Changing advisors should not require you to abandon the history behind your financial decisions, and it does not by itself require changing anything you hold.
Start by collecting your financial snapshot, policy schedules, investment statements, written advice records, fee disclosures, beneficiary information, tax documents and recent review notes. Ask the outgoing firm what records it will retain, what you may receive and when any service or fee mandate ends.
Then ask the incoming advisor to distinguish a change of servicing advisor from a recommendation to replace or transfer a product. Those are different decisions and each should stand on its own documented reasoning.
Be careful with urgency. Cancelling cover, selling investments or moving retirement money can involve costs, tax, lost guarantees, new underwriting, waiting periods or market exposure.
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Create a handover list with four columns: document, current provider, latest date and received. Keep copies in a place you control rather than relying on one advisor’s system.
Ask your new advisor
- Which changes are administrative, and which are new financial recommendations?
- What could be lost, delayed, taxed or charged if a product moves?
- How will gaps in the old record be documented?
Product cancellation, replacement and transfer can have lasting consequences. Verify them before acting.