When you work with an Advice-Only financial advisor, you have confidence the advisor only works in your best interest.
Gather and Supply Information
The advisor will need information from you in order to get a clear picture of your financial situation. These can include account statements, tax returns, insurance policy information, retirement plan information, your income and expenses, wills and trust documents, etc.
The more thorough and organized you are, and the more timely you can give the advisor any missing information, the better the advisor can advise you. When you know the information you give won’t be used to sell you anything, you won’t be on guard to withhold information from your advisor.
Express Your Priorities
Financial planning involves a number of tradeoffs. It’s difficult to have low risks and high returns at the same time. Your advisor will help explain these tradeoffs. When you think it through and state your priorities, it will help your advisor formulate a plan for you to achieve them.
Follow Through
After the advisor gives you the recommendations, you simply follow the recommendations. If the recommendations are not clear enough or specific enough, ask. If you have reservations about some aspects of the advice, raise your concerns with the advisor. There may be an alternative that can accommodate your concerns.
The advisor will work with you until you have a plan that you can and will implement. The best plan for you is one that you are comfortable with and confident in staying the course through thick and thin. When you have such a plan, you know why you are doing each piece. Then it’s just a matter of carrying it out. You can definitely do it.