Asking how long someone has been in the business, if they are registered to provide securities advice and what their professional designations are, are not enough! If you really want to make sure, you need to ask more detailed questions of your advisor. Does your wealth and asset manager have the investment discipline, expertise and experience needed to manage your assets? Does your advisor have the systems capable of managing the complex relationship between your financial needs and your assets over time? Does your manager have the necessary modelling expertise needed to manage the risks to the ability of your assets to meet your financial needs over time? Do your advisors have the resources needed to fund the necessary research that lies behind security selection, asset allocation and portfolio management? Has your advisor educated you about the major investment risks (liability risks, performance risks and volatility risk), their investment style and the risks of their investment style? Where portfolios are being constructed to meet financial needs over time, is the disposition of all your financial assets and the size and timing of all your financial needs being used to structure, plan and manage your portfolio? Has your advisor provided you with written and comprehensive communication of their investment planning and management strategy as well as their asset allocation and security selection? Does your advisor regularly communicate decisions and regularly review the relationship between financial needs and the structure of your assets, in writing? Do you get value for money and, do you know how much you are being charged? Value is a complex area but your advisor needs to be able to determine the value added and justify their position when they have not added value. Does your advisor provide you with a comprehensive analysis of the performance of your investments relative to domestic and international markets and other comparative performance benchmarks?
How important each of the above is depends on a number of factors. But, if you are a retired individual, close to retirement, and/or are having all your assets managed by one advisor to meet all your financial needs, all of the above are important.
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