What Information Should I Collect in a Client Intake Form

A well-designed client intake form gathers the essential financial details you need to provide sound advice. Without complete, accurate information, you risk giving recommendations based on incomplete pictures of your clients' situations.

Personal and Contact Information

Start with basics: full legal name, current address, phone number, email address, date of birth, and Social Security number for tax purposes. If the client is married or in a business partnership, gather the same information for the spouse or partner. Note their preferred communication method. Verify this information is current because all future correspondence depends on accuracy. Include emergency contact information separate from the client. If clients have dependents, document their names and ages, as this affects tax planning, insurance needs, and estate planning priorities. Ask about professional licenses or business designations, especially for solopreneurs or small business owners, as these might affect business structure or liability protection.

Financial Goals and Objectives

This section reveals what success looks like for each client. Ask about both short-term goals (within 1-3 years) and long-term goals (5+ years). For solopreneurs and small business owners, goals typically extend beyond personal wealth to include business priorities.

• Business growth targets and expansion plans
• Succession planning and business transition
• Personal wealth accumulation and net worth targets
• Retirement timeline and lifestyle expectations
• Major purchases like property, equipment, or vehicles
• Education funding for family members

Ask both what clients want to accomplish and why it matters to them. This emotional context helps you prioritize recommendations and spot potential conflicts between goals. For example, aggressive business expansion and conservative personal investing might need reconciliation. Understanding priorities also helps when resources are limited and trade-offs are necessary.

Current Income and Employment Status

For personal business owners and solopreneurs, this section becomes more complex than for traditional employees. Ask about current annual income and how it breaks down across different sources. For business owners, request recent tax returns (usually the last 2-3 years) and business financial statements, as these provide the most accurate income picture.

Key Income Sources to Document

• W-2 wages from employment
• 1099 contractor or consulting income
• Net business income (Schedule C)
• Partnership or S-corp distributions
• Investment income and dividends
• Rental property income
• Retirement distributions

Understand whether income is stable or fluctuates seasonally or year-to-year. A consulting business might have feast-or-famine months, while a product business might have strong seasons alternating with slow periods. Ask about employment status of spouses or partners and their income, as this shapes household cash flow. Income variability directly affects cash flow planning, emergency fund sizing, and savings strategy recommendations.

Existing Assets and Investments

Ask clients to list every financial account and asset they own: checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, CDs, brokerage accounts, retirement accounts (401k, IRA, SEP-IRA, Solo 401k), business equity, real estate holdings, and other investments. Request account statements or at minimum the account type, current value, and custodian information.

Essential Asset Details to Capture

For each account or asset, document the account type and financial institution, current market value, beneficiary designations, investment allocation if applicable, cost basis for taxable accounts, and any liquidity restrictions. For business owners, understand what portion of total net worth is tied up in business equity versus personal investments. Understanding the full asset picture prevents recommending duplicate investments and reveals concentration risk—especially common when business owners have most wealth tied to their business. When most of a client's wealth is concentrated in their business, they face significant vulnerability if business performance declines or unexpected challenges arise. This concentration risk shapes your investment recommendations and reveals critical insurance needs and emergency fund requirements.

Debts and Liabilities

A complete financial picture requires knowing what clients owe. Ask about mortgages (property address, lender, interest rate, remaining term, monthly payment), car loans, student loans, credit card debt, business loans, personal loans, and other obligations. Get specifics for each: current balance, interest rate, monthly payment amount, and payoff timeline.

This information is critical for cash flow planning and debt strategy. A client with high monthly debt service might not have capacity for aggressive retirement savings. Business owners sometimes carry business debt that directly affects personal cash flow if they personally guarantee the loans. Create a schedule of all debts organized by type and interest rate. This reveals which debts should be prioritized for payoff and identifies any payment challenges or missed payments, which indicate underlying cash flow stress.

Insurance Coverage

Existing insurance shapes what additional protection clients need and prevents recommending duplicate coverage. Ask what insurance they currently carry, identify the providers, and document coverage amounts. For business owners and solopreneurs, this is particularly important: a sole proprietor without disability insurance faces severe hardship if injured and unable to work.

Coverage to Document

• Life insurance (type, provider, death benefit amount)
• Disability insurance (short-term and long-term coverage)
• Health insurance (type, deductible, coverage limits)
• Homeowners or renters insurance (coverage amount)
• Auto insurance (liability and collision limits)
• Business liability or professional liability insurance
• Umbrella or excess liability coverage

Understanding existing coverage prevents recommending duplicate policies and reveals protection gaps. A solopreneur without key person insurance might need to reconsider business continuity if something happens to them. A small business owner with only basic business liability might be underprotected personally if the business faces a lawsuit.

Risk Tolerance and Investment Experience

Ask clients about their comfort level with investment risk. Questions that reveal true risk tolerance include: Have they invested in stocks before? What was their experience during significant market downturns? How would they react if a portfolio declined 20% in one year? Do they prefer predictable returns or comfortable with volatility for growth?

Document their investment experience level—beginner, intermediate, or experienced—and ask about specific investment decisions they've regretted or been satisfied with. For business owners, understanding personal investment risk tolerance helps determine how much business risk they're already carrying. An entrepreneur with high personal risk tolerance might still need conservative retirement accounts because most wealth is already at risk in the business itself.

Existing Professional Relationships

Ask whether they work with accountants, attorneys, or other financial professionals, and whether those relationships are strong and collaborative. Request permission to contact these professionals, which facilitates coordinated planning and prevents conflicting advice. A client's accountant might already have specific tax strategies in place that shape investment recommendations. An attorney might have prepared estate documents that create specific requirements around retirement accounts or wealth transfer.

Ask whether they have wills, trusts, powers of attorney, or other estate documents in place, and whether these are current. If these don't exist or are outdated, that becomes a planning priority. Request copies of any existing plans so you understand the complete picture of their financial and legal situation. Building a complete intake form takes time, but the information gathered shapes every recommendation you make. When you're ready to work through these systematically, The Boss Maker helps create comprehensive financial plans for personal business, small business, and solopreneur situations.