How to Evaluate a Financial Advisor with Evidence—Not Emotion
A 27-question framework based on institutional due diligence — designed to help investors evaluate financial advisors using structure, not instinct.
Created by Paul Powell, retired institutional advisor who managed over $2 billion in retirement assets.
How to Evaluate a Financial Advisor with Evidence—Not Emotion
Learn the 27 Questions That Could Save You Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars.
Most Investors Rely on Trust. Institutions Rely on Proof.
Selecting a financial advisor is one of the most consequential financial decisions you’ll make — yet most investors base it on personality, reputation, or convenience.
Institutions take a different approach.
They rely on documented processes, measurable benchmarks, and transparent oversight.
The Financial Self-Defense™ framework bridges that gap — helping individuals evaluate advisors with the same discipline institutional investors use every day.
The Framework for
Evaluating Financial Advisors
The Four Pillars of Evidence-Based Advisor Evaluation.
Expertise
Verified credentials and specialization
Advisors should demonstrate documented competence in the areas most relevant to your goals — not just tenure, but mastery.
Transparency
Full visibility into fees and incentives
Clarity replaces assumption. You should know precisely how your advisor is compensated and how those incentives shape recommendations.
Accountability
Measured outcomes and documented results
A disciplined advisor provides written reporting, independent benchmarking, and evidence of value — not promises or anecdotes.
Alignment
Incentives structured in your favor
True fiduciary alignment means advice is designed to advance your interests, not your advisor’s revenue. Compensation should never compete with integrity.
The goal is simple: to give individual investors the same frameworks institutions use to protect capital, manage risk, and measure performance.
Created by a Former Institutional Advisor Who Saw the System from the Inside
Over two decades, Paul Powell advised large corporate retirement plans—many managing hundreds of millions of dollars in employee assets.
In those institutional environments, every recommendation was documented, benchmarked, and reviewed against measurable standards.
He noticed something consistent: individual investors rarely receive that same level of structure, transparency, or accountability. Most rely on trust and personality, while institutions rely on data and verification.
When Paul retired, he set out to close that gap by creating Educated Investors™ and the Financial Self-Defense™ framework—so individuals could apply the same evidence-based methods institutions use to evaluate and monitor advisors.
“After twenty years advising $100M retirement plans, I realized most individual investors never see the data institutions demand.
This framework changes that.” — Paul Powell
In this book, you will learn how to:
How to Identify Conflicts of Interest
Understand where advisor incentives can quietly misalign with your outcomes — and how to document them.
How to Spot Red Flags Early
Recognize performance, fee, and reporting patterns that institutional review committees flag during evaluations.
How to Build a Transparent Relationship
Apply a written, evidence-based process to hold your advisor accountable quarter after quarter.
Full Chapters Overview
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
For two decades, I was one of the top 300 Defined Contribution Advisors in the country, managing multi-million dollar retirement plans for corporations.
Get Your Copy Now and Secure Your Financial Future
Make confident decisions using the same evaluation standards institutions rely on to protect billions in assets. Whether you’re just starting to research how to choose a financial advisor or you’re reassessing an existing relationship, this framework will help you clarify the real things to look for in a financial advisor and compare financial advisors with confidence.
© 2025, Educated Investors. All rights reserved.
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© 2025, Educated Investors. All rights reserved.
Follow Educated Investors
Contact us!