What does a good financial advisor actually do for you?
It’s a question many people have – but rarely stop to ask.
If you’ve never worked with an advisor, you may be wondering the same thing. And even if you already do work with an advisor, you might be unsure what they actually do. Many people are quietly being underserved–often without realizing it.
To make matters worse, the variety of “financial professionals”–from insurance agents to investment advisors to wealth managers–only furthers the confusion in the marketplace.
Some are only focused on managing money or selling products.
But a good financial advisor is focused on helping you make good financial decisions over time. And the closer you get to retirement, the more important this is.
What Most People Think a Financial Advisor Does
When most people think about a financial advisor, they think of a guy hunched over a computer monitor filled with charts and graphs of stock prices. Many people believe an advisor’s role is primarily investment based: picking investments, watching the markets, rebalancing occasionally. Many also think that an advisor’s role is mainly reactive – meeting with you once a year and there to answer any questions.
A good financial advisor is much more than that.
While investment management is a core function of a good financial advisor, this is only a small piece of the value a good financial advisor can provide. Those near retirement have a lot of additional questions around taxes, cash flow, long term care, and more. A good financial advisor is proactive and monitors your entire financial picture over time.
Why Retirement Changes the Job Description
Retirement planning is where a financial advisor can really shine. As you approach retirement, your focus shifts from growth to income, from earning to drawing down, and from simple decisions to interconnected ones. Near retirement, mistakes are harder to recover from, and some decisions are irreversible.
You’ll be faced with complex issues involving taxes, timing, coordination, and risk sequencing. And your decisions can dramatically affect how much income you can receive in retirement and how long it can last. But this doesn’t mean you should wait until retirement to hire a financial advisor. Your decisions at any point in life can have major ramifications for your retirement success.
According to Kiplinger, 83% of people with a financial advisor report feeling confident about retirement, while only 53% without an advisor do – a 30 point gap.
What Good Financial Advisors Should be Doing
Good financial advisors don’t just give recommendations, they act as decision partners over time. They will meet with you and get to know your entire financial picture so that they can give you advice that is best for you and your unique situation. They won’t just tell you what to do, they will counsel you and help you weigh all of the emotional, psychological, and financial variables. They will help you evaluate trade-offs and second order consequences, including stress testing scenarios before they’re irreversible.
Good financial advisors are proactive. They know what transitions you’ll be going through and how to help you. They will be anticipating events in your life such as your retirement date, business exit or slowdown, social security filing, Medicare, RMDs, job and tax changes, etc. None of these are surprises–but many people still get surprised.
Good financial advisors are tax aware and assist with proactive tax planning. There is a big difference between tax preparation and actual tax strategy. Tax preparation is focused on compliance in the rear view and happens after the tax year is already over. Effective tax planning focuses on minimizing taxes over your lifetime, not just this year. Effective tax planning also monitors your tax situation throughout the year so that you can execute tax moves in the current year when it makes sense, such as Roth conversions.
Good financial advisors help you manage risk beyond just your portfolio. Of course, stock market risk is a primary risk that a good financial advisor will be aware of and manage. But additional risks include: income risk, longevity risk, healthcare risk, concentration risk, and others.
Finally, good financial advisors help coordinate across all the moving parts of your financial and personal life. A good financial advisor will understand how your investments, taxes, insurance, estate planning, and even business planning (if you own a business) all tie together and affect each other. Not being aware of these aspects or addressing them fully leads to blind spots and costly mistakes.
Why This Work Can’t Be Done in a Single Meeting
Good advice is less about one perfect plan and more about an ongoing process that adapts. Financial planning is an ongoing, year-round process that requires the ongoing awareness and attention of your financial advisor. A really great financial advisor knows and understands every part of your life and is proactively tracking your progress over time as changes occur in your life, your family, markets, tax and investment laws, and more.
Planning isn’t static. It evolves as your life evolves.
How This Shows Up Over the Course of a Year
Over the course of a year, the focus of good financial planning naturally shifts. Your life isn’t static — and neither are the financial decisions that support it.
At different points, the emphasis may be on reviewing progress, updating assumptions, and ensuring that everything remains aligned with your goals. As new information becomes available — changes in income, spending, tax laws, markets, or personal circumstances — adjustments are made thoughtfully rather than reactively.
Throughout the year, a good financial advisor is monitoring for opportunities and risks that often go unnoticed without proactive attention. This may include identifying tax planning opportunities before the year closes, evaluating whether your investment strategy still matches your risk tolerance and income needs, reviewing insurance and estate considerations as your life evolves, or assessing how upcoming transitions may affect your broader plan.
Rather than treating financial planning as a once-a-year event, effective advisors approach it as an ongoing process — one that provides continuity, accountability, and clarity as conditions change. The goal isn’t constant activity for the sake of activity, but steady, intentional oversight so that important decisions are made with context, not urgency.
Why This Matters for People Near Retirement Especially
When this work isn’t significant dollars can be lost due to missed tax opportunities or poor timing decisions. In retirement, ongoing cash flow monitoring is important to prevent overspending or underspending. Not managing these aspects results in unnecessary stress and regret after the fact.
However, with a proactive financial advisor managing your entire financial picture, you may experience greater confidence, improved financial clarity, fewer surprises, and a higher quality of life.
A Simple Self Check for the Reader
If you’re unsure if you need a financial advisor or if your financial advisor is doing the job, here are some questions to ask:
- Do I know what the next 3-5 years will require financially?
- Do I have a plan for how I’m going to make progress toward my goals?
- Has anyone walked me through the tradeoffs of my retirement decisions?
- Is anyone analyzing my tax return and planning for the long term?
- Do I know why my plan is structured the way it is?
A good financial advisor’s real job is to help with decision making over time—not predictions, not products, not one-time plans.
At Wurz Financial Services, we operate with a comprehensive, year-round planning process designed to ensure nothing important is neglected as your life evolves.
If this raised questions — whether about your own situation or someone you care about — we’re always happy to have a conversation to see if it would be helpful.