I have been a personal financial writer for nearly 10 years. I interviewed dozens of financial advisors at that point and I feel a bit embarrassed to admit that I have never actually spoken about my finances.
That changed recently when my husband, who works in finance, also accepted a new job offer. It felt like a fitting moment to focus on other people’s money and take a step back from focusing on our things for change.
I set up my first meeting with a certified financial planner and learned a lot from my experience. If you’re interested in what it’s like to talk to an advisor, you might learn something.
Finding a CFP was surprisingly easy
The first step was to find an advisor. There are many types of financial advisors, but I wanted to meet with a certified financial planner.
CFPs undergo a fiduciary duty to process a wide range of topics and act in the best interests of their clients through a strict certification process.
I went through the XY Planning Network, a financial planning network that I often use to find sources of articles. Instead of sending a media request from the website, as I usually do, I clicked the “Find Advisor” search button.
The network has over 2,000 advisors. The idea of sifting through many profiles seemed extremely difficult. But in reality, it wasn’t bad at all.
The entire process from start to finish took less than 10 minutes.
Personalizing your search
I started by typing the location into the search bar. Many CFPs are almost still working with clients across the country, but were looking for someone like us who lived in the Bay Area and were familiar with the local industry and housing market.
Next, set the filter to narrow the results based on the advisor speciality.
I chose several important categories to describe my husband and me: married couples, parents, Yen Y/millennials, Henry (high-income, not rich yet).
Meeting schedule
My husband and I clicked on some of the profiles that appeared on the first results page. We checked out the advisor’s website and ended up choosing the CFP we found most professional and attractive. The beautiful design, dusty rose colours and photos of her smile gave the site a calm atmosphere.
I’m grateful that the CFP fees were clearly laid out and easy to find. I also found her FAQ helpful.
I clicked the “Reserve” button on the website to schedule a free introductory session. I selected the date and time in the calendar and entered some details. It’s easy.
Prior to the consultation, the CFP emailed us a link and agenda for the virtual meeting. We chatted about our financial goals, challenges and the support we needed.
The meeting was very casual
The first meeting was simply about getting to know each other. There was no need to prepare a tax return, account balance or anything like that.
The CFP began the conversation with a brief introduction. She discussed her educational background, experiences and her goals to help people achieve.
We talked about how my husband was about to start a new job and shared our main goals. It’s about saving children for education and buying a home in the future. We explained that we were interested in what we could do while we were feeling better about our finances.
CFP has taught us what we can expect if we decide to continue working with her. In addition to reviewing numbers, we will discuss goals, values and feelings regarding money. She said she looks at current and projected income, expenses and net worth. She also talked about planning software that she uses to map different scenarios.
However, there was no pressure to advance planning services. We were comfortable and supported during the 30 minute call.
Advisors aren’t just for the rich
Professionally, I spoke with CFPs enough to know that advisors work with people of different lives and wealth stages. But I always thought the more money someone had, the more useful the advisor would be. After all, some advisors only work with people with assets of over $1 million.
My husband and I are high-income, but not wealthy. So it was reassuring to hear at our meeting that CFP believes that everyone can benefit from financial advisors. You don’t need to meet your asset requirements to work with her.
Still, our CFP has confirmed that working with a financial advisor is a “luxury expense” and that some people don’t spend money.
She said a good indication that someone might need an advisor is to check their bank accounts every day or to make sure they constantly transfer money between accounts to make sure it’s enough to cover the bill. Also, the advisor may be worth it if you just don’t have the energy to stay at the pinnacle of your finances, she added.
Our meetings dived deep into a range of topics our advisors could help, including employee benefits package reviews, university or retirement planning, investment advice, and real estate planning.
There’s so much more to do
CFP said she would check in with us in a few weeks. In the meantime, my husband and I have to sort out what we want to do next.
Should I hire this CFP? Do I need to schedule a referral meeting with other CFPs? Want to pay for planning services now?
Whatever we decide, I’m glad we have this experience. Meetings with our advisors helped us realize that despite having financial goals, we are not frequently checking our progress towards them.
It reminded us that we had the financials of Autopilot for a long time. You need to look closely at your income, expenses and investments.
One thing I’m confident in is that this is not what I work with a financial advisor.
Lauren Schwarn writes for Nald Wallet. Email: lschwahn@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @lauren_schwahn.
What I learned from my first meeting with a financial advisor originally appeared in Nerdwallet.
Original issue: July 10th, 2025, 1:07pm EDT
