As a big finance nerd, I’ve been DIYing my budget and savings for years. But I’ve often wondered what I’m missing out on by not seeking out expert advice. Maybe my nest egg could be even bigger, or I would have an actual emergency fund (I know, I know) and not just super-stocked retirement accounts. So I turned to a few financial advisors for advice that could help me (and you) on the road to financial success.
I brought the basics of my financial picture to three real-life financial advisors (and an AI bot, too)—the details on our retirement savings, home value, salaries, and debt. And I came in with my questions: Are we on track for retirement—and when can we realistically make that happen? How can we pay down our debt faster? And what (if anything) should we be doing differently?
The first thing I learned? There is way more involved in a complete financial plan than that. Every advisor started off by talking really big picture—as in hopes, dreams, picturing my life in retirement (in other words, what you should be talking about on a money date with your mate!). And they also brought up other things I hadn’t necessarily banked on: life insurance, estate planning, and more.
But even in our brief reviews, I snagged some smart financial advice that could help just about everyone—and that I’ve already started using. Read on for some savvy financial advice.
The Financial Advisors
Every financial advisor was in agreement on my biggest financial questions: If I play my cards right, I’m in good shape for an early retirement, and even though I’m only making slow-and-steady progress on debt reduction, there isn’t much they’d do differently there (other than look for savvy ways to free up more budget space).
But of course, there’s always room for improvement—and each advisor had their own unique focus.
The Fiduciary Financial Advisor
What it is: When you think about a financial advisor, this is probably what you envision—someone who can help you get your financial house in order, choose wise investments, and perform the maintenance on your plan as your needs change.
What it was like: Our Zoom call started with some conversation about the overall financial picture, then jumped into some serious show-and-tell. Even though I’ve been using online calculators to map out our financial plans for a while, the tools Kelli Smith of Edelman Financial Engines offered were far more robust and made it easy to see how different future scenarios played out—whether we retired to a different state, changed our retirement ages, or stopped investing now.
She pointed out that there is lots we can do now to prep for a better financial footing. “There are three fundamental legs of this financial planning stool that we’re standing upon. Number one, it’s when you retire. Number two, it’s how much you have saved when you retire. And number three, it’s how much you spend in retirement. So, by the time you are retired, two of those three things are locked in.” In other words: You need to be sure those other two legs are firm before you take the retirement leap, so you don’t have to penny-pinch—or go back to work unwillingly.
Action plan: Make sure I have plenty of wiggle room now and in the future. “There’s some amount that we can predict or plan for, and then there’s a lot of things that we can’t,” Smith says. “So the planning process is designed to make sure that there’s a buffer in there.”
I’ll be following Smith’s advice to pull back a bit on my debt repayment to replenish my emergency fund—and also ensure that the retirement funds are more than adequate before we sail off into the sunset.
The Financial Coach
What it is: Financial coaches offer a more holistic approach, where they focus on both big-picture planning and creating the everyday habits that’ll get you there. “We can create the best plan out there, but if you don’t have the skills and knowledge to actually implement it, you won’t achieve it,” says Shannon Dyer Rozner, client services associate director at The Meakem Group. “We work with people to change their habits to reach that long-term goal.”
What it was like: She and Traci Richmond, The Meakem Group’s branch manager and financial advisor, work in tandem on a holistic approach—which started with how I envision my retirement. And my “I might want to volunteer or garden, and maybe some travel?” plan wasn’t robust enough. Their plan? Create a dream book with all of those other paths you might have taken in life to find what’ll make your retirement pure bliss. “This isn’t a bucket list,” says Richmond. “This is being open to the possibilities of paths not taken.”
From there, we got into the nitty-gritty of where my finances stood, and some things we could do to maximize our financial picture, from adjusting our investments (those age-based mutual funds may be too conservative to reap the maximum benefits) to getting hard numbers behind health insurance and other expenses if we opt to retire before we turn 65.
Action plan: Pop savings into Roth IRAs or 401(k)s, especially if you’re young. “I’m a huge fan of Roth, which offers more retirement flexibility,” Richmond says. “I tell people under 30 to put all of their money in Roth.” You won’t get tax savings now, but you’ll be able to pull out earnings tax-free in retirement—and it isn’t subject to required minimum distributions, if you want more flexibility in how you spend and save in retirement.
If you (like me) have nearly all of your retirement savings in traditional IRAs or 401(k)s, you may be able to convert them into Roth IRAs or 401(k)—she suggested that a 50-50 split between Roth and traditional retirement savings might be a good goal to reach.
But doing that sounded way beyond my pay grade, as you’d want to do it over time to minimize the tax burden now—you’ll pay taxes on any money you convert from one account to another.
Still, I did take one action right away: I moved all future retirement contributions into a Roth 401(k).
The Bank Financial Advisor
What it is: Many financial institutions offer free or lower-cost advising to their customers. My bank has been pushing its financial services sector in annoying pop-up ads for months, so I figured I’d take them up on the offer.
What it was like: During our half-hour phone call, we went over the details I’d sent along and his take on how we were doing (just fine). He suggested prioritizing debt reduction, while still putting away a small amount each month (even $100) toward building that emergency fund—which should eventually hit six months’ worth of expenses.
Action plan: Consolidate my retirement accounts. If you’ve been job hopping (and who hasn’t?), you may have left a string of 401(k)s in your wake. (Guilty!) My advisor recommended consolidating them to make them easier to track and potentially reduce what I’m losing to account fees.
The AI Assistant
What it is: I’ve seen several stories of people getting solid financial plans from AI bots, though I admit I was skeptical after reading about bots telling people to bake cupcakes for 100 minutes or visit sightseeing spots that the AI hallucinated into existence. But I shared the same financial info I gave the advisors with Claude, an AI assistant.
What it was like: In less than a minute, I got a fully laid out financial plan (with colorful charts!) offering clear insights into every single question I asked, and a to-do list of things to do that included actually getting in touch with a team of human advisors (estate planning, tax planning, and a fee-only financial advisor) to validate the plan. Claude’s answers were very similar to what the human advisors suggested, which advised continuing to pay down debt, researching living expenses for retirement, and tips for deciding when to take Social Security. But there was one big dumb red flag that made me question Claude’s advice: It is convinced we’re living in the past, as the debt-reduction plan had me paying off my car loan in October 2025 and my mortgage in May 2026. (Perhaps AI can time travel and we don’t even know it!)
Action plan: Dig deeper before I launch an early retirement. Claude offered links to a few different calculators and excellent sources for further reading. Among them: The Kaiser Family Foundation site to help me calculate the potential costs of an ACA health plan (perfect for helping me budget for early retirement health insurance). It coupled that with savvy advice about keeping our modified adjusted gross income in the early retirement years low (under $80,000) by pulling funds from Roth retirement accounts, which could help us potentially qualify for a health insurance subsidy.
Read the privacy policies before you put any financial info into an AI platform to see how closely they protect the information you provide. Even if they vow to keep your convos private, limit what you share to exactly what they need to know to formulate your plan. (Don’t put in your Social Security number, account numbers, or any specific identifying information.)
How to Find the Perfect Financial Advisor for You
Know what you’re hoping to get out of the relationship
There are so many different types of financial advisors out there, so it helps to consider how much help you need. Maybe you just want someone to oversee your investments, or maybe you’re looking for someone to help you deal with everything from estate planning to life insurance to college planning—or maybe even cheerlead you through cutting your expenses to drop your debt.
Ask how they get paid
Just like “free lunch,” there’s really no such thing as free advice—and a free advisor may just be trying to sell you something that may or may not improve your financial situation.
Generally, financial advisors charge a fee—either a flat-rate advisory fee or a percentage of the assets they help you manage, which can range from .75% to 1.75% of the total managed. (Then it’s also in their best interests to choose what’s best for you, as they’ll earn more as your investments grow)
Most of the advisors I spoke to said they were fiduciaries, which means that they’re required to work in your best interest. (This is key, as in the past, some unscrupulous financial advisors sold clients into financial products that offered big commissions for the advisor, but may not have been in the client’s best interests.) “You need to find someone that understands you, and you need to understand what their incentives are,” Richmond says.
Even if an advisor says they’re a fiduciary, you should ask if they earn commissions if they invest you in certain products—as that may present a conflict of interest you may not feel comfortable with.
See if you vibe with them
Unless you’re looking for a one-off check-in, you’ll be meeting with this person regularly for years, and trusting them to help you navigate your biggest life goals. “Having a relationship with somebody on an ongoing basis is helpful, because things could change for better or for worse at any moment,” Smith says. So make sure you and your advisor are a good personality fit—and most of all, that you trust them.
You’ll want to dig deep (and probably interview a few different people) before you settle on someone. “You want to know how much experience do they have, how much are they investing, what they pick,” Richmond says. “You want to be a good personality fit—it’s not just about outperforming the market—it’s about preventing you from making mistakes when your world is falling apart. This is going to be the person who knows what the right thing is, that you can trust them to have your money side handled.”
