Ask an Advisor: I Feel 'Very Uncomfortable' Sharing My Investment Info With a Financial Planner. Do They Need to Know This?

My husband and I have buckets of assets (both retirement and taxable investments) that we are considering for “management.” We are retired, have no debt and can live on income and RMDs. I don’t understand and feel very uncomfortable providing statements outside of an advisor’s normal onboarding process. We have very clear goals and are considering a balanced and/or income approach with moderate growth. A financial planner does not need to see how we are currently invested. And I don’t want the advisor influenced by my current investments. – Diane

First, your hesitation is understandable. You have successfully facilitated two debt-free retirements entirely on your own. This is presumably a testament to consistent saving, judicious spending and wise investing. Entrusting an advisor to manage assets built through decades of hard work is a major step. It’s natural for the process to feel daunting and invasive, especially when it involves feedback that might seem critical and legitimate privacy concerns.

At the same time, if you are seeking truly personalized advice and a customized portfolio grounded in your goals, then yes, an advisor does need to see how you are currently invested. The reason is alignment, which should ideally be surfaced before you agree to work together.

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Start with a Conversation and Assess Trust

Before sharing any detailed information about your investments (and certainly before sharing account statements), start with a direct conversation. This conversation is not just appropriate. It is necessary.

You should feel comfortable asking the financial planner:

Why do you need to see my investment statements?
How will this help you provide better guidance?
How exactly will you analyze what we have?
How will our information be protected?

There may be other questions that are top-of-mind for you and your husband, but overall, this dialogue serves two purposes. First, it helps you understand the advisor’s process, rationale and investment philosophy, all of which must align with your needs. This goes a long way to uncovering whether a mutual fit exists. Second, and more importantly, it allows you to assess whether you trust the person sitting across from you.

Trust is the foundation of every successful client-advisor relationship. Of course, trust is not a given—it must be earned. A thoughtful advisor should welcome these questions, answer them clearly and explain how reviewing your statements strengthens their ability to deliver objective guidance designed to help you achieve your unique goals. If the explanation resonates and feels transparent, then that is often the first step toward gaining comfort. If it does not, then that tells you something as well.

In many ways, this is a trust-building exercise. The conversation itself helps determine whether you feel confident enough in both the process and the person (or team) to move forward.

(Connect with a financial advisor using this free matching tool to get the conversation started.)

Why Getting the Details Early Matters

It sounds like you have a solid understanding of your goals, and have in mind a logical investment strategy to support those goals. This is an excellent starting point. But without seeing your asset allocation, it is impossible for any prospective advisor to determine whether your current or potential portfolio optimally supports your objectives. This is especially the case if you are looking for an advisor who provides holistic financial planning and not just investment management, since the portfolio is only one piece of how they’ll serve you and your goals.

Designing a personalized investment strategy without reviewing your existing investments is a bit like assembling a piece of furniture with a page of the instructions missing. You might get it mostly right purely due to experience and intuition. It may look fine at a glance. But structurally, something could be slightly off.

Building a portfolio without that critical page can lead to a host of issues. We’ll get into one of the biggest issues shortly, but advisors should not seek to overhaul everything just because their investment strategy dictates material changes. Limiting factors and impediments to a full overhaul are likely to exist, and they must be accounted for.

You might have large embedded gains, positions worth maintaining or assets that can’t easily be liquidated like private equity or annuities. Without clarity on these factors early, the advisor cannot adequately explain their process and you cannot assess whether they’re a good fit.

(And if you need help finding someone to review your current portfolio, match with an advisor for free.)

Higher-level considerations like expected portfolio yield and growth assets needed to outpace inflation also require visibility into your holdings. An advisor cannot evaluate these tradeoffs without seeing the underlying parts, and you cannot effectively evaluate the advisor without sharing this information. This is especially true if you’re seeking holistic wealth management, since investment decisions directly impact tax planning, estate planning and other areas of your financial plan.

Sometimes the review confirms you are already well positioned. Other times, it can reveal major limitations that the strategy would not be able to accommodate. It is better for both parties to recognize this before an agreement is signed. Either way, personalization requires specifics.

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The Tax Equation

Because you hold both retirement and taxable accounts, tax strategy adds another critically important layer of complexity. It is one that might otherwise get ignored in the absence of adequate information.

In retirement, tax efficiency directly affects how much you keep. Asset location, income character and embedded gains all matter. For example:

What type of bonds are held in non-qualified accounts?
Are you holding tax-efficient vehicles where appropriate?
Are there opportunities for tax-loss harvesting?
Are there large embedded gains we need to work around? What creative solutions might exist?
Are income-producing assets positioned thoughtfully relative to RMDs?
Are the two accounts working together to create a unified asset allocation and investment strategy, or are they completely siloed and working independently? How do the allocations of each account, when taken together, advance your objectives?

Without reviewing your current holdings, it is nearly impossible to optimize tax exposure. General principles are helpful, but implementation depends on the actual structure of your portfolio and the composition of underlying accounts. And from the prospective taxable client’s perspective, I would argue that it is difficult to fully evaluate an advisor’s investment strategy without understanding how they would manage your assets in a tax-aware manner.

Overarching investment philosophies can apply to all clients, but tax optimization is an individualized exercise. (And if you need help assessing the tax impact of your portfolio, consider speaking with a financial advisor.)

Putting It All Together

You and your husband have built a strong foundation: no debt, sustainable income and clear goals. Reviewing your investments with an advisor is not about critiquing your approach or invading your privacy. It’s about understanding what you’ve built so an advisor can align their strategy with your goals.

Recognizing the hard work that got you to this point, seeking objective management that isn’t influenced by existing exposures and protecting your privacy are critical. The right advisor will respect these considerations, and the conversation you engage in at the outset is the first step in determining whether that partnership could be the right fit.

Tips for Finding a Financial Advisor

Finding a financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with vetted financial advisors who serve your area, and you can have a free introductory call with your advisor matches to decide which one you feel is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.
Find an advisor who regularly works with clients in similar financial situations and life stages. An advisor experienced with pre-retirees will better understand RMDs and Social Security timing, while one focused on young professionals may excel at student loan strategies and early-career planning. Ask about their typical client profile and the specific challenges they help solve most often.

Got a question you’d like answered? Email AskAnAdvisor@smartasset.com and your question may be answered in a future column.

Jeremy Suschak, CFP®, is a SmartAsset financial planning columnist who answers reader questions on personal finance topics. Jeremy is a financial advisor and head of business development at DBR & Co. He has been compensated for this article. Additional resources from the author can be found at dbroot.com. Please note that Jeremy is not a participant in SmartAsset AMP and is not an employee of SmartAsset.