I was recently asked this question by a person who had built a $2.5 million nest egg and was considering retiring in the next two to three years:
“Do I really need a financial advisor?”
It’s a fair question.
Plenty of people have built significant wealth on their own. And you may be surprised to hear me say this, but I don’t believe everyone needs a financial advisor.
But after 7 years in this business, I’ll tell you this:
The skills that got you here are not necessarily the skills that will get you through retirement.
Let’s be honest. Accumulating wealth isn’t all that complicated.
Save money. Invest it. Stay disciplined. Don’t panic. Repeat.
And time is on your side. If you make a mistake at 35 or 45, you generally have years to recover from it.
Retirement is a different game.
Your paycheck stops. You’re no longer just trying to grow your money. Now you have to figure out how to turn that money into a reliable income stream while managing taxes, investments, healthcare costs and the risks that come with living 20, 30 or even 40 years in retirement.
Suddenly, the decisions matter a lot more.
Which account should you take money from first?
When should you claim Social Security?
Should you do Roth conversions before RMDs begin? If so, when and how much?
Could your income this year increase your Medicare premiums?
How much can you safely spend?
What happens if the market drops 20% during your first year of retirement?
These aren't just investment questions. They're retirement planning questions.
And there's an important difference.
During the accumulation years, a bad market year can actually be a good thing. You’re still working, still saving and still adding money to your accounts.
In retirement, a bad market early on can be much more damaging—especially if you're withdrawing money at the same time.
Sequence matters.
And the hardest part is that many retirement decisions don't come with a do-over.
You don't get to go back and change the tax return you filed five years ago. You can't undo years of unnecessary taxes. You can't put Social Security back in the bank once you've claimed it. And you can't always recover from selling investments after a major market decline.
That's where the conversation about the cost of an advisor gets interesting.
Because yes, an advisor can be expensive.
I won't argue with you there.
The fee is probably the easiest number in the relationship to measure. It's right there on the statement. It's tangible. You can see it.
But what about the costs you don't see?
🔻 Paying significantly more in taxes than you needed to.
🔻 Claiming Social Security without understanding the long-term consequences.
🔻 Selling investments out of fear during a market downturn.
🔻 Taking money from the wrong account and creating an unnecessary tax bill.
🔻 Never updating beneficiary designations.
🔻 Leaving your spouse to figure everything out alone after you're gone.
Those costs don't show up as a line item called “financial advice.”
But they can be far more expensive.
The value of a good advisor is often harder to see.
It shows up over time—in taxes you didn't pay, mistakes you didn't make, risks you avoided and decisions that work together instead of against each other.
And there's one more thing I'd add.
The right advisor in retirement shouldn't be obsessed with beating an index.
I think that's the wrong measuring stick for retirement planning.
Instead, I'd rather measure success in more meaningful ways:
Are you keeping more of what you've worked so hard to build?
Are you minimizing unnecessary taxes?
Are you avoiding the big, irreversible mistakes?
Are the people you love protected?
And most importantly, can you spend your money with confidence instead of constantly wondering if you're going to run out?
So, do you need a financial advisor?
Maybe. Maybe not.
If you've done a great job building wealth, you should be proud of that. And you may be perfectly capable of managing your own investments.
But be honest with yourself about what's coming next.
Retirement isn't just about managing a portfolio. It's about managing everything your portfolio needs to do for the rest of your life.
And if you're about to start living off what you've spent decades building, the stakes have changed.
That's when having a plan—and someone you trust to help you navigate it—can make a very different kind of difference.