What readers ask us first.

No — and that line matters here more than anywhere. Educated Investors publishes consumer education: how to evaluate, question, and hold accountable the person who gives you advice. We don’t recommend securities, products, portfolios, or specific advisors. Ever. What to invest in is a question for a licensed advisor — this site teaches you how to choose that person well.

Yes — maybe especially for you. The Method works exactly the same on the advisor you already have: same steps, starting at step one, with one changed line in the email. A good advisor clears the process easily. And you find out something most clients never learn — whether the relationship you’re paying for would survive the questions you never asked. Start here.

No. Good advisors exist, and the Method is how you find them. An advisor who answers twelve written questions about fees, conflicts, and accountability isn’t threatened by this process — they’re flattered by it. The Method only filters out the ones who can’t survive paper. If asking reasonable questions in writing ends a relationship, the questions weren’t the problem.

The PDF is free. You give an email address, you get the complete six steps, the 12 questions, and the email template — instantly. No upsell on the next page. If we ever build paid tools, they’ll be clearly labeled as paid before you click anything. Get it here.

Because the truth behaves differently on paper. In a meeting, a skilled advisor controls the room — he’s done ten thousand of them; you’ve done one. In writing, the question sits there and the answer sits next to it, where you can read it twice, show your spouse, and compare it word for word against another advisor’s. Institutions hire this way for exactly that reason. See the 12 questions.

Twenty years an institutional investment advisor — roughly $2 billion managed for clients with $25M–$500M portfolios, including NetJets and British Telecom. He watched how institutions hire advisors, and built this site because nobody shows that process to individuals. He is not currently a licensed advisor — which means he has nothing to sell you. The full story.

Never — and never will. The moment a site gets paid for introducing you to an advisor, it stops working for you and starts working for the advisor. That’s the exact conflict this whole publication exists to expose, and most “find an advisor” services are built on it. How matchmaking services actually get paid.

Then you have your answer. These are twelve factual questions about fees, conflicts, credentials, and accountability — a professional acting in your interest can answer them in under an hour. A refusal is not a failed process. A refusal is the process working. What each response tells you.

Published research and public records — nothing else. The recurring sources: SPIVA scorecards from S&P Dow Jones Indices, Morningstar’s research on fund costs, NBER working papers, peer-reviewed studies in the Journal of Finance and Journal of Political Economy, and SEC/FINRA public records. Where a figure is contested, we say so in the text. The evidence, cited.

Ask — in writing. That’s Question 1 of the 12: are you a fiduciary, on every account, at all times, and will you confirm it in writing? Many advisors are dually registered — a fiduciary in one role, a salesperson in another — so “I always put clients first” is a slogan, not an answer. Then verify: their Form ADV and public file will tell you how they’re registered and paid. Fee-based vs. fee-only explains the distinction; the background check shows you where to look it up.

Some do. Some don’t. A CFA takes roughly 900 study hours across three exams; a CPA/PFS sits on top of a CPA license; a CFP requires coursework, a board exam, and thousands of hours of experience. Other designations can be earned in a weekend at a resort — and they’re printed on the business card in the same font. The point of credentials isn’t decoration; it’s proof that the advisor built real expertise in the problem you have. Don’t hire a generalist with impressive-looking letters. Define the specialty you need, then verify the credential that matches it took real effort to earn. The Designation Decoder sorts the rigorous from the ornamental, one by one.