What to Know and What to Ask When You’re Searching for a Financial Advisor
I believe that The Keen Wealth Advantage helps folks feel more confident about comprehensive financial planning and their road to retirement. I also believe wholeheartedly in the consumer being as educated as possible on their various options before entrusting their planning and investing to any financial advisor. This is one of the key reasons we are now in our 10th year of producing this podcast and blog, answering listener questions and giving listeners a candid “look behind the curtain” on all things personal financial planning.
When you're meeting with professionals who could be managing your life savings for the rest of your life, there has to be more than just a personality fit. While personality is important, you also need to know what questions to ask and what warning signs to look for. Do they have a disciplined process and the depth and breadth of experience and resources to undertake this most serious responsibility? Are you able to confidently discern what your overall client experience will look like and know that they take the appropriate steps to ensure your confidential information is protected and that rules and regulations are being complied with?
On today's show, we answer two discerning listener questions that should help you have more productive meetings with potential advisors.
1. "I'm evaluating whether to work with a solo financial advisor or a team-based firm, and I want to understand the structural differences from a risk and operational standpoint. Specifically, I'm thinking about factors like advisory capacity, error prevention and accountability, cybersecurity infrastructure, succession planning, and overall depth of expertise. Are there measurable advantages to working with a team in terms of service continuity, strategic breadth, or long-term risk mitigation?"
From over 30 years of experience in the industry, I am convinced that a team-based approach, like we offer at Keen Wealth, is the only way to act as a true fiduciary with respect to the issues this listener raises. In our offices, every concern this question mentions is covered by a department of professionals, all working together to keep your money and info safe while also giving you and your plan the personalized attention you deserve.
In my opinion, it would be virtually impossible for one person, no matter how nice or well-intended, to attempt to perform all of the front and back-office responsibilities that clients deserve and should demand. In the case of cybersecurity infrastructure, team-based firms like Keen Wealth and other like institutions spend countless dollars on training and technology to protect our clients’ assets, confidential information, and identities from bad actors. We are seeing more and more attempts by fraudsters on financial services firms, and a solo planner, working from an in-home router without the appropriate VPN networks and other monitoring firepower, can be an easy target. Client data may only be as safe as the next fraudulent link that gets clicked on the solo advisor’s home computer.
Also, as regulated as our industry is, the government isn't checking in on every single transaction that every single advisor executes. Smaller firms and solo advisors often lack critical in-house oversight for very serious issues such as trading and fee billing reviews, tax projections, and overall compliance checks and balances. And in many cases, it is highly likely that a solo operator may not have professional liability, errors and omissions, or cyber fraud insurance. While some of these issues are required to be disclosed in certain regulatory documents, most consumers do not know to be aware of these issues and simply trust that everything is handled properly, and the planner may not be forthcoming about their limitations.
This lack of oversight, accountability, and insurance can be a breeding ground for serious problems such as trading errors, missed opportunities, or overall incomplete or generally bad advice that either isn’t caught or is intentionally not disclosed to an unsuspecting consumer by a now rogue actor. Imagine a trade error occurring and the advisor, unsupervised, tries to let the “market work the error out”, only to have things go the wrong direction, turning into a 7-figure error that could wipe out the client and certainly the uninsured solo advisor that doesn’t have the resources to make the client whole. Team-based firms likely have the resources to have the appropriate professional liability insurance, compliance departments, daily checks and balances, and other experts whose only job is to make sure that advisors are following rules and regulations and doing what's best for their clients.
Finally, what happens when that solo advisor is on vacation or takes ill, and you need time-sensitive advice about a potential job change, or even worse, you need to make an allocation change during a volatile market, or need an immediate unexpected wire?
At larger firms like Keen Wealth, your lead advisor is just one member of a professional team that's always ready to provide guidance and, when necessary, take action. We've put together a whole team of experts who give our firm a wide-ranging knowledge base. Any question or planning need you throw at us, there's someone on the team who has the answer or will be able to find it for you. We also have a vast network of professionals that we trust and are able to refer our clients to and work together to ensure all aspects of a financial plan are thought through and up to date.
I honor this listener for submitting this very thoughtful question, as I take this question very seriously. It is clear that the stakes are high when deciding who to trust with your life savings. At the very minimum, make sure you have the answers you need to be fully informed about the engagement you’re entering into.
2. "My spouse and I are interviewing financial advisors right now and we keep seeing terms like 'fee-only,' 'fiduciary,' and ‘CFP®.' It's hard to tell what really matters. Some advisors work for big-name firms, others are independent. One even said that they could 'beat the market.' How do we cut through the marketing and ask the right questions to avoid costly mistakes and to make sure we're choosing someone who truly has our best interests in mind."
First, do not take another meeting with the advisor who told you they can "beat the market." If that were true, that advisor would be living on their own private island. Any advisor making promises that sound too good to be true probably doesn't have your best interests at heart.
I would also guess that "advisor" is working under the suitability standard. This means they're only required to make recommendations that are "suitable" for their clients. The law has some broad definitions around what a "suitable" investment can be. In many cases, a “suitable” advisor is really acting as a broker and selling products that earn them the highest commissions.
Whether you work with a large firm, a smaller firm, or solo advisor, I believe it's important that your money is managed under the fiduciary standard. Fiduciary advisors, like the team at Keen Wealth, are required by law to act in their clients' best interests at all times. Many Certified Financial Planners ( CFP®) operate under the fiduciary standard as well.
Before you sign any paperwork, you need to be crystal clear about what standards an advisor operates under. For example, if an advisor is required to act as a fiduciary in one capacity but uses the suitability standard in others, that could be a red flag. Be clear about any potential conflicts of interest between how that advisor makes money and how your money is being managed. And make sure you understand the "all-in" costs of working with that advisor in terms of fees or percentages.
Congratulations to Keen Wealth!
The exceptional work that my team does received a little extra validation this year when we were named one of The Best Financial Advisory Firms for 2025 by USA Today. What made this unexpected honor even more special was that we didn't nominate ourselves for any recognition. USA Today conducted a survey of 30,000 financial advisors, clients, and industry experts from all over the country, and Keen Wealth ranked as one of the best -- and one of only nine firms from Kansas.
That's a testament to more than how we manage money. It’s recognition for the relationships that our team builds, the community outreach that we perform, and the year-round educational initiatives we use to keep people informed about the major issues at the intersection of their money and their lives.
Thank you to my team at Keen Wealth and to everyone who nominated us for this humbling honor.
And if you'd like to become a part of the Keen Wealth community, click here to join our mailing list and schedule a visit.
About Bill
Bill Keen is a financial advisor with over 30 years of industry experience. As the founder and CEO of Keen Wealth Advisors, a registered investment advisory firm, he focuses on providing personalized retirement planning designed to help people thrive before and during their retirement years. With a passion for educating others, Bill regularly blogs about retirement planning, hosts the podcast Keen on Retirement, and has contributed to Forbes, U.S. News and World Report, Reuters, Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch, Yahoo Finance, and other publications. Based in Overland Park, Kansas, Bill and his team work with clients throughout the greater Kansas City area and across the nation. To learn more, connect with him on LinkedIn or visit www.keenwealthadvisors.com.
KWMG, LLC’s dba Keen Wealth Advisors (“company”) is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor located in Overland Park, KS. The company and its representatives may only conduct business in those states where registered or where excluded/exempt or from licensure. For registration information please contact the SEC or the state securities regulators for the states where the company is notice filed. A copy of the company ADV is available upon request. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where the company and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. No advice may be rendered by the company unless a client service agreement is in place. This information is not intended to be investment advice or construed as a recommendation or endorsement of any particular investment or investment strategy and is for illustrative purposes only. Clients and prospective clients must consider all relevant risk factors involved with each strategy, including costs or fees, and their own personal financial situations before trading.
The views outlined in the book, Keen on Retirement Engineering the Second Half of Your Life, are those of the author and should not be construed as individualized or personalized investment advice. Any economic and/or performance information cited is historical and not indicative of future results. Economic forecasts set forth may not develop as predicted.
The Amazon Best Seller ranking listed on marketing materials is specifically referring to Best Seller rankings for the Kindle Top 100 Paid Lists under the subcategories of: Budgeting and Financial Risk Management, based on data as of September 5, 2019 and the second edition under Financial Risk Management on October 26, 2022. Amazon rankings although relevant on how a product is selling overall doesn’t necessarily indicate how well an item is selling among other similar items or similar item categories. Amazon may choose the most popular categories or subcategories within which an item has a high ranking to determine its best seller rankings. These rankings are updated hourly and as a result, should be expected to fluctuate as such. Keen Wealth Advisors and Amazon are not affiliated entities.
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