noone
Dryer sheet aficionado
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2011
- Messages
- 32
Noone knew it.So, financial planners control the markets, I never knew that!
Noone knew it.So, financial planners control the markets, I never knew that!
So, financial planners control the markets, I never knew that! Tell you what, I'll hire you to manage my personal assets, and I want YOU to guarantee I will make money, ok?
Put simply: If your car breaks down, you pay a dealer to fix it. If your Furnace breaks down, you pay HVAC person to make the repair. Drain problem, you pay a plumber to correct the problem. Roof leaks, pay a roofer to find the leak.
Broken arm, call the doctor to fix. Income taxes, hire a CPA., ..etc.....
If any of the above professionals fail to perform. Do we still pay them?
I do not. Most of us will complain. (usually there is a contract, ie, warranty, guarantee, fiduciary).
Why do we let professional financial planners get off the hook so easily.
We are asking them for their advice and putting at risk our life savings.
If they make a mistake, Do we just walk.......
Again, just my 2 cents.
Just because one gets advice does not mean one should take it, or use it. ........
NONE of those professionals can GUARANTEE the things they fix won't break down. Your doctor can't guarantee you'll never get sick, etc. Hey, do what you want, but the all the guys I know who guaranteed market returns are in jail.........
Just because one gets advice does not mean one should take it, or use it. Is there a guarantee when a CPA does your taxes that the IRS won't audit you? Uh, I don't think so.........
So, the advice from Vanguard is better than a fee only CFP because it's free? Interesting...........
Vanguard advice will be no better than a fee only CFP, so I'd go with the least expensive.
[/Can you prove that? Most CFPs I know have knowledge far beyond all but the most astute investors. QUOTE]
but if you don't have a ton of money to invest how much time will they spend on your account?
For an investor who is unsure of himself this is probably a reasonable approach. I did it so it must be reasonable. The year before I retired I paid a one time fee to a local advisor to look over my investments and plans. She validated my basic approach and suggested some tweaks that made sense. But, although I think this approach was worth the investment (for the reassurance it provided), the advice was still biased by conflict of interest (IMHO). The advisor validated my AA, budget and withdrawal plan. But she noted that she did not believe I could do as well with index funds as I could with a carefully designed portfolio of managed funds under the continuing guidance of her or another advisor. She was probably honest in that assessment but I doubt she had any empirical support for it.How is a hourly fee CFP charging thousands of dollars? Most CFPs I know will look over everything but the most compelx situations for less than $1000. It is always easy to make broad assumptions when you don't have to defend them........
Sorry I'm entirely with F Dude on this one, see post #10. With all due respect, the questions you suggested posing to an FP in post #9 were a waste of time at best. They don't serve any useful purpose, but I assume you weren't really suggesting anyone ask them, IOW rhetorical questions. If you don't need an FP, that's fine, not everyone does.Would appreciate other's input. When you hire someone, don't you expect satisfaction?
My husband and I are a few months away from his retirement. We have decided to consult with a financial planner to make sure we have all our ducks in a row. We have limited financial planning knowledge and have a short window to accept or decline my husbands early retirement offer. We chose this planner on recommendation from a retired couple that have been working with and are pleased with him. This first meeting is at no charge to us. My questions for this forum are: what should we ask him to help us decide if he is the planner that will do a good job? What credentials should he have? What fees should we expect for his advice and potentially management of our assets? How do we know if he has our best interests at mind? Anything else that we need to find out?
thanks for any insight, advice
Also, be sensitive to the distinction between "fee only" and fee-based" financial planners. Fee only means, as you put it, fee for service. Fee based means that s/he charges you a fee AND can make some money off any financial products you buy from him/her.
...We have limited financial planning knowledge and have a short window to accept or decline my husbands early retirement offer. ...
DH has a small inheritance that he left with the existing financial advisor. DH has no interest in investments. The advisor laid out for him in very brief terms with a pretty chart just where the money is, how the investments are rated, and how much the yield has been for ytd, one, five, and ten years, and that was good enough for him.
A lot of people on e-r.org wouldn't be happy with that (me included ); we'd be doing so much research on the investments that we would be just as well off investing them ourselves.
If someone can't see the difference between a financial investor and a surgeon, oh, well.
FinanceDude, you know the industry. What are your suggestions to the OP as to how to choose a good advisor?
Between the wide variety of responses and several thread hijacks, I agree the OP got some good info buried in a lot of "noise." I sometimes wonder what members responsibilities are when this happens; ignore, refute, PM, report/wait for a Mod to act, other? I've almost posted something like this several times, but I doubt it would be taken in good spirit very often if ever, and so I haven't.Here we go again, folks. In case nobody has noticed, the OP seems to have disappeared the day after the original post. He/she came here for some information and assistance and just got a lot of noise. See the words short window in the original post. Congratulations.
Lots of bickering about fees and almost nothing about helping the OP with their decision.
I live in a neighborhood of lots that are just under one acre in size. Most homeowners here hire professional landscapers. I am in the minority of homeowners here who does his own yard. But you won't find me knocking on the doors of those who use professionals telling them they are stupid for paying for a service they could do themselves.
This discussion is not productive and should be closed.
Infoseeker, if you are still around, please start another thread.
Edit to add: I do acknowledge that there actually are some posts that are appropriate and on topic. But we could do without all the arguing over planner vs. DIY.
Sorry FinanceDude, but your suggestions to find a CFP/advisor are practically useless.
Attorneys knowing "top advisors"? What's a "top advisor"? By whose definition? Most assets under management? Biggest stable of Mercedes? Just because big guns are using an advisor means little (I'm sure you are thinking of Madoff, here).
FINRA? C'mon. For example, I just looked you up. I like that amusing little bit about your fraternity friends. There is nothing in this report about the quality of advice that the person gives nor the fees, so as a screening tool, I think it has little value.
And there is a difference between a financial planner and financial advisor. I think advisors are mostly in the business of selling investments and annuities, while planners are perhaps giving advice on wills, estates, insurance, investments, retirement, social security, etc.
Between the wide variety of responses and several thread hijacks, I agree the OP got some good info buried in a lot of "noise." I sometimes wonder what members responsibilities are when this happens; ignore, refute, PM, report/wait for a Mod to act, other? I've almost posted something like this several times, but I doubt it would be taken in good spirit very often if ever, and so I haven't.
And then you'll be wondering whether they're still competent.Indeed. I think it is really a pain-in-the-you-know-what to try to find a competent worthy CFP. It turns out to be quite a lot of work to find ones to interview, to interview them, to decide if they are competent, and to figure out what they charge and how, doesn't it?
And in the end, you are never really sure that you made a good choice, are you? There really is no such thing as a money-back guarantee, is there?
And then you'll be wondering whether they're still competent.
At some point you'll have learned enough about screening the skills of prospective CFPs to maybe even figure out how to handle your own money!
I think we would all agree that a fee only planner is the way to go and armed with the answers from this forum the OP could ask the same questions to prospective advisors and see if the answers came close to agreeing.