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The Evidence-Based Hiring Method — the complete six steps, free. The process institutions use to hire advisors, translated for one household: yours.

Consumer education, not investment advice. Paul Powell is not currently a licensed financial advisor.

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The complete Method — sent to your inbox now.

Six steps, the minimum criteria, all twelve written questions with the answer guide, and the exact email to send. One PDF. Nothing held back for an upsell.

A PDF. Delivered instantly. No upsell on the next page.
What’s inside

The six steps, in the order that matters.

The order is the point. Trust comes last — after the credentials, the screen, and the written evidence. By the time you meet anyone, they’ve already proven they belong in the room.

  • 01
    Define who you need.
    Pin down the specialist your situation calls for — and the credentials that prove it.
  • 02
    Set your minimum criteria.
    Your hard filters, in writing, before you meet anyone: tenure, assets managed, designations.
  • 03
    Screen by email.
    Find the candidates with the credentials. Confirm by email that each one clears every minimum.
  • 04
    Send written due diligence.
    The 12 questions and the email template — fees, conflicts, credentials, and accountability, answered on paper.
  • 05
    Shortlist, then meet.
    Conversations are earned, not given. You meet only the advisors whose answers survived the page.
  • 06
    Select, negotiate, install accountability.
    Lock the terms — and the benchmark and written reporting that tell you if they’re failing.
Who it’s for

Three readers. One process.

You’re choosing your first advisor. You’ve never done this, the advisor across the table has done it ten thousand times, and every instinct says “find someone you click with.” The Method replaces the instinct with a process.

Money just arrived — or is about to. An inheritance, a business sale, a retirement rollover. This is exactly the moment the industry works hardest to reach you, and exactly the moment to slow down and run the steps.

You already have an advisor. Hired on a recommendation and a feeling, and you’ve been hoping ever since. Run the same steps on the advisor you have — it’s an annual review, not an accusation. The Second-Guesser’s guide.

The promise

A PDF. Delivered instantly. No upsell on the next page. Unsubscribe anytime — one click, no questions, no “are you sure.”

Prefer to read on the site first?

Nothing here is behind the email.

The Method lives on this site in full, free to read: the six steps, the 12 questions with the answer guide, and the red flags to check first. The PDF is the same material in one document you can print, mark up, and keep next to you when the answers come back.

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Receive the guide · No cost

Fifteen minutes now. A process for life.

The Evidence-Based Hiring Method — six steps, the minimum criteria, the 12 questions, the email template. Everything you need to send the first email this week.

A PDF. Delivered instantly. No upsell on the next page.
About the Author

Twenty years inside the institutional investment-consulting world, advising corporations with assets between $25M and $500M — including NetJets and British Telecom. He has been a founder, a franchisee, an operator, and a writer. He is not currently a licensed investment advisor and the work published here is consumer education, not advice. He lives in Indiana with his wife Alicia, with whom he owns Jack’s Donuts.

Paul Powell
Editor · Evidence-Based Hiring

Educated Investors publishes consumer education — not investment advice. Paul Powell is not currently a licensed financial advisor. The Evidence-Based Hiring Method is a framework for evaluating advisors, not a recommendation of any specific advisor, product, or security.