Written about the industry. Not from inside it.
Who publishes this site, why it exists, and why the fact that we have nothing to sell you is the whole point.
Consumer education, not investment advice. Paul Powell is not currently a licensed financial advisor.
Dear Reader,
For twenty years I was an institutional investment advisor. I managed roughly two billion dollars for clients with portfolios between twenty-five million and five hundred million dollars — companies like NetJets and British Telecom. That seat gave me a view very few people get: I watched, from the inside, exactly how good advisors operate — and exactly how bad ones get hired.
Here is the thing I never stopped noticing. The institutions I served would never hire an advisor the way ordinary families do. Before any advisor got a meeting, they got a document: written questions, minimum criteria, a request for everything in writing. The answers went into a file and were compared side by side. Charm never entered the room, because the room came later.
Nobody shows individuals that process. There is no version of it handed to you when you inherit money, sell a business, or roll over a 401(k). And the industry has no incentive to hand it to you — it profits when you don’t know the right questions. When “moderate risk” goes undefined. When the fee stays a percentage instead of a dollar figure. When the fiduciary question never gets asked in writing.
So I wrote the process down. That’s what this site is.
One more thing, and I want to say it plainly because most people in this business would bury it: I am not currently a licensed investment advisor. That is not a confession. It’s a feature. I have no products behind the curtain, no firm to steer you toward, no commission riding on what you decide. I’ve been a founder, a franchisee, an operator, and a writer. These days I live in Indiana with my wife Alicia, with whom I own Jack’s Donuts. The only thing I’m selling on this site is a way of thinking — and the PDF is free.
You deserve a process. Here is one.
Three names. One publication.
Think of it the way a newspaper works: a paper, a masthead, and a named columnist. Here’s who’s who.
-
01Educated Investors.The consumer-facing home — EducatedInvestors.com. The publication you’re reading right now, built for people who use (or are about to use) a financial advisor.
-
02Evidence-Based Hiring.The masthead — the methodology everything here is published under. The six steps, the 12 questions, the criteria. The system, not the site.
-
03Paul Powell.The named author. A columnist publishing under a masthead — the byline on the work, and the twenty years of institutional practice behind it.
What we will never do
Every conflict of interest this site writes about starts the same way: someone got paid to point you somewhere. So we drew the line where the institutions draw it — in writing, in advance.
We will never recommend specific advisors. We teach you how to evaluate them. The choosing is yours.
We will never take referral fees from advisors. Not a finder’s fee, not a revenue share, not a “partnership.” The moment a site gets paid for the introduction, it stops working for you.
We will never recommend products or securities. No funds, no annuities, no portfolios, no tickers. That is advice, and this is education.
We will never publish anything we can’t cite. Every number on this site traces to published research or public records — see the evidence page.
I help people who hired a financial advisor without knowing how to evaluate one — because the industry profits when you don’t know the right questions.
If that describes you — or the you of five years ago — you’re the reader this publication was built for. Start with the six steps, or go straight to the 12 questions and send them this week.
Don’t take my word for it. Take the process.
The free Method PDF — the six steps, the minimum criteria, the 12 questions, and the email template. Everything the institutions use, translated for you.