A Simple Tool for Getting Better Financial Advice

If a financial adviser doesn’t know what’s going on in a client’s life, the advice will suffer. Here’s one easy way to fix that.

True story: Many years ago, I was meeting with a married couple for an initial data-gathering session. Halfway through the three-hour meeting — the first stage in developing a comprehensive financial plan — the husband excused himself for a bathroom break. As soon as the door shut, the wife turned to me and said, “I guess this is as good a time as any to let you know that I’m about to divorce him.”

Read the rest of the article on Time.