Free guide
Due Diligence Question Bank
100 must-ask questions across platform, technology, lending, compliance, and economics.
What's inside
When you're evaluating a new platform or independent path, the wrong question can cost you years. This is the question bank we've built across hundreds of advisor transitions — organized so you can print it, mark it up, and bring it to your next call.
- Platform & custody — capabilities, fees, transition support
- Technology — CRM, planning, portfolio management, integrations
- Lending & banking — credit lines, mortgages, alternative lending
- Compliance & culture — supervisory structure, marketing, OBA
- Economics — payouts, deals, equity, expense reimbursements
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Why a question bank
The differences between firms live in the specifics; the evasions live in the generalities. This bank exists so you ask every firm the same fifty questions in the same words and write the answers down: platform and custody mechanics, technology and data ownership, lending capabilities, the supervisory structure you would actually live under, and the economics behind the grid, including what leaving in year three would cost. Any firm that resents being asked fifty questions about the next decade of your career has answered the most important one already.
Common questions
What should a financial advisor ask before joining a new firm?+
Five areas decide the fit: platform and custody (transition support, in-kind transfer rates, platform fees at your asset mix), technology (data ownership, integrations, conversion timelines), lending (SBL spreads, client credit continuity), compliance and culture (supervisory structure, marketing turnaround, attrition), and economics (the all-in grid, transition package mechanics, deferred-comp treatment, and exit math). The bank carries ten specific questions in each area.What is the most overlooked due diligence question?+
Who owns the client data in the CRM, contractually, if you leave. Advisors negotiate the grid carefully and discover years later that the answer to this one question determines whether their next transition is a move or a rebuild.
Flagship research
The full picture lives in The State of Advisor Movement.
Six months of measured advisor movement: the firm-by-firm ledger, destination channels, deal economics, and the rent-or-own framework, in an interactive edition and a 41-page print edition. Both free.