A fiduciary is your financial advocate.
When you hire a lawyer, you know whose side they're on. A fiduciary is that, for your money: someone who is legally required to put your interests ahead of their own, including their own pay. That's not a marketing line. It's a standard you can check, and one you should ask about before you sit down with anyone.
Fiduciary vs. suitability
Most people have never heard the word "fiduciary" and don't know there's a second, lower standard sitting right next to it: "suitable." A fiduciary must recommend what's best for you, specifically, even when something else would pay them more. A non-fiduciary generally only has to recommend something suitable, meaning a reasonable person in your situation could own it. That doesn't have to be the best available option, and it can be the one that pays the most.
That's a legal line, not a character judgment. Plenty of honest people work under the suitability standard every day. But when two products both fit and one pays double, the standard decides which one the rules actually require. Knowing which standard someone works under tells you a great deal about whose interests come first when those interests conflict.
What this looks like at Oaks, in practice
We hold ourselves to the fiduciary standard on every recommendation we make, for every client, on every account. That standard is described in our Form ADV, which we're glad to walk through with you line by line, no jargon, no rush.
Before you pay for anything or buy anything, we explain exactly how we're compensated, plainly and in writing. Some fiduciaries, us included, are still paid a commission on certain products, such as insurance, and that alone doesn't make the advice worse: the standard travels with the advice, not the paycheck. What it means is that however a product happens to pay us, the recommendation still has to be the one that's actually best for you, and we'll tell you the difference if a simpler or cheaper option would do the same job.
Questions to ask any advisor
These six questions work on any advisor you talk to, not just us. Written down and asked plainly, in this order, they tend to surface the answer fast:
Are you a fiduciary at all times when advising me?
The answer you want is a plain yes, for every account and every recommendation. "Yes, for this account" or a change of subject usually means the standard shifts depending on the product, which is worth knowing before you go further.
How are you compensated on this specific recommendation?
Not the general fee schedule: this recommendation, this product. A straight answer, in dollars or percentages, tells you whether the advice and the paycheck are pointed in the same direction.
Do you earn a commission on anything you are recommending to me?
Commissions are not automatically a problem. A fiduciary can earn one and still owe you the best recommendation, since the standard travels with the advice, not the paycheck. What matters is whether they will tell you, plainly, before you decide.
If a cheaper or simpler option would do the same job, will you tell me?
This is the question that actually tests the standard. A fiduciary is supposed to say so, even when the simpler option pays them less.
What happens if I decide not to buy anything today?
A real answer to this tells you whether you are talking to an advisor or sitting through a sales call. Nothing should change about how you are treated either way.
Will you put your answers to these questions in writing?
A real fiduciary will not hesitate. Ask for it before you decide anything, not after.
If an advisor answers all six without hesitating and is glad to put it in writing, that's a genuinely good sign, whoever they work for.
The full detail, if you want it
What Is a Fiduciary Financial Advisor?
What the standard means in full, how to check whether your own advisor is one, and how we document it.
GuideFiduciary vs. Non-Fiduciary Advisor
The two standards compared side by side, including where compensation fits and what people commonly get wrong.
Ask us the same six questions. We'd rather you did.
No cost, no obligation, and no lecture about what you should have asked sooner.