Recently, we were featured in the Medical Economics magazine. The first few items on our list of “5 Questions Every Physician Must Ask Their Financial Adviser” are below, and you can find the rest of the list here (page 30).
1) Are you a Fiduciary 100% of the time?
Unlike most professionals, financial advisers have a choice of operating under one of two professional standards: suitability or fiduciary. The fiduciary standard requires advisers to act in their client’s best interests, whereas the suitability standard does not.
Advisers fall into one of three camps: fiduciary all the time, suitability all the time or both. Those that do both “wear two hats” by switching back and forth between suitability and fiduciary standards. Don’t settle for the part-time fiduciary. It’s best to verify they’re acting as a fiduciary all the time.
2) How Many Physicians Do You Work With?
Cutting-edge advisory firms are building niches to stay relevant and provide the best possible value to their clients. Industry experts say firms should target between 50 and 150 clients per adviser depending upon the level of services provided.
If they’re dedicated to a specific niche, at least 50% of those clients should be within it. The more specific their niche, the better. Ideally your adviser has a manageable number of clients with a very high percentage consisting of physicians just like you.