When interviewing FAs, how much info to give out?

I am meeting with "FAs" now and they are asking me a lot of questions about not just my goals or services desired, but stuff that I would think there's little point getting into until I actually enlist their services and we roll up our sleeves and really get into it, ie my debts, how much I make, my portfolio makeup, etc etc etc. Offhand I see little point giving out this info during an interview. Agree or not and why? It's not really a question of "trust" of that specific person per se, just a general feeling of not giving out personal info of this nature when I may not use them in the end anyway...

Would you take a chance by not disclosing personal medical information to a doctor? Look at it like this. You are looking for an advisor to help you with something. He/she can't do that if they don't know enough about you. Much of the information they'll ask goes to suitability concerns. You can't possibly expect an advisor to make a responsible recommendation for you with only a portion of the "story". Ultimately, the advisor's butt is on the line when making a recommendation, so it is his responsibility to "know his client". If you choose not to disclose certain bits of information, you may find an advisor may choose not to work with you.

Agree totally with Sadale. As the customer, you may be determined to get what you want, but the advisor is attempting to find out what you need. You may be right that it is not about trust. It's probably about control.

big, if you're not comfortable giving specifics, give ballpark answers until you're ready to share the specifics. That should be enough for the advisor to get a handle on your situation in order to determine 1) if she can help and 2) what the scope of the engagement may entail. Bottom line is this: you're interviewing the advisor to determine if she is the one for you; at the same time, the advisor is interviewing you to determine if you fit in with her client profile. This isn't much different from a realtor asking how much you make and/or what your current house/mortgage situation is. They're just qualifying you, putting you into a pigeonhole.

If the advisor insists on knowing the specific size of your accounts up front and you are not comfortable with providing that information at that stage, move on to another advisor. Just keep in mind that at some point you're going to have to come across with the info - if you find the right advisor that you're comfortable with...

look at all these answers where a consumer wants to keep specifics to himself (i understand why bigred) and the people in the biz are all saying give it up - the advisor needs it to do his (or her) job.

it is unfortunate, but this is totally illustrative of the yin and yang of advisory services in this country. too many (not many as a whole, but way too many nonetheless) have this "perception" that people in the finance biz are out to get them. as a result, they try to do it themselves and on average fail miserably. or, they try to engage a financial advisor only to try to half step so they protect themselves from running pel mel over the cliff - only to screw the advisor (cause they can't do a good job) and themselves in the process.

i had a client come in one time and wanted me to run half his portfolio - huh? the other half he had with another advisor at a different brokerage. worse yet, he wanted us to "compete" against each other - well, i can kinda see his point ... even worse than that, he didnt want to tell either of us what he had with the other.

how moronic! i kicked him outta the office. you wanna play games with your money and my reputation ... you are wasting my time.

you see, advising is not as easy as most DIYers would purport it to be. further, it is a profession EXACTLY like alluded to by Sadale. if you screw around with your health, dont be surprised when you die from your own stupidity and lack of discipline.

i had another guy come in, he was amazingly disciplined with his money and doing a great job. when we got to my fees, he balked and attempted to negotiate (good for him, i would do the same). however, when i wouldnt come down he opted for someone considerably cheaper. several months later, he wants to sit down with me again but i am no longer interested (i only added a certain number of new clients yearly) and of course, i dont want to have to dicker with him over and over about nit noid details.

a good 40% of people out there are not worthy of having an advisor working for them. only around 20% actually have REAL advisors. that still leaves 40% of great and quality people out there who are both worth it and a joy to have as clients - too many of them for us (as a community) to serve all of them.

bigred, thanks for letting us discuss your situation in broad general terms. obviously, i think you should provide them everything they ask (minus a check or a signature) in the interview process. also, most advisory personnel will "chat" with you but want your SSAN early in the process to ensure you arent a criminal or something.

1MO

Appreciate all the replies, but I guess I didn't explain myself well enough. Once I actually hire an advisor, then of course I will provide them all the details they want or need as we get down to business. But if I'm just interviewing them to determine if I want them to be my FA beforehand - ie they aren't my FA yet - I don't get why they need anything more than a basic "big picture" of where I'm coming from, since we aren't going to do any in-depth analysis of my finances at that point to say the least. eg they don't need to know how much I make or exactly how much my portfolio is worth, just what kind of services I'm interested in and my general hopes or expectations.

I guess I'm just wondering how common it is that all this info is asked for or even expected, and how much info is truly "needed" by an FA at this interviewing stage of the game. Again keep in mind I'm interviewing THEM, not the other way around.

PS regarding the analogy given, if I'm "interviewing" a doctor to determine whether I want them to by my doctor (never thought of that but not a bad idea), yes, there is probably some medical info I would not disclose at that time as they simply do not have a need to know. Again obviously if I have a critical situation or important/significant condition I would, but it's not the same as going for an office visit for an particular medical problem or situation.

My 2 cents...

If someone came in to interview me and wouldn't tell me ballpark figures on my most basic questions, it would tell me that this person is going to be a nightmare to work with and there is no sense accepting them as a client. I'd be better off passing on the offer. Believe it or not, we're not all drooling for new business and being able to pick and choose who you want to work with is definitely one of the perks in this business.

I'm assuming that you want a "professional, knowledgable, and exceptional performer" for your new advisor. Guess what? So does everyone else. The truly good advisors may percieve you as a headache regardless of your income and/or net worth and choose not to work with you. I know you may have a hard time believing this, but you are being interviewed too.

There is no harm in provided ballpark figures (in fact, it is very counter-productive not to) as a means to determine need, scope, and structure of the realtionship.

too many (not many as a whole, but way too many nonetheless) have this "perception" that people in the finance biz are out to get them.

you see, advising is not as easy as most DIYers would purport it to be. I think I can safely speak for many others as well as myself when I say that I realize (in fact I mentioned this initially) FAs are not "out to get me." Further, I think the majority realize that financial advising/managing is anything but easy. In fact I'd bet extremely few people think otherwise. If it were easy, FAs as a profession probably wouldn't even exist.


when we got to my fees, he balked and attempted to negotiate (good for him, i would do the same). Really? That's interesting; never considered that. I wouldn't know where to start....I guess I could use the old auto buying tactic of "well Mr X over here is only going to charge me this" but wouldn't want to get too "cute" about it. Quality matters more than a slight diff in fees. The problem is it's hard to get a handle on the quality of the FA, even after an interview.



a good 40% of people out there are not worthy of having an advisor working for them. Sorry for any offense, but that sounds like a a fairly arrogant/poor attitude. You seem to have the idea that you're doing people some big noble favor by doing what they are PAYING you to do - it's your job. Not saying that means they should be able to act any way they want, but the fact that they're paying you to basically manage their financial life makes them worthy. Whether you like the people personally is or should be irrelevent - if you turn away every person that doesn't give you a big warm fuzzy, I'm surprised you're able to keep up a full clietele.

And no one will be getting my SSN until they are officially (in writing) my FA. That's Personal Data Protection 101; the SSN doesn't come easily. If they're worried about me being a crook or escapee, they can feel free to have cops present. :)

frankly, if you knew all the answers to all the questions a prospective financial advisor would need to know, you probably wouldnt benefit from having a financial advisor.

in other words, your advisor is screening your docs and asking questions because you probably cannot answer the questions verbally. what is your asset allocation methodology? how would you answer that ... and would your answer really be the answer the advisor needed? does "moderate growth" mean the same thing to you as it does to him? in my experience this is not true ... not even close.

further, you are totally wrong. the FA is interviewing you. we can accept or decline the clients we want to work with. not only does the FA want to know if your personality is acceptable, but he or she also needs to have a good understanding if they think they can do a good job for you. you may think you need a portfolio manager but a financial advisor may discover you need a comprehensive planner. and if he isnt one, he may want to refer you now; not wait till your 3d meeting to find out you wasted his time.

1MO

Interesting. I concede that maybe I'm just not clued in enough on how this works. Thx again for the reply.

I do know that I do not need (or at least am not looking for) a "comprehensive" planner. I'm looking specifically for someone to help with managing my retirement plan. Don't want/need insurance advice, how to budget my money, etc. As for a 3d meeting, I don't anticipate more than one meeting per FA in the interview process.

I'm not sure why you would be asked for your SSN prior to actually putting pen to paper...I agree this info can be saved for later on.

Basic things you should be very willing to disclose in a first interview (all ballpark figures, save the actual printed statements for later):

Personal info (age, basic health, etc.)
Income (Individual & household)
Retirement plans (pension?/IRA, etc.)
Current Insurances
Assets (cash base, investments, real estate, etc.)
Liabilities
Estimated Net Worth (most people don't even know)
Family structure (possible inheritance, children, previous life/wife, etc.)

As I said, the first meeting should basically be conversational in nature and proceed along this or a similar line of questioning. Don't be nervous if the advisor is writing things down, this is positive and should be noted when you interview. He/she is simply beginning to build a profile for you. If you work together, it will remain in your permanent file. If you don't work together it gets shredded. As mentioned earlier, it is all for your own good. We see dozens of people of month and we know all about their finances (even more than their family & some spouses), you won't impress or distress us. We've seen it all before.

The more you open up, the better you will find the experience and you will better be able to find the right professional for YOU. In fact, one of the best ways to interview is to openly offer your circumstances and see how each advisor reacts/interacts with you and your unique situation. By providing basic information, you should be able to "fish" for some basic insights or initial opinons that may be quite revealing to the advisor's personality, knowledge base, and overall counseling style and philosophy. In contrast, how will you know if an advisor is any good for you if they can offer nothing to you due to the fact that they know nothing about you.

planning may be appropriate big red. a planner takes into effect your insurance (even if you have all you will ever need and will never ever get anymore through them). it impacts on distribution issues and distribution issues are the MOST fundemental aspect of retirement planning (what you state you are looking for). do you see my point?

well, i agree with price about the SSN - i may have misstated the a bit. it isnt necessary until you hire the advisor.

1MO

one more note about my arrogance - i agree with you. i am arrogant. i hope that comes through pretty clearly on my posts cause i try hard for it to do so.

having said that, price mentioned that (and i wholly agree) a HUGE perk to our profession is working with those we WANT to work with. dont misunderstand this, but i dont work FOR my clients - i work WITH them. my process is hugely collaborative (as i suspect it is with most advisor / client relationships). if they feel i am not doing my part, they are welcome to terminate the arrangement. if i feel like they are not doing their part, i let them go.

advising is so difficult that it is counterproductive to work with anyone that isnt pulling their fair part of the load. as for getting paid - yep, i am. but if im doing my job right, they are getting paid A LOT more.

1MO

Basic things you should be very willing to disclose in a first interview (all ballpark figures, save the actual printed statements for later):

Personal info (age, basic health, etc.)
Income (Individual & household)
Retirement plans (pension?/IRA, etc.)
Current Insurances
Assets (cash base, investments, real estate, etc.)
Liabilities
Estimated Net Worth (most people don't even know)
Family structure (possible inheritance, children, previous life/wife, etc.)
I'm fine with all that, minus being a little uneasy about my income and assets - well maybe some very general numbers. Force of habit I guess. Really the only ones that know how much I make are my employer and my bank, and nobody but me has even an idea of my current assets or net worth (tho I haven't been afraid to let some people know I'm debt-free :) ).


If you don't work together it gets shredded. Should I expect to either get a written promise of that or observe the ceremony? :) Seriously I never and I do mean never follow the "just trust me" in business situations. I guess it'd be easier to just ask for the documents back when I leave.

As mentioned earlier, it is all for your own good. We see dozens of people of month and we know all about their finances (even more than their family & some spouses), you won't impress or distress us. We've seen it all before. Thx, but it has nothing to do with that, ie I don't care what anyone thinks personally about my situation in the least. I'm only interested in how they can help improve it and ensure (as much as possible) an at least reasonably comfortable retirement. That and protecting my info.


The more you open up, the better you will find the experience and you will better be able to find the right professional for YOU. In fact, one of the best ways to interview is to openly offer your circumstances and see how each advisor reacts/interacts with you and your unique situation. By providing basic information, you should be able to "fish" for some basic insights or initial opinons that may be quite revealing to the advisor's personality, knowledge base, and overall counseling style and philosophy. In contrast, how will you know if an advisor is any good for you if they can offer nothing to you due to the fact that they know nothing about you.Yeah I hear you - question of degree -

planning may be appropriate big red. a planner takes into effect your insurance (even if you have all you will ever need and will never ever get anymore through them). it impacts on distribution issues and distribution issues are the MOST fundemental aspect of retirement planning (what you state you are looking for). do you see my point?
Yep, good point.


one more note about my arrogance - i agree with you. i am arrogant. i hope that comes through pretty clearly on my posts cause i try hard for it to do so.lol - OK much as I dislike arrogance, I highly respect honesty. Fair enough.


advising is so difficult that it is counterproductive to work with anyone that isnt pulling their fair part of the load. as for getting paid - yep, i am. but if im doing my job right, they are getting paid A LOT more.
Again, fair enough.