Retirement: Financial Advisor, or Not?

  • 16th Jul 2026
  • 3 min read

I was exchanging email with someone on the list recently who asked if I had "investigated the wealth management industry?" Unfortunately for this person, their note triggered my need to write my entire financial story in a reply email. Here's the short version:

  1. I have an adult son on the autism spectrum. Highly functional. Just started a new job, so joy in the house these days (except for my son, who has to get up quite early again.) This created a large variable in my retirement plan that I didn't know how to solve.

  2. Many financial advisors either ignored my son, or flat-out said they don't do special needs plans.

  3. So when we stumbled on a financial advisor who "had some thoughts" about my son and our retirement plan, we met, he listened, we listened, and we eventually signed up with them. This led to retirement.

I don't feel my process met the higher bar I associate with the word "investigate." As I write this, I'm "pro" financial advisor. I know some of you are also using a financial advisor, but a lot of you are either "rolling your own", or on the fence when it comes to this topic.

A recent magazine touched on this topic briefly. I liked how they shared some reader input on the subject. I'm sharing those few pages because it clearly shows, to me, people each do their own thing when it comes to financial planning. There are some resources mentioned in the article that might be useful to you. It's not an all or nothing thing.

Should You Hire a Financial Planner?

Three years ago when I signed up with a financial advisor, I didn't know what to expect. Some surprises came early. My 401k rollover money was "missing" for about 10 days while a turtle moved a paper check from one place to another. Then I watched the advisor purchase various stocks and bonds to get me into their portfolio. Then things get boring. We meet on a schedule. I send email with requests for distributions. Especially big ticket purchases like the HVAC system I replaced recently. About four times a year they re-balance my portfolio, so I see a few transactions. I exchange email when I have questions. My financial advisor team is the one group of people I can talk to freely about money. I think it feels like spending time with a psychologist. We can bounce ideas back and forth. Make plans.

Do I think I'll use a financial advisor forever? I'm not sure. I still have some estate planning to do. My son will need financial advice. This might be a long-term relationship. For a typical retiree, using a financial advisor for a period of time to get your finances in order might me a good thing. Like hiring a personal trainer. You might need them forever.