Can I Keep My Investment Advisor and Work With a Financial Planner?

A financial planner does not necessarily replace your investment advisor

A common situation is a couple approaching retirement who have worked with the same advisor for years. One spouse may have a pension, the other may have a large RRSP, and together they are trying to sort out CPP timing, withdrawals, taxes, and how much they can safely spend.

Hiring a separate planner does not mean their advisor is no longer the right fit. They may simply need more detailed advice about how these decisions interact. The planner can compare retirement dates, CPP start dates, RRSP withdrawal strategies, and spending assumptions while the advisor continues managing the investments.

A financial plan can be valuable not just for the client, but for their advisor as well.

Planning may show that a client will need $100,000 from their portfolio in two years or should consider larger RRSP withdrawals during the first few years of retirement. It may also show that they can support their retirement while taking less investment risk.

With the client’s permission, the planner can share those findings with the advisor. The advisor can then account for upcoming withdrawals and the amount of investment risk the client needs to take.

Communication can go in the other direction as well. The investment professional may have important information about unrealized gains, investment income, account structure, or liquidity that affects the financial plan.

In my experience, this arrangement works well when everyone understands their role and communicates when needed.

What if my investment advisor already provides financial planning?

Then you may not need another financial planner. And this is an important point. Hiring more advisors does not automatically result in better advice.

If your investment advisor is already providing detailed retirement projections, tax analysis, CPP and OAS advice, withdrawal planning, estate planning guidance, and whatever other planning you need, there may be little reason to pay someone else to duplicate that work.

On the other hand, you may want a second opinion on a major decision, or you may want more detailed analysis in an area that is outside your advisor's focus. Some people hire a fee-only financial planner for a second opinion before making a retirement decision they could be living with for the next 20 or 30 years.

For someone with a relatively focused question, a Pay-As-You-Go Consultation may be enough. A comprehensive financial plan is not always necessary.

Do my investments need to move?

No. An advice-only financial planner like Objective Financial Partners does not manage investment accounts, so there are no assets to transfer to us. You can keep your accounts and continue working with your existing advisor.

This is one reason advice-only financial planning can work well alongside an existing investment relationship. The client pays separately for planning while the advisor remains responsible for investment management.

Investments still matter to a financial plan even if the planner does not manage them. Expected returns, investment risk, asset allocation, and taxes can all affect retirement projections and other financial decisions. A planner needs to understand the portfolio and how it fits into the client's overall finances.

At Objective Financial Partners, we can discuss a client's risk tolerance, asset allocation, and whether their investment strategy is consistent with their financial plan. We do not recommend buying or selling individual securities. Those decisions remain with the client's advisor or, for a DIY investor, with the client.

What if I do not have an investment advisor?

Some clients manage their own investments and continue doing so while working with a financial planner. Others decide they would prefer professional investment management.

If an Objective Financial Partners client wants an investment professional and does not already have one, we can introduce them to portfolio managers we know well. We do not receive commissions, referral fees, or other compensation from those managers.

The client decides whether to work with one of them, find someone else, or continue managing their own investments.

Should financial planning and investment management be together or separate?

In practice, the right arrangement depends on whether you need investment management, financial planning, or both. If your advisor already provides the planning you need, keeping everything with one firm may be simpler.

But plenty of people already have an advisor they trust and simply want more detailed retirement or tax planning.

A DIY investor may not need investment management at all but may still value help with retirement and tax planning, along with a sober second opinion on how their investment strategy fits the plan.

This is also why comparing an investment management fee with a separate financial planning fee can be misleading. The services are not necessarily the same.

Read about Flat-Fee Financial Planning vs. 1% Investment Management Fees.

How Objective Financial Partners works with investment advisors and portfolio managers

Objective Financial Partners provides fee-only, advice-only financial planning. We do not manage investment portfolios, so working with us does not require a client to change investment firms.

Many of our clients continue working with their existing advisor. With the client's permission, we will coordinate with their other professional advisors when appropriate.

Our focus is on the financial planning decisions surrounding the portfolio, including retirement, tax, pensions, estate planning, and how much investment risk the client needs to take.

You can learn more about our financial planners and their backgrounds here.