How can I tell if my financial planner is making good investments on my behalf?

You can get a second opinion from a different advisor. It's true that it can be a pain in the hind end, but if you ask people that you trust to have good judgement who they use, then do a little research on that advisor before contacting them, chances are you'll be able to put your mind at ease or find a better advisor.

There is more art than science to this. Here are some questions that might help:

1) Is your portfolio making acceptable progress toward the goal(s) you and your adviser agreed on? (These would be your goals, not some arbitrary market index as a benchmark.)
2) If not, are there good reasons for that?
3) Has your adviser given you any report that summarizes the analytics of your portfolio? (expenses, asset allocation, likely fluctuation range, etc.)

Also, your question focused on investing. If you’re working with a genuine financial planner, then they presumably would be bringing more to the table than just investing: investment, retirement, tax, estate, risk management through insurance, cash flow & debt management, and so on.

Many advisers offer a complimentary “second opinion” on an investor’s portfolio to see if there are any significant improvements that can be made. Feel free to click my website link below and then the button “Does My Portfolio Fit Me?” if you’d like to explore that.

SecondHalfPlanning.com