5 Signs You Should Fire Your Financial Adviser

A strong relationship with a financial adviser you trust matters more the closer you get to retirement. Here are some of the reasons it may be time for you to part ways.

A person who is angry and on the telephone.
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A strong relationship with a financial adviser you trust matters more the closer you get to retirement. Financial decisions once decades away now loom on the horizon. The last thing you want at this critical juncture is an adviser who doesn’t understand you or, worse, someone you can’t understand at all.

Life transitions, such as retirement or divorce, often reveal whether your relationship with an adviser is working, says Kathleen Burns Kingsbury, a wealth psychology expert and founder of KBK Wealth Connection in Waitsfield Vt., a consulting firm that trains financial advisers. “But those [transitions] can be really emotional so it can be hard to make a good solid decision. Ideally, you do it when you are not in crisis mode.”

Here are five signs that it’s time to shop around for a new financial adviser.

Senior Retirement Editor, Kiplinger.com

Jackie Stewart is the senior retirement editor for Kiplinger.com and the senior editor for Kiplinger's Retirement Report.