Financial Planning Intake Forms & Client Questionnaires

A 28-year-old software engineer who wants to start investing and a 62-year-old business owner who needs a retirement distribution strategy are both "financial planning" clients, but the data you need from each is vastly different. The engineer needs a basic net worth snapshot, student loan details, employer 401(k) match information, and a risk tolerance assessment. The business owner needs a full balance sheet — business valuation, buy-sell agreement status, deferred compensation plans, multiple property holdings, complex insurance structures, and an estate plan that probably has not been updated since the kids were minors. A one-page intake form with "list your assets" and "what are your goals" captures neither scenario adequately.

The Financial Planning intake form captures the complete financial picture your advisory practice needs for a comprehensive plan. Income sources — employment (salary, bonuses, stock options, RSUs), self-employment, rental income, Social Security (current or projected), pension, annuity payments, and investment income. It includes a structured asset inventory: checking and savings accounts, brokerage accounts, retirement accounts (401k, 403b, 457, IRA, Roth IRA, SEP-IRA, SIMPLE), HSAs, 529 plans, real estate holdings with current values and mortgage balances, business ownership interests, and stock option/RSU vesting schedules.

Why Financial Planning Needs Its Own Intake Form

Generic client onboarding forms in the advisory industry tend to ask broad questions and leave the detailed data gathering to the first meeting. That wastes an hour of billable time asking questions the client could have answered beforehand at home with their statements in front of them. Worse, clients frequently forget accounts — the old 401(k) from a job they left eight years ago, the whole life insurance policy their parents bought for them, the UTMA account they set up for a nephew. A structured intake form with explicit categories prompts them to inventory everything before the meeting, not months later when they mention it in passing.

The form captures liabilities with the specificity a financial plan requires: mortgage balance, rate, and term; home equity loans or lines of credit; auto loans; student loans (federal vs. private, current repayment plan, PSLF eligibility); credit card balances; personal loans; and any other outstanding obligations. It asks about tax filing status, estimated tax bracket, whether the client itemizes or takes the standard deduction, and whether they have a CPA or do self-preparation. Tax integration is not optional in financial planning — a plan that ignores the tax implications of Roth conversions, capital gains harvesting, or charitable giving strategies is incomplete.

Insurance, Estate Planning, and Risk

Financial planning touches insurance from every angle: life insurance (term, whole, universal, variable, group), disability insurance (employer-provided and individual), long-term care insurance, umbrella liability coverage, health insurance, and property insurance. The form captures policy type, coverage amounts, premium costs, cash values where applicable, and beneficiary designations. Beneficiary designations are one of the most overlooked elements in financial planning — a client with a $2 million IRA who still has an ex-spouse listed as beneficiary has a problem that no investment strategy fixes.

The estate planning section captures whether the client has a will, living trust, power of attorney (financial and healthcare), healthcare directive, and who the named fiduciaries are. It asks when these documents were last reviewed, because estate plans drafted ten years ago often do not reflect current family structure, asset levels, or tax law. The risk tolerance section goes beyond a simple "conservative to aggressive" slider — it captures investment experience, largest portfolio loss the client has experienced, time horizon for each goal, and whether the client would sell, hold, or buy more if the market dropped 30 percent.

Intake vs. Client Questionnaire

The intake form is your internal practice management document. Your paraplanner or associate advisor fills it out from account statements, tax returns, and the initial discovery meeting. It includes sections for planning notes, analysis priorities, and follow-up items. The companion client questionnaire is what you send to the prospective client before the first meeting. It asks them to gather and report their financial information in plain terms, list their goals in priority order, and describe any upcoming financial events (home purchase, business sale, retirement date, child starting college). It includes an engagement letter acknowledgment and a signature block for advisory agreement consent.

Pricing

Each form is $19.99 for the complete set (intake + questionnaire), $14.99 for intake only, or $9.99 for questionnaire only. All PDFs are fillable in Adobe Reader and password-protected against editing.

Browse by Category