The wrong advisor can quietly cost you hundreds of thousands.
Here’s how to evaluate your advisor using the same discipline institutions demand.
Part of The Evidence-Based Advisor Selection Series™
How Evidence-Based Is Your Advisor?
Most investors never measure alignment, transparency, or accountability. This quick diagnostic shows how yours measures up.
A two-minute benchmark from The Evidence-Based Advisor Selection Series™
The Hidden Cost of Misaligned Advice
Most investors assume poor performance is market-driven. In reality, it’s often incentive-driven.
When an advisor’s pay or product bias shapes their recommendations, you pay for it in lost returns, unnecessary fees, and missed opportunities.
Institutional investors demand alignment, transparency, and proof. You should too.
"It’s not about trusting more. It’s about verifying better."
The Cost of Blind Trust
Most investors never see the impact of under-performance and fees.
1% less return = roughly $240,000 lost over 20 years.
Assumes $1,000,000 portfolio, 20-year compounding, 8% vs 9% return.
Even a seemingly modest 1% annual difference in advisor costs can quietly erode more than $240,000 from a $1 million portfolio over 20 years.
"The wrong incentives compound losses the same way good investments compound gains."
Even small gaps compound quietly. The checklist reveals where they hide.
Meet the Advisor Who Advised the Institutions
Paul Powell
Former Institutional Advisor | Managed $2B | Top 300 in Nation
Before founding Educated Investors, Paul Powell was one of the Top 300 financial advisors in the United States, managing over $2 billion in retirement plan assets for Fortune 500 companies.
After two decades in the institutional world, he saw a disturbing truth:
the same rigorous hiring standards used by major companies were never applied by individual investors.
So he built a system to fix that —
the Evidence-Based Hiring™ Framework.
“Institutions don’t hire on trust. They hire on proof.” — Paul Powell
The same framework Paul used to evaluate institutional managers overseeing billions.
The Evidence-Based Hiring™ Framework helps investors make smarter, safer decisions when choosing a financial advisor.
The framework translates institutional due-diligence standards into a disciplined model any investor can apply when evaluating a financial advisor.
The Three Pillars of
Evidence-Based Hiring™
Verified Expertise
Advisors should prove specialized skill in your area of need — retirement income, business exits, or tax strategy.
What this means for you: You’ll know your advisor is qualified for your situation, not just generally experienced.
Full Transparency
Every incentive, cost, and potential conflict must be visible in writing.
What this means for you: You’ll finally see how your advisor really gets paid — and whether their incentives align with yours.
Built-In Accountability
Advisors should agree to measurable benchmarks and written progress reports.
Applied together, these dimensions replace the subjective question of who to trust with an empirical one: what does the evidence show?
The result is a shift from assumption to analysis—and from dependence on personality to confidence in process.
You can apply the same pillars institutions use —
this checklist shows how.
You can use the same three pillars institutions rely on. The checklist shows how.
From Trust to Proof
Clarity begins when advice is measured, not assumed. Institutions don’t rely on personality or referrals — they rely on evidence.
Most investors pick advisors based on personality or referrals.
Institutions don’t. They use data, incentives, and performance audits.
The Evidence-Based Hiring™ Framework brings that discipline to individuals — so you can choose an advisor with evidence, not emotion.
Institutions follow a process. Now individual investors can too.
The Six Steps of the Evidence-Based Hiring Method
The same due diligence process institutions use to vet asset managers — simplified for individuals.
1
Define Your Goal
Clarify what success looks like — retirement income, business exit, or growth target.
Every great decision starts with clarity.
2
Set Minimum Criteria
Decide your non-negotiables: fiduciary status, credentials, experience, AUM range.
You deserve proven expertise.
3
Conduct Due Diligence
Request documentation: Form ADV, fee schedule, regulatory filings, investment process.
Ask for data. Watch who hesitates.
4
Select Finalists to Interview
Compare how each advisor communicates, documents, and defends their strategy.
Good advisors welcome tough questions.
5
Negotiate a Fair Fee.
Choose a flat or fixed fee that rewards results — not asset size.
Incentives should serve you, not them.
6
Establish an Accountability Framework
Set measurable benchmarks and quarterly reviews.
Oversight turns promises into proof.
Institutions follow a process. Now individuals can too.
What the Data Shows
Independent studies continue to confirm what disciplined investors have known for years:
Transparency, accountability, and alignment drive better outcomes.
Investors who evaluate their advisors using objective criteria—fee structure, fiduciary status, and documented results—retain more wealth and experience greater long-term confidence in their plans.
Yet fewer than one in five investors ever ask for measurable proof.
The Evidence-Based Advisor Selection Series™ was created to change that—by helping individuals apply the same standards institutions have relied on for decades.
"The difference between hope and confidence is evidence."
Evidence isn’t opinion. It’s how disciplined investors make better decisions.
The Educated Investor Blog
Insights and analysis for investors who make decisions based on evidence, not persuasion.
Each article in the Educated Investor Blog examines the real-world forces that shape financial outcomes—how incentives work, where conflicts hide, and why transparency matters.
Our goal is to help investors think independently, evaluate advisors critically, and make decisions that stand up to evidence.
Rethinking Advisor Incentives: The Case Against Asset-Based Fees
The 1% fee model looks simple, but it misaligns incentives. Discover how flat, transparent pricing brings institutional fairness to personal investing. ...more
Advisor Selection ,Evidence-Based Investing
October 27, 2025•2 min read
How to Interview a Financial Advisor — Like a CEO, Not a Customer
Learn how to interview a financial advisor like a CEO—testing expertise, transparency, and accountability before trust is earned. ...more
Advisor Selection ,Evidence-Based Investing
October 27, 2025•2 min read
How to Know if Your Financial Advisor Is Still Earning Their Fee
How to know if your financial advisor is earning their fee—evidence, benchmarks, and accountability that protect your wealth. ...more
Advisor Selection ,Evidence-Based Investing
October 27, 2025•2 min read
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