Your First Year With a Financial Advisor: What to Expect

Hiring a financial advisor is a big step in your life. You’re entrusting another person or the firm they work for to guide your future. Their advice and support can directly influence your ability to reach long-term goals.

So, what do the beginning stages with a professional look like, and what should you expect? While it depends on your needs, the first twelve months often focus on building a strong foundation and implementing the plan you’ve designed together. It’s a time to figure out what works for you, what doesn’t, and where you want to go with your advisor at your side.

In this article, we’ll offer a month-by-month timeline of what happens during the first year working with a financial advisor. You’ll also hear insights from professionals who’ve helped clients navigate the early stages of the advisor-client relationship.

Months 1–2: Building a Foundation and Setting Expectations

The first steps of hiring a financial advisor involve a lot of exploration and learning on both sides. Starting from your initial phone call or meeting, for instance, you’ll be evaluating whether they’re the right fit. On the other hand, they’ll be trying to assess your needs, financial circumstances, and how they can best help you accomplish your goals.

Once you officially become a client, the beginning months are very much about setting up the structure of your relationship. This includes more in-depth discovery meetings where you share financial documents (income, expenses, assets, debts etc.) with your advisor, discuss risk tolerance, plans, and more.

“Anytime we meet with any potential new client we go through a 4-step meeting process,” says Jason Bernat, president and CEO at American Financial Services, adding that “this can take anywhere from 6 to 8 weeks for the entire onboarding process.”

Beyond the basics, and perhaps most decisively, an advisor may try to learn more about you throughout the first month or two. They’ll want to be able to know about your personal life, how you view investing and saving, why you’ve set the goals you have, or how you view money.

“One of the most important things for me to understand is how the client’s relationship with money works. Is it a tool, a security blanket for peace of mind, or something that you have not paid attention to?” says Marcus Sturdivant, Sr., financial advisor and Chief Compliance Officer at The ABC Squared.

Another key question an advisor may pose is: Why now? “Most people do not wake up in the morning with thoughts of financial planning and retirement goals,” Sturdivant observes. “If it is from a place of just wanting to get started with financial planning, either as a 20-year-old or a 60-year-old, did you have a life event that jarred you and set this ball into motion?”

As a client, you should also reasonably expect to do a little homework to ensure you’re prepared for meetings. As noted, this might include gathering documents and information about your finances, but also a real reflection of how you believe a professional can help.

Over the first six to eight weeks, your advisor will ultimately prepare a plan and likely present it to you. However, depending on your needs, a core theme of this early stage is gaining mutual understanding and establishing the organization of the arrangement.

“The first couple of months are all about getting to know the person behind the plan,” says Michael Rodriguez, CFP^®, a financial planner and owner of Equanimity Wealth. “Yes, we’ll gather documents and go through the standard intake, but my focus is on understanding your story—your values, your habits, and how you’ve come to see money the way you do.”

Months 2–4: Implementation and Extended Planning

After the introductory period, the subsequent two months are about implementing the recommended plan or investment strategy you and your advisor have been coordinating.

“Some prospects and clients will provide a lot of quantitative data before this, but the qualitative data is equally important. Then it is back to the lab to analyze the information and create some recommendations,” says Sturdivant. “During the next meeting, I will present my recommendations, and we will decide which route to take. Some of the recommendations can begin immediately, and some will require more meetings to completely implement.”

Based on the scope of your collaboration, your expert may provide guidance for you to act on—e.g., setting up retirement, savings, or brokerage accounts, investing, or enabling automatic contributions. If you’ve given them authority, they may also be the one to execute the strategy on your behalf.

Implementation of a plan might begin with a dedicated kickoff appointment. Bernat points out that he and his firm “try to cover as much as possible in this meeting,” and if things look good, “we move to our implementation meeting which is mostly paperwork. From here we get all accounts setup and outside assets moved over. Once established then we begin to monitor that plan.”

Following initial execution of the plan, this early phase involves close monitoring by both you and your expert. You may begin to see incremental progress or opportunities for adjustment. Depending on the complexity of your situation and objectives, you might choose to keep in close touch with your advisor and meet once per month.

Months 4–8: Monitoring, Adjusting, and Deepening the Plan

Around the mid-year point, the advisor-client relationship moves into a rhythm. This includes monitoring your plans and adjusting wherever necessary. While it may be too early to see the true impact of building your plan, you may be able to see, for instance, if you’re saving more money than you used to or the beginning performance of your investments. In either case, your financial advisor should be able to interpret results for you and walk you through how everything looks.

“The first year will go by quickly and you may not notice anything right away,” but at every “step of the way we will meet and cover any needs,” underlines Bernat. “In the first year we meet more frequently with clients to make sure they are setup online, they know how to read statements, discuss market vulnerability, etc. We want them to know how we act when markets are down, and the decisions we make when the market is going up.”

The mid-year juncture is also an opportunity for you to take a moment and think about the value you’re getting from your advisor. Do you feel happy so far with the arrangement, and are you feeling like you’re on the right track? While early in the relationship, this is a good time to start asking these questions.

Be aware, however, that it might not be clear right away how effective the advisor’s strategy truly is. “We have to let the plan work for a little while to see how it is performing,” says Sturdivant. He notes that unless your life changes significantly, there are often no major changes in the first 45 to 75 days. “A financial plan may be static in its formation,” he adds, “but the execution and maintenance is dynamic so we are flexible to opportunities.”

Months 9–12: Review and Reflect

You’ve reached the end of your first year with your financial advisor. By now, it’s only natural to want to fully ponder what went right, what’s changed for you, and what you believe is next for your finances and personal situation. A year is a long and meaningful amount of time, so it’s a prime chance to revisit and check your plan’s alignment with your goals.

But what does success look like after one year? This answer varies, but it might include tangible value (i.e., investment returns or improved savings) and intangible outcomes.

“Returns are what most people point to as the quantitative measure” for how successful a year was, says Sturdivant. However, he warns that “a relationship solely on returns will fade” and “is a race to the bottom.” Instead, he says “the measure should be far more qualitative,” including things like how empowered you feel in what you’ve felt like you’ve been able to accomplish, how your mindset has changed, knowledge gained, and how many goals you’ve checked off your list so far by enlisting a financial advisor.

At the close of the first year, you’ll likely have a chance to meet with your advisor and discuss how things went. They’ll, of course, discuss the quantitative metrics of the year, including investment returns, but also talk about and evaluate those qualitative talking points. Consider:

• Do you feel you have a clear plan?
• Has your situation improved, even a little?
• Do you still trust your financial advisor’s expertise, experience, and integrity?
• Do you feel more knowledgeable than before?
• Are you empowered?

If the answers to one or more of the above questions are “no,” it could signal a time to reconsider the partnership with your professional. It’s never too late, especially after a year, to think about switching to another financial advisor if they’re not cutting it. It’s also not uncommon for your advisor to directly ask you how you confident and satisfied you feel with everything so far.

“At the one-year mark, I send out a survey to get honest feedback,” says Rodriguez. “Is our pace working for you? Do you feel heard? Is the service helpful? Running a newer firm means I’m always looking for ways to improve—and [client] feedback is a big part of that.”

During your year-in-review meeting or soon after, you and your advisor will likely discuss what’s next for you and your financial picture. You may cover long-term goals, like retirement, building an estate plan, or tax optimization. You might also continue building toward and refining near-term milestones such as buying a home, building a substantial emergency fund, or managing outstanding debt. At this point, you might also choose to switch your meeting cadence to annually, semi-annually, or quarterly.

“The end of the first year is also a great opportunity to shift into next year’s goals,” says Sturdivant. “Financial planning, a holistic plan will usually take longer than a year to complete. In a year you can be established and in a much better position, maybe in a place where you need a check in every few years but that is the exception and not the rule.”

Bottom Line

Working with a financial advisor involves committing to a collaboration that often goes beyond one or two interactions. Depending on your needs, your advisor may be by your side for years and be invaluable as you work toward reaching your goals and building your portfolio.

The first year with a professional can be one of the most crucial points in the advisor-client relationship. It sets expectations and is when you begin putting systems and structures in place that could last years or decades. It’s a time to stay engaged, be ready to share and ask questions, and pivot if necessary.

Choosing the right financial advisor is an important first step. To find a qualified fiduciary professional, we recommend this free matching tool. After a brief quiz regarding your financial goals and current situation, it’ll connect you with an expert who suits your needs.