From NerdWallet Wealth Partners — a fiduciary RIA

A second opinion on your financial advisor.

You'd get one before a major surgery. The same logic applies to the person managing your retirement. Upload your tax return and a recent performance report — a NerdWallet Wealth Partners CFP personally reviews your file and sends you a plain-English second opinion on fees, performance, and the advice you should be getting but aren't.

Free · Report within 2 business days · Two documents · No phone number needed

Fiduciary RIA — duty of care, by law Bank-grade encryption 1,247 reports delivered No marketing spam — see exactly what we send
The number most people don't know

Most people pay 1.8%–2.5% in total advisor and fund costs each year.

Most thought they paid 1%. The difference is fund expense ratios, wrap fees, 12b-1s, and custodial markups your statement doesn't add up for you. On a $500,000 portfolio, that gap is $4,000–$7,500 a year — every year.

What do you think you pay your advisor each year?
Drag the slider — we'll show you what most people in your range actually pay.
1.00%

Clients who think they pay 1.00% are typically paying 1.7% – 2.3% all-in. On a $500,000 portfolio, that's an extra $3,500 – $6,500 per year in fees you can't see on your statement.

A sample report

Here's what your check looks like.

Excerpts from a real (anonymized) report. Three sections — fees, performance, and advice — with findings ranked by what matters most.

Critical

Fees

All-in cost
2.31%
Median for $500k–$1M portfolios: 1.42%
  • Advisor management fee: 1.10%
  • Average fund expense ratio: 0.74%
  • Wrap & platform fees: 0.47%
  • $4,450 / year above the median client
Watch

Performance

5-year return after fees
+6.2%
Risk-matched index baseline: +8.1%
  • Underperformance: −1.9% / yr
  • ~$48,000 cumulative drag (5 yr)
  • Allocation drift since 2022
  • Portfolio is not rebalanced to target
Mixed

Advice quality

Fiduciary checklist
  • Tax-loss harvesting (active)
  • Annual rebalancing (documented)
  • No Roth conversion analysis
  • No asset-location strategy
  • Beneficiary review > 3 years old
See a full sample report

No sign-up required

How it works

Three steps. No pitch. No obligation.

STEP 01

Upload your documents

Your tax return alone surfaces most high-impact findings. Add a performance report for deeper fee and return analysis. We pull your advisor's Form ADV from the SEC ourselves. Two minutes to submit. Encrypted transfer.

STEP 02

A CFP personally reviews your situation

Our analysis cross-references your tax return, your advisor's public disclosures, and your portfolio to find fee, performance, and tax-efficiency gaps. Then a NerdWallet Wealth Partners CFP reviews every finding, verifies what can be substantiated against your actual documents, and prepares specific recommendations for your situation — not generic guidance.

STEP 03

Read your personalized report

Your report arrives within 2 business days. Plain English. Specific action items — not "consider diversifying." For clients where a deeper conversation makes sense, your report includes a no-obligation offer for a free 30-minute consultation with the CFP who reviewed your file.

What's in your report

Four things every fiduciary review should include.

Findings most clients have never seen — because they require cross-referencing your portfolio with your tax return.

01Fees you can't see

Total cost — including fund expense ratios, wrap fees, 12b-1s, and custodial markups — compared to peer-group medians for portfolios like yours.

"Your all-in cost is 2.31%. The median for similar portfolios is 1.42%. The gap is $4,450 / year."

02Performance vs. a fair benchmark

Your returns after fees compared to a risk-matched index baseline. Apples-to-apples — not the sales-pitch comparison.

"Your 5-year return is 6.2%. A baseline mix of your same risk level returned 8.1%."

03Conflicts of interest

How your advisor is compensated, what their compensation rewards them to recommend, and where that conflicts with your interest.

"Your advisor receives 12b-1 fees on 4 of 8 funds in your portfolio. Lower-fee alternatives exist for each."

04What they should be telling you

The fiduciary table-stakes most brokers skip — visible only when we cross-reference your portfolio with your tax return: 529 funding, backdoor Roth, asset location, charitable structure.

"No 529 plan contributions for your 6-, 5-, and 2-year-olds. The 5-year gift election alone could move $570,000 tax-free."
RS
Ryan Sterling
Lead Reviewing Advisor
CFP® · NerdWallet Wealth Partners
Who's behind your check

A fiduciary RIA — NerdWallet Wealth Partners, LLC.

Advisor Check is a service of NerdWallet Wealth Partners, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Every report is reviewed by a CFP®-credentialed fiduciary on our team before it reaches your inbox.

A fiduciary is legally required to act in your interest. Many advisors aren't fiduciaries — they're brokers operating under the lower "suitability" standard. We are. That obligation is what makes a second opinion meaningful.

We're affiliated with NerdWallet, the consumer finance brand. NerdWallet's editorial team operates separately and doesn't review our service. Your relationship — if you choose to have one — is governed by NWP's fiduciary duty to you.

Your data

What happens to your documents.

Plain English. Not buried in legal terms. Your tax return is treated with the same confidentiality your CPA's office uses.

Encrypted in transit and at rest.

256-bit AES, TLS 1.3. Same encryption your bank uses.

Only your reviewing advisor sees them.

Document access is logged. Your name and account numbers are masked from any benchmarking aggregates.

Deleted 60 days after delivery.

Unless you ask us to keep them on file. We'll remind you.

We don't sell your data. Ever.

Not to advertisers. Not to other advisors. Not to anyone. Read our full privacy policy.

Worried about marketing?

Two emails. That's it.

You won't get marketing campaigns from us. You won't get sales calls. We don't ask for a phone number. Here are the only emails you'll receive after your upload.

Common questions

What people ask before uploading.

Will my advisor know I did this?
No. We never contact your advisor. Your check is between you and us — and the documents you upload never leave NerdWallet Wealth Partners' systems.
Why is this free?
We're a fiduciary RIA. We hope that if your check shows real gaps with your current advisor, you'll consider talking to us. If you don't, you keep the report and we move on. We don't sell your data, and our compensation as an advisory firm is fully disclosed in our Form ADV.
How can you analyze my advisor fairly?
We don't rank or rate advisors. Your check benchmarks your fees and performance against peer-group averages — portfolios of similar size, similar asset allocation, and similar service models — and against fiduciary best practice. Methodology is documented in every report.
Is uploading my tax return safe?
Yes. Documents — including your tax return — are encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256). Only the reviewing fiduciary advisor on your case sees them; access is logged. We never share or sell your documents, and they're deleted 60 days after report delivery unless you ask us to keep them on file. Same standard your CPA's office is held to.
Will I get hammered with marketing emails or calls?
No. Two emails total — your report, and one follow-up a week later. No marketing campaigns. No phone calls (we don't even collect a phone number unless you opt in to a follow-up call). Your contact info is deleted in 60 days unless you ask us to stay in touch.
What if my advisor is actually doing a good job?
Most advisors are competent at most things. When that's true, the report says so — explicitly, with the data behind it. Knowing your advisor is actually doing well is worth finding out.
Ready when you are

Find out what your advisor is — and isn't — telling you.

Two documents. Two minutes. A CFP-reviewed fiduciary report within 2 business days.

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Not ready?

Not ready to upload your documents yet?
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View a sample report