Updated August 18, 2026. Quick answer: the Form ADV brochure supplement — Part 2B — is the only disclosure document about the specific person who will advise you, rather than about the firm. It names who supervises them and on what telephone number, it explains what the letters after their name actually require, and it discloses sales awards and sales-linked bonuses paid to them personally. You cannot download it. A firm registered with the SEC is not required to file supplements anywhere — so the public database that holds the firm brochure does not hold this one. You are nonetheless entitled to it, in your own hands, before the person starts advising you. You have to ask.
The one-line answer: the brochure supplement is not on IAPD for an SEC-registered firm, and no amount of searching will produce it. That is the rule working as written, not a firm hiding something. Ask the firm.
What the brochure supplement is, and who it is about
Form ADV Part 2 comes in two halves that answer two different questions. Part 2A is the firm brochure: what the firm does, what it charges, how it handles conflicts. Part 2B is the brochure supplement, and it is about a person — their education and business background, their own disciplinary history, their other business activities, extra compensation they receive, and who checks their work.
This distinction matters because the firm brochure can be excellent while telling you nothing whatsoever about the individual sitting across the table. The supplement is the document that closes that gap, and it is the one almost nobody asks for.
Why you cannot download it
The instruction is in the form itself. Brochures are filed electronically, which is why they are searchable at all: “You must file your brochure(s) (and amendments) through the IARD system using the text-searchable Adobe Portable Document Format” (Form ADV, General Instructions for Part 2, instruction 5). The very next sentence carves the supplement out: “If you are registered or are registering with the SEC, you are not required to file your brochure supplements through the IARD or otherwise.” (same instruction).
You have the documents. The slow part is finding people worth reading them about.
Ask whoever you meet for the Part 2B supplement — the request itself tells you something. The matching service below introduces you to advisers who pay to meet you — which is a reason to read their disclosures, not a reason to skip them.
Before you start, what actually happens. The form is run by Kapitalwise, our advisor-matching partner. Kapitalwise sends your details to advisers who pay for the introduction, so expect calls and texts. Clear Money Guide is paid when you submit the form, whether or not you ever hire anyone. This is free to you and there is no obligation to hire anyone.
The Kapitalwise form opens here — you stay on this page.
What happens when you press the button
It asks about nine questions — age, investable assets, location — then your name, email and phone number, and verifies the phone by text. Nothing loads and nothing reaches Kapitalwise until you press the button.
What Part 2B has to tell you
Three of the supplement’s requirements are worth knowing by name, because each one answers a question people otherwise ask the adviser and take on trust.
| What you get | The form’s own words | Where |
|---|---|---|
| The letters after their name, explained | “You may list any professional designations held by the supervised person, but if you do so, you must provide a sufficient explanation of the minimum qualifications required for each designation to allow clients to understand the value of the designation.” | Part 2B, Item 2 |
| Sales awards, prizes and sales-linked bonuses paid to them personally — but not their salary | “If someone who is not a client provides an economic benefit to the supervised person for providing advisory services, generally describe the arrangement. For purposes of this Item, economic benefits include sales awards and other prizes, but do not include the supervised person’s regular salary. Any bonus that is based, at least in part, on the number or amount of sales, client referrals, or new accounts should be considered an economic benefit” | Part 2B, Item 5 |
| The name, title and telephone number of their supervisor | “Provide the name, title and telephone number of the person responsible for supervising the supervised person’s advisory activities on behalf of your firm.” | Part 2B, Item 6 |
Item 2 is the quietly useful one. A designation is optional to list — but a firm that lists one takes on the duty of explaining what it actually required. That turns a row of initials into a claim you can weigh, and it is written by the firm rather than by the body that sells the credential.
Item 5 is the one that surprises people. It is the only place a sales award, a prize or a bonus tied to new accounts has to be described — and the form is explicit that ordinary salary is not the thing being disclosed. If your adviser is compensated for bringing in assets, this is where it says so.
When you are entitled to it
The timing is set by the delivery rule, 17 CFR 275.204-3, not by firm policy: “Deliver to each client or prospective client a current brochure supplement for a supervised person before or at the time that supervised person begins to provide advisory services to the client” (17 CFR 275.204-3(b)(3)).
Read that again, because the trigger is not signing and it is not funding. It is before or at the time that person begins to provide advisory services. If you have met someone who is going to be your adviser and you have not been handed their supplement, you are entitled to it now.
The team rule: what happens when more than five people advise you
Large firms often present a team. The rule anticipates that and limits it: “if investment advice for a client is provided by a team comprised of more than five supervised persons, a current brochure supplement need only be delivered to that client for the five supervised persons with the most significant responsibility for the day-to-day advice provided to that client” (17 CFR 275.204-3(b)(3), team proviso).
So “a team of twelve looks after you” does not mean twelve supplements. It means the five with the most significant responsibility for your day-to-day advice. That is a useful question in its own right: which five? The answer tells you who actually has your account.
How to ask, in one sentence
You do not need a form of words, but a specific request is harder to deflect than a general one: “Please send me the Form ADV Part 2B brochure supplement for the person who will be advising my account, and the Part 2A brochure that governs the programme you are recommending.” Asking for both at once matters, because a firm may file several brochures and the one on the website is not necessarily the one that governs your account.
The form permits exactly that structure: “If you offer substantially different types of advisory services, you may opt to prepare separate brochures so long as each client receives all applicable information about services and fees. Each brochure may omit information that does not apply to the advisory services and fees it describes.” (Form ADV, Instructions for Part 2A, instruction 9). The delivery rule says the same thing: “If you provide substantially different advisory services to different clients, you may provide them with different brochures, so long as each client receives all information about the services and fees that are applicable to that client.” (17 CFR 275.204-3(e)).
If you would rather send it in writing, we keep a request email you can copy. Once the documents arrive, the lines worth checking first and the wider vetting sequence take it from there — and if the programme turns out to be a wrap programme, the fee is in a different item entirely.