Guides › Switching Financial Advisors
Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: the investing part is genuinely easy now — a low-cost broad-market fund does what most managed portfolios do, for a fraction of the cost. The part that is not easy is everything around the portfolio, and firing your adviser does not delete that work, it assigns it to you. There are six jobs. Take them on knowingly, and be aware that the real choice is rarely “adviser or nothing”: there is a whole middle where you buy advice by the hour or the project and manage the money yourself.
The six jobs
1. Asset allocation and rebalancing. Choosing the mix and holding it when it is uncomfortable. Mechanically simple, behaviourally not. 2. Tax location and withdrawal sequencing. Which account each holding sits in, and in retirement, which account you draw from first — this is where the actual dollars are, and our withdrawal-order calculator exists precisely because it is not intuitive. 3. Contribution and distribution mechanics. Required minimum distributions, Roth conversion windows, contribution limits, the 60-day rollover trap. Deadlines here are unforgiving and mostly automated away by an adviser you no longer have. 4. Beneficiary and titling hygiene. Nobody will check this for you again. 5. The insurance and estate perimeter. Not investing, but usually inside the engagement you are ending. 6. Behaviour in a drawdown. The one job that only shows up when it matters, and the only one where the honest self-test is what you actually did in the last bad year, not what you believe you would do.
The self-test
Answer these before you sign anything. Did you rebalance during the last market decline you lived through, or did you stop opening statements? Can you name, right now, which account you would draw from first in retirement and why? Do you know your current beneficiary designations without looking? Would you notice a missed required minimum distribution? Three or more honest “no”s is not a verdict against you — it is an argument for buying advice differently rather than not at all.
The middle you probably want
Between full-service percentage-of-assets billing and doing everything alone: hourly planners who answer specific questions and bill for the time (scope estimator); flat-fee advisers and project pricing, where the cost stops scaling with your balance; and automated management for the allocation-and-rebalancing jobs only. Which one fits: the fee-model decision aid, and the break-even calculator for the arithmetic.
If you do go ahead
The mechanics are the same as any switch, minus the new adviser: the transfer process, what it costs, what will not transfer, and the termination letter. Do the transfer before you cancel, never after.
The middle option is the one most people actually want.
Paying less is not the same as paying nobody. The matching service below introduces you to advisers who pay to meet you — useful for pricing the alternative before you commit to DIY.
Before you start, what actually happens. The form is run by Kapitalwise, our advisor-matching partner. It asks about nine questions — age, investable assets, location — then your name, email and phone number, and verifies the phone by text.
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. Nothing loads and nothing reaches Kapitalwise until you press the button.
Compare fees, scope, conflicts, credentials and fiduciary duty before you hire anyone.
The Kapitalwise form opens here — you stay on this page.