The intersection between financial advisors and their clients, Investopedia offers inspiration and resources to help financial advisors have more productive conversations with their clients.

Discussion Guides for Financial Advisors & Clients

As a financial advisor, you're constantly fielding questions from clients seeking guidance on complex finance topics that relate to their portfolios and life's biggest moments. To support your conversations, quickly download and share these free, brief discussion guides with your clients to support them in key topic areas.

These guides–which include brief explanations of key terms, basic context on a topic, and a list of potential questions to ask–can be a starting point for productive conversations, and let you hand a client a useful educational resource. 

Frequently Asked Questions
  • How much does it cost to have a financial advisor?

    The cost of seeing a financial advisor will vary depending on what your goals and needs are. If you just want to create a budget and select a target date fund to invest retirement savings, you can do that relatively quickly with an advisor charging around $100/hr. If you have funds to invest and you’d like an advisor to manage it for you, they may charge over 1% of your assets under management annually.

  • Can a client sue their financial advisor?

    Yes, clients can sue their financial advisor for negligence or malpractice, including breaches of fiduciary duty and regulatory noncompliance. Advisors can protect themselves from unexpected and costly claims by getting professional liability insurance.

  • Are financial advisors allowed to sell life insurance?

    Yes, financial advisors are allowed to sell their clients life insurance policies. Life insurance policies make financial sense for a lot of people, which is one reason financial advisors will recommend these policies. Though it is also true that advisors who sell life insurance can receive large upfront commissions and annual commissions of 3% to 5% for the remainder of the policy’s term.

  • How much do financial advisors make?

    The average salary for a financial advisor in the United States was about $120,000 in 2021.

Key Terms

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