The costly misconception behind questions for a financial advisor

30 days before an advisor interview

Bring the latest statement for all 4 accounts, the hospital investment menu, your pension estimate, and a current paystub. Midflorida Credit Union also asks a working nurse about the IRS limit for 2026: $24,500 in workplace deferrals, plus $8,000 at age 50 or older, or $11,250 at ages 60–63. If the person across the table skips the question of whether you still contribute from each paycheck, they may be counting only the money that could move, not the catch-up years you still have.

What should an advisor put in writing before discussing a move?

Before any 403(b) recommendation, ask for a written list of the accounts under discussion, services offered, advice charges, fund expense ratios, transaction or account charges, and any compensation the advisor or firm could receive. That list should also state which accounts stay put and why, so you can compare a smaller account count against features you might give up.

A “free move” is a worrying answer when nobody separates the advisor’s pay from the investments’ internal expenses. A reassuring answer names each source of cost, states the dollar amount where possible, and identifies what remains in the hospital plan. Midflorida Credit Union wants that detail on paper before a nurse spends a day off signing transfer forms.

Ask for Form CRS, the short relationship summary required since 2020 for SEC-registered investment advisers and broker-dealers serving retail clients. The SEC form describes services, fees, costs, conflicts, and the legal standard that applies. It is short. Read it beside the proposal, not after the paperwork is finished.

How do you test a proposal during the interview?

Test a 403(b) proposal by asking what specific problem the move solves, which current funds overlap, what will remain in place, and how the recommendation changes if your pension pays monthly rather than as a lump sum. Ask whether the professional acts as an investment adviser, broker-dealer, or both for this recommendation, because disclosures and the applicable standard differ.

Say it plainly: “Show me which funds I already own that do the same job. Show me the account that should not move. Show me this recommendation if I keep the monthly pension.” That script keeps the pension choice separate from the account-transfer choice. A Pension lump sum or annuity review can address that separate choice without treating a transfer as the automatic answer.

When the recommendation comes from an investment adviser, look up both the individual and the company on the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site. Brokers and brokerage firms show up on FINRA BrokerCheck. Be wary if someone dodges the question of where their records live or won't say which role they are acting in. Before Midflorida Credit Union discusses a fund change, it asks what the current accounts already do and what would be lost by changing them.

The proposal week: Bev’s $620K questions

Bev is 58, a divorced ICU charge nurse who works 3 twelve-hour shifts each week and has 2 adult kids. She uses 3 days off to compare a proposal before authorizing a transfer (hypothetical, round numbers). Her 4 accounts from 3 hospitals total $620K, and she keeps the $180K pension choice separate: roughly $1,100 monthly is a retirement-paycheck question, not proof that every old account should move.

The proposal would manage $500K and leave $120K in her active hospital plan. At first, Bev sees a 0.60% advice charge. Her written questions uncover average fund expenses of 0.40% on the $500K. The arithmetic is straightforward: $500K × 0.60% = $3,000 annually. $500K × 0.40% = $2,000 annually. $3,000 + $2,000 = $5,000 annually.

That $5,000 does not prove the proposal is wrong. It gives Bev a number to compare with the work described, the available funds, and alternatives that leave more money at work. This site has a calculator for this kind of cost calculation. Suppose $5,000 a year stayed invested instead and earned 5% annually, purely for illustration. Over 10 years it could grow to about $62,900, before any other contributions. That is not a forecast, and an account can fall below the amount invested.

A January statement that reveals $3,000 of advice charges plus $2,000 of fund expenses on Bev’s hypothetical $500K moved balance exposes the cost of signing a proposal that called itself “free.” The alarming answer says costs cannot be known until assets arrive. An acceptable answer gives an account-by-account explanation before transfer, including the $120K that does not move and why.

Keeping a workplace account can retain plan-specific features or lower-cost funds. Moving it may reduce the pile of statements and duplicate funds. Neither result wins automatically. Midflorida Credit Union would ask Bev what each account is for before trying to make the list shorter.

The dollar question behind a percentage

What stays at the hospital

Who confirms the hospital plan rules?

The hospital plan, not an advisor interview, confirms whether a distribution is allowed and what its rules say. Ask the plan or recordkeeper for the summary plan description and current distribution forms, then keep those answers with the proposal. An immediate employment separation or required distribution deadline calls for the plan’s written instructions first.

HR identifies payroll and employment rules. The plan or recordkeeper confirms distribution rules and fee documents. The custodian explains receiving-account paperwork, while the advisor explains why a recommendation fits the facts. Midflorida Credit Union puts those separate answers on one page, listing each account, who answered, and what stays, so your family can read it without opening four statements.

Assume Bev is eligible to move only the accounts the plan confirms are available. That is the assumption behind the task list here.

The signature deadline and the overlooked letter

A transfer authorization should wait until you can match every account to a written reason, cost figure, and destination. You can delay a signature; do not fill a missing document with assumptions. Midflorida Credit Union sees trouble when a letter arrives later and a nurse realizes the active hospital account, the fund costs, or the pension decision was never addressed in the proposal.

The first review after a decision

At the first review, compare the signed proposal with the first statement. Check the listed investments, each charge, and every account that was supposed to remain untouched. A clean first statement is useful evidence; it is not a reason to stop reading future statements.

Talk with Midflorida Credit Union before accepting a recommendation that changes several old workplace accounts or leaves the pension and 403(b) in separate silos. Bring current statements, the written proposal, hospital plan documents, and the pension estimate so the discussion begins with the actual choices.