Already have an advisor? Run the same steps — on them.
You don’t have to fire anyone to find out if you chose well. You have to ask twelve questions, in writing — the way institutions review their advisors every single year.
Consumer education, not investment advice. Paul Powell is not currently a licensed financial advisor.
You hired on a recommendation and a feeling
Most people found their advisor the same way: a name from a friend, a brother-in-law, a guy from church. One meeting, maybe two. He was warm, he seemed sharp, the office was nice. You signed.
And every day since, the relationship has run on the same fuel it started on: hope. You hope the fees are fair. You hope the performance is fine. You hope the products in your account are there because they’re right for you. You’ve never actually checked, because checking felt like an accusation — and because nobody ever showed you how.
Here’s the good news, and I mean it as good news: you don’t have to fire anyone to find out. You have to ask. In writing.
And this is the one I want you to sit with: if the answer to every question turns out to be clean, you haven’t insulted your advisor. You’ve upgraded the relationship — from hoping to knowing.
Why this is harder than choosing fresh
Let’s be honest about why you haven’t done this already. It isn’t laziness. Three real forces are working against you, and naming them is half of beating them.
Confirmation bias. When you vet a new advisor, you’re evaluating a stranger. When you vet your current one, you’re auditing your own decision — and every dodgy answer is evidence against your judgment, not just his. The mind protects its past choices. Expect yours to look for reasons not to send the email.
The relationship feels personal. He asks about your kids. He came to the retirement party. Somewhere along the way a commercial relationship started feeling like a friendship — which is pleasant, and also exactly the condition under which fees go unexamined for a decade. You can like someone and still ask what you’re paying him.
Inertia is real. Moving accounts sounds exhausting, so the mind rounds “I should look into this” down to “it’s probably fine.” But you’re not committing to move anything. You’re committing to read twelve answers.
Institutions review their advisors every year. Written questions, performance against the benchmark, fees re-examined — as routine, not accusation. The advisor expects it; it’s in the calendar. You’re not attacking anyone by asking. You’re doing what any $300 million pension plan does as a matter of course. The only unusual thing is that nobody told you it was normal.
How to run the six steps on the advisor you have
The Method is the same six steps — you just enter them from a different door, because the seat is already filled.
Step 1 changes shape. Instead of “define who you need,” it becomes: define who you need — then see if the person you have matches. Write down what your situation actually requires (retirement income, a business sale, equity compensation, whatever it is) before you look at what your advisor does. Most people do it backwards, and the description quietly bends to fit the incumbent.
Step 2 is a test, not a search. Set your minimum criteria — tenure, credentials, a clean public record — as if you were hiring from scratch. Then ask the only question that matters: does your current advisor clear every one? If you wouldn’t hire him today with what you now require, that’s worth knowing before another decade of fees.
Steps 3 and 4 collapse into one email. You don’t need to screen a market of strangers — you need written answers from one person. Send the 12 questions exactly as written, with a single changed line at the top:
“As part of an annual review of my financial relationships, I’m asking my advisor to answer the following in writing.”
That framing does the work. It isn’t a threat and it isn’t an apology — it’s a client behaving like an institution. Steps 5 and 6 then run on the answers: meet to discuss what came back, and either re-negotiate terms or expand the search.
Reading the results
Clean answers. This is the happy ending, and it’s common — good advisors exist, and yours may be one of them. Keep them. But convert the win into structure: agree on a benchmark and written performance reporting going forward, the way Question 11 lays out. The review becomes annual. Hope becomes a system.
Dodges. Vague answers on fees, a slogan where the fiduciary confirmation should be, “let’s discuss in person” instead of ink. Now you negotiate — from a stronger position than you’ve ever had, because the dodge is documented. Ask again, in writing, and start the fee conversation. If the second pass dodges too, expand the search and screen alternatives against the same twelve questions.
Refusal. If a professional won’t spend an hour answering basic transparency questions to keep your business, he has told you exactly how much accountability to expect after the questions stop. A refusal is not a failed process. A refusal is the process working.
And if it does come to leaving: do it in the right order, and check the exit costs first. Read how to fire your advisor and what surrender charges can cost you before you sign anything new.
One email. Twelve questions. Either you learn the relationship is solid — or you learn it couldn’t survive paper. Which answer are you afraid of?
You may also be interested in
The 12 questions, in full
Every question, what a clean answer looks like, the dodge to watch for — and the email template to send them with.
Read the questions →Run the background check
Your advisor’s disciplinary history is public. BrokerCheck and Form ADV, step by step — check it before the answers arrive.
Read the guide →Negotiate the fee
Advisory fees are negotiable — institutions negotiate them every year. How to have the conversation without burning the relationship.
Read the guide →Stop hoping. Start reviewing.
The free Method PDF includes the 12 questions, the answer guide, and the annual-review version of the email — ready to send to the advisor you already have.