Most of my retirement funds are currently in an account at Fidelity. I was contacted about a year ago by one of the many wealth management services out there, and through a number of telecons and reviews they have me convinced that my money would be better off managed by them rather than sitting in a target date fund at Fidelity. So I'm considering letting them manage the assets.
They have stated that this isn't an account transfer - rather, they will be actively managing my money while it stays at Fidelity. I'll access the account through the same portal I currently use.
So I'm about ready to take the plunge, but my question is how do I vet them to make sure it's not some kind of scam? I'll have to sign some documents to give them access to my account, but how do I make sure they can't do something like transfer all of my money out of the account? They will need to be able to place trades, but of course the money should remain in the account unless I move it myself. All of my financial dealings in the past have been with big-name institutions, which made me feel comfortable and that I could trust them.
Note that there is nothing about this advisor or their behavior that has made me suspect anything about them. If it's a scam, they've done a great job. This question comes from my own lack of knowledge and the huge downside of being wrong, rather than some spidey-sense that they've triggered.
EDIT: Thank you for all of the helpful answers and comments. I accepted the answer that most directly addresses my question - however, I can't miss the very loud chorus of voices telling me that this is the wrong move. I will research that further.
