I hate when Jason Zweig takes an idea I had kicking around in my head, then does a better job with it than I would have.
That was my reaction to reading his The 19 Questions to Ask Your Financial Adviser.
Here are a few of his key questions — and answers — from the 19:
1. Are you always a fiduciary, and will you state that in writing? (Yes.)
2. Does anybody else ever pay you to advise me and, if so, do you earn more to recommend certain products or services? (No.)
8. Do you earn fees as adviser to a private fund or other investments that you may recommend to clients? (No.)
11. Do you earn fees for referring clients to specialists like estate attorneys or insurance agents? (No.)
12. What is your investment philosophy?
15. How often do you trade? (As seldom as possible, ideally once or twice a year at most.)
19. Who manages your money? (I do, and I invest in the same assets I recommend to clients.)
There are one or two in Jason’s full list I can find small quibbles with — e.g., I believe all similar clients should pay the same fees (#5), and intellectually, I understand why trend and technicals are worthwhile for traders (#13) but on the whole it is a very solid set of rules.
Note Zweig will be at the Evidence Based Investing conference in NYC on November 2nd; you can find out more about it here.
Source:
The 19 Questions to Ask Your Financial Adviser
Jason Zweig
Moneybeat, Aug 25, 2017
https://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2017/08/25/the-19-questions-to-ask-your-financial-adviser/
