6 Questions Your Financial Advisor
Hopes Your Never Ask

A free guide for HNW and UHNW investors who want to know if their advisor is truly working for them — or for someone else.

The title “financial advisor” is used broadly across the industry and is not tied to a single regulatory definition. What can vary is the legal standard applied, how a professional is compensated, and what obligations may continue after a recommendation is made.

This guide outlines six questions designed to help clarify those differences. A fiduciary advisor should be able to address these topics clearly as part of the advisory relationship.

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  • Fee-Only
  • SEC-Registered RIA
  • Fiduciary Standard
  • No Commissions
  • Southwest Florida
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The financial industry includes distinctions that many investors may not be fully familiar with.

In 2024, a proposed federal rule related to retirement advice was vacated by the courts before taking effect. As a result, existing regulatory standards continue to apply across the industry.

Many investors may be unfamiliar with these developments.

Today, financial professionals serving high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals may operate under different regulatory frameworks depending on their role, services, and registration. Some are held to a fiduciary standard in their advisory relationships, which includes acting in the client’s best interest, providing written disclosure of material conflicts, and offering ongoing advice where applicable. Others may be subject to different standards based on the nature of the engagement.

These distinctions are not always clearly understood. Differences in compensation structures, services, and scope of responsibility can vary and may influence how advice is delivered over time.

This guide is designed to help clarify those differences and support more informed conversations.

What You'll Learn - And Why It Matters

  • The legal difference between the fiduciary standard and the best-interest standard — in plain language
  • Why 'fee-based' and 'fee-only' are not the same, and how those differences can impact costs and incentives
  • How third-party compensation could create potential conflicts of interest and how to identify them
  • What a broker is and isn't legally required to do once your money is invested
  • The six questions to ask — and how fiduciary advisors typically respond
  • A self-assessment framework to help you evaluate an advisory firm’s structure, standards, and potential conflicts

Independent validation of the fiduciary standard.

“The highest standard of care is for registered investment advisors,
who are held to a fiduciary standard.”

BARRON’S

Moran Wealth Management® is a fee-only, SEC-registered RIA based in Southwest Florida. We serve HNW and UHNW individuals, families, and business owners who value transparency, objectivity, and advice aligned with their best interests. We don’t sell products. We don’t earn commissions. We charge a single transparent fee for independent advice. We wrote this guide because we believe investors should understand how different advisory models work and what those differences may mean for their financial decisions, and because we’re prepared to answer every question in it.

  • SEC-Registered Investment Advisor
  • Fiduciary Standard in every client relationship
  • Fee-Only - Zero commission income
  • Serving clients across Southwest Florida and nationally

The questions are free.
What you do with the answers is up to you. 

Download the guide, ask your current advisor about the six questions, and see what happens. If the answers satisfy you — that’s a good outcome. If they don’t, we’d welcome a conversation.
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FAQs

Questions we hear from investors — answered plainly.
What is a fiduciary financial advisor?
A fiduciary financial advisor is legally required to act in your best interest at all times — not just at the point of a recommendation, but continuously throughout the relationship. In the United States, registered investment advisors (RIAs) are held to the fiduciary standard by the SEC. This means they must disclose all conflicts of interest in writing, cannot earn commissions on the products they recommend, and have an ongoing obligation to monitor your portfolio and act proactively on your behalf.
The core difference is the legal standard they’re held to, and when that obligation applies. Brokers registered with FINRA are held to a ‘best interest’ standard — which requires them to act in your interest at the moment a recommendation is made, but not on an ongoing basis. They may earn commissions on what they sell you, and they have no legal duty to monitor your investments after the transaction is complete. A fiduciary RIA is held to a higher, continuous standard with no commission income and an ongoing duty of care.
These two terms sound nearly identical but represent meaningfully different compensation models. A fee-only advisor earns compensation exclusively from the client — typically a percentage of assets under management or a flat retainer. There are no commissions, referral fees, or third-party payments of any kind. A fee-based advisor charges a fee but may also earn commissions on certain products or receive other forms of third-party compensation. That additional income creates potential conflicts of interest that a fee-only model eliminates entirely.
The most direct approach is to ask — in writing. Ask your advisor whether they are an SEC-registered RIA, whether they are held to the fiduciary standard in all aspects of your relationship, and whether they or their firm receive any third-party compensation. You can also search any RIA independently at adviserinfo.sec.gov and any FINRA-registered broker at brokercheck.finra.org. If your advisor is dually registered with both the SEC and FINRA, ask specifically which standard applies to your account and under what circumstances.
The Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation requires holders to act as fiduciaries when providing financial planning services. However, the CFP designation alone does not make someone a fiduciary in all contexts — it depends on the nature of the engagement and how the advisor is registered. A CFP who is also an SEC-registered RIA operating under a fee-only model is held to the fiduciary standard comprehensively. A CFP, who is primarily a broker, may only be held to the fiduciary standard in certain circumstances. The designation matters, but it does not replace the questions in this guide.
The SEC fiduciary standard requires registered investment advisors to act in the best interest of their clients, at all times, place client interests ahead of their own, make full and fair disclosure of all material conflicts of interest, and seek best execution for client transactions. It is the highest legal standard of care in the U.S. financial advisory industry and applies continuously — not just at the moment a recommendation is made. It is enforced through SEC oversight and, in disputes, through the civil court system rather than industry arbitration.
Under the best-interest standard that governs FINRA-registered brokers, the legal obligation to act in a client’s interest is largely transactional. Once a recommendation is made and executed, the broker’s duty of care with respect to that recommendation is generally satisfied. There is no ongoing legal requirement to monitor the investment performance, alert the client to material changes, or proactively recommend adjustments. For HNW and UHNW investors with complex, multi-asset portfolios, the absence of a continuous monitoring obligation is a meaningful distinction — one that the six questions in this guide are designed to surface.
No. Despite widespread use of the title ‘financial advisor,’ the legal obligations that title carries vary significantly depending on how a professional is registered and what standard governs their relationship with you. SEC-registered RIAs are held to the fiduciary standard continuously. FINRA-registered brokers are held to the best-interest standard at the point of recommendation. Some professionals are dually registered and may be subject to different standards depending on the nature of a given transaction. Understanding which standard applies to your relationship — and asking for it in writing — is the purpose of this guide.
The primary reason is alignment. A fee-only fiduciary earns nothing from product recommendations, referral arrangements, or third-party compensation of any kind. Their only financial incentive is to serve you well enough to retain your business. At the HNW and UHNW level, where the portfolio is complex and the cost of conflicted advice compounds over time, that structural alignment has real financial consequences. The difference between a fee-only fiduciary and a commission-earning broker — measured across fees, product costs, and the quality of ongoing advice over a decade — can be significant.
Moran Wealth Management is a fee-only, SEC-registered RIA based in Southwest Florida. We provide independent financial planning and investment management services to HNW and UHNW individuals, families, and business owners. We are fiduciaries in every client relationship; we earn no commissions, and we receive no third-party compensation of any kind. We serve clients across Southwest Florida and nationally. If you’d like to learn whether our model is the right fit for your situation, we welcome a conversation.

Ready to ask the questions?

Download the guide. Take it into your next advisor meeting. The right advisor will welcome every question on the list.

If you’d like to have that conversation with us, we offer complimentary discovery calls for qualified HNW and UHNW individuals. No pitch. No pressure. Just a candid discussion about whether our model is the right fit for your situation.

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