredths of a percent, and a total cost answer consistent with question 3.
Red flag: in-house funds, active funds with high expenses justified by past performance, or reluctance to name specific holdings before you sign.

13. "What will you tell me to do when the market falls 40%?"

Good answer: a description of a pre-committed process: the plan anticipated this, we rebalance into the decline, we harvest tax losses, we do not sell. Bonus points if they describe how they handled actual clients in an actual bear market.
Red flag: "We would move to protect capital" or any implication they can step aside from crashes. That answer predicts they will sell your bottom. The behavioral steadiness you may be paying for is exactly what this question tests; see the behavioral investing guide for why it matters more than fund selection.

14. "How do you measure whether you are doing a good job for me?"

Good answer: progress against your plan and goals, after-tax and after-fee, with appropriate benchmarks for the portfolio's risk level.
Red flag: beating the market as the headline metric, cherry-picked periods, or no measurable answer at all.

Planning scope and service

15. "Exactly what is included for the fee, and what costs extra?"

Good answer: a written scope: investment management, tax planning, insurance review, estate coordination, student loan analysis, equity compensation, meeting cadence, and what falls outside.
Red flag: "comprehensive wealth management" with no list underneath it. For a physician-scale fee you should not be paying comprehensive prices for investment-only service; the fee-versus-scope comparison in the fees guide shows how much that distinction is worth.

16. "Who will I actually work with, and what happens if they leave?"

Good answer: a named person or small team, their credentials, and a succession answer.
Red flag: being courted by a senior partner and handed to a junior associate after signing, discovered only by asking this question.

17. "How do you coordinate with my CPA and my estate attorney?"

Good answer: they expect to, they describe how, and they welcome the other professionals checking their work.
Red flag: wanting to replace your other advisors, or discouraging you from having recommendations reviewed elsewhere. Advice that fears a second opinion has already told you its quality.

18. "Do you have account minimums, and how do you handle assets you do not manage, like my 403(b)?"

Good answer: a clear policy, and willingness to advise on held-away workplace accounts, since for many physicians those are the largest asset.
Red flag: pressure to roll workplace accounts under management without a case-by-case analysis. Sometimes a rollover is right; a reflexive one that happens to raise the advisor's fee deserves scrutiny.

Communication and the exit

19. "How often will we meet, and how do I reach you between meetings?"

Good answer: a defined cadence with a real response-time commitment.
Red flag: heavy contact during the courtship and vagueness about afterward.

20. "Walk me through your onboarding: what happens in the first ninety days?"

Good answer: discovery, a written plan, an implementation sequence, and specific early deliverables, with your documents requested before any product is mentioned.
Red flag: a product recommendation in the first meeting, before they know your debts, insurance, taxes, or goals. Diagnosis before prescription applies in this profession too.

21. "What does it cost and how long does it take to leave you?"

Good answer: no exit fees beyond transfer costs, no products with surrender charges without explicit discussion, and a matter-of-fact tone, because good advisors retain clients with service rather than friction.
Red flag: termination fees, surrender schedules on recommended products, or offense at the question. Always know the exit before the entrance.

A one-page scorecard

Interview at least two candidates, ideally across different fee models, and compare the answers side by side. The differences teach you more than any single interview can.

After the meeting: verify everything

Three verification steps close the loop. Read the firm's Form ADV Part 2 brochure, which discloses compensation, conflicts, and disciplinary history in plain language. Search the advisor and firm in the SEC and FINRA public databases and reconcile with what they told you in question 9. Confirm the custodian independently and make sure statements will come to you directly. All three steps are free and take under half an hour combined; skipping them is how sophisticated people end up in unsophisticated trouble.

If the interviews convince you that you do not need ongoing management after all, that is a fine outcome; the decision framework and the parent guide on choosing an advisor both describe the hourly and checkup alternatives, and who we help maps the rest of the library. Education, not individualized advice.

Related: First Paycheck, Lifestyle Creep, and Advisors · Do Physicians Need an Advisor? · Behavioral Investing · Asset Allocation