{"id":670345,"date":"2026-01-03T03:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T03:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/670345\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T03:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T03:35:09","slug":"incompetent-lazy-and-hypocritical-im-55-single-and-maybe-want-to-retire-early-but-after-interviewing-some-advisers-i-feel-many-are-bad-and-one-ghosted-me-wha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/670345\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Incompetent, lazy and hypocritical.\u2019 I\u2019m 55, single and maybe want to retire early, but after interviewing some advisers, I feel many are bad \u2014 and one ghosted me. What gives?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Question: <\/strong>\u201cI have had dealings with a number of financial professionals and this latest experience does nothing to dispel my notion that as a group, they are dishonest, unprofessional, corrupt, incompetent, lazy and hypocritical. Here\u2019s a copy of an email I sent to a certified financial planner requesting a retirement plan review, and I\u2019m still waiting for a reply:<\/p>\n


Are these reasonable queries? How would you respond to these questions? What would make an adviser not respond? The issue of no response is unsettling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Answer: <\/strong>What you\u2019re asking seems completely reasonable \u2014 and as with any profession, you\u2019ll find great pros and not-so-great ones. Frankly, it may take more interviews with more advisers to find one who actually is suitable for you. You can use this free tool to get matched with fiduciary advisers<\/a> from our ad partner SmartAsset, as well as sites like CFP Board and NAPFA.<\/p>\n

But before we get into what to look for in an adviser, let\u2019s tackle your questions. First, \u201cthese are all great questions that need answers and will give you the clarity you\u2019re looking for on making one of the biggest decisions of your life,\u201d says Hugh Steven Morris, chartered retirement planning counselor at The Morris Group.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Aaron Ulrich, owner of Integra Financial Planning, says he\u2019s been helping people plan for their financial futures for 20 years and he\u2019s never received an unsolicited request for a second opinion that was as thorough as yours. \u201cYou might\u2019ve knocked them off their chair. Your approach is excellent and you\u2019ve clearly done some homework, but that can work against you with some financial planners,\u201d says Ulrich.<\/p>\n

Why didn\u2019t you get a response?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Advisers we spoke to have a few theories. First, it may have been your clear ask about cost. \u201cIf I were to write the letter, I may have left off the \u2018how much will it cost\u2019 part and simply ask if this type of service is in their wheelhouse. In a conversation, over the phone or Zoom, pricing must be disclosed,\u201d says enrolled agent Morris Armstrong at Armstrong Financial Strategies. \u201cAsking what it would cost in the opening sentence seems to indicate that price is the main consideration as opposed to service, knowledge or experience,\u201d says Armstrong.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not a client of the CFP you sent the inquiry to, they may not feel like they have an obligation to respond. \u201cThe CFP could think this is spam and not respond since it\u2019s not very common that we get emails like this from people we don\u2019t know,\u201d says Morris. That said, communication in the financial planning industry is key, so unless they\u2019re sick, on vacation or in back-to-back meetings, Morris says the adviser should at least respond to let you know they\u2019re not interested in assisting you.<\/p>\n

Armstrong also thinks the adviser may have thought this was a scam. \u201cWe have, at least on the tax side, people sending emails all the time with a story that they\u2019re looking for a new preparer, that they\u2019ve moved or have a return containing a certain number of forms. They never include a phone number and once you respond, they attempt to send documents as an attachment. The IRS has issued warnings about this, so perhaps the firm that the CFP works for has a policy in place that emails such as yours will be ignored,\u201d says Armstrong.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also possible that the CFP you emailed viewed the request as transactional when their practice is geared toward relationships and asset management, says Armstrong. \u201cIf that\u2019s the case, that\u2019s a big fail for not reaching out to your email and learning more,\u201d says Armstrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for CFPs being unresponsive, do not denigrate the designation due to one or two instances. You may not fit the profile for that particular adviser because they may not be very well versed on military benefits,\u201d says certified financial planner Kevin Thompson at 9i Capital Group.<\/p>\n

What to look for in a new adviser<\/p>\n

There are good advisers out there \u2014 and the question of whether you can retire early is one that a CFP could help with. CFPs are considered the gold standard in financial planning and complete extensive education requirements, pass exams, perform thousands of hours of work-related experience and uphold a fiduciary duty to earn their designation. Fee-only advisers are paid only by their clients and don\u2019t receive commissions or incentives from third parties, which reduces the chance for conflicts of interest to arise. <\/p>\n

Financial advising is a deeply personal relationship, which is why Thompson says it\u2019s important to find an adviser that works with your particular profile and can make your life easier, not harder. \u201cIf they\u2019re not getting back to you in a timely manner, consult multiple advisers and make sure to ask them their preferred method of communication and their response rates,\u201d says Thompson.<\/p>\n

Ulrich\u2019s advice is to get a good referral. \u201cAsk your friends and colleagues who they use and why and see if an introduction with a planner who specializes in your situation could be a good fit. The numbers and analysis you\u2019re looking for are important, but not as important as the trust and confidence that you\u2019re going to be taken care of,\u201d says Ulrich. Keep in mind that most advisers offer a free initial consultation where you can get to know a potential adviser and vice versa.<\/p>\n

You can also find advisers using this free tool that matches you with fiduciary advisers<\/a> from our ad partner SmartAsset, as well as sites like CFP Board and NAPFA.<\/p>\n

When looking for a fee-only fiduciary adviser, be sure to ask them these<\/a> important questions as part of the vetting process. To gain further insight, use FINRA\u2019s BrokerCheck tool to confirm a prospective adviser\u2019s designation and see if they have any disciplinary actions against them.<\/p>\n

Have an issue with your financial adviser or looking for a new one? Email questions or concerns to picks@marketwatch.com<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Questions edited for brevity and clarity. By emailing your questions to The Advicer, you agree to have them published anonymously on MarketWatch; they may appear anonymously in other media and platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: \u201cI have had dealings with a number of financial professionals and this latest experience does nothing to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3093],"tags":[3427,203149,51,14042,474,4179,202000,2499,5494,153446,3653,28415,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-670345","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-banking","9":"tag-banking-credit","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-credit","12":"tag-finance","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-mpsmartasset","15":"tag-personal-finance","16":"tag-political","17":"tag-political-general-news","18":"tag-retirement-planning","19":"tag-synd","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115829075002685294","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}