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Old 05-16-2018, 10:20 AM   #21
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I'm not sure I want to spend the time necessary to manage it myself.
One of the most prevalent misconceptions about DIY investment management is that it is time consuming. It isn't.

I spend less than an hour a month, and most of that is just checking balances and making sure I'm on track to meet our RMD withdrawal requirements for the year.
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Old 05-17-2018, 02:44 PM   #22
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And that's all that matters!
That's not all that matters! What matters is what fees you are paying, and what you're getting in return! If your FA is helping you beat the market, or manage your money in a way that meets your best interest (not theirs), or you are unwilling/incapable of managing your own investments, then go ahead and stick with the FA! If not, move your funds to someplace like Vanguard! My mother's FA had her in investments in funds with a 5% front-end load, and very high fees...almost nothing she did was in my Mom's best interest, except keeping her from taking out more than 6% annually (due to sequence of returns, she did well with this, and never ran out of money).
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Old 05-17-2018, 03:57 PM   #23
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That's not all that matters! What matters is what fees you are paying, and what you're getting in return! If your FA is helping you beat the market, or manage your money in a way that meets your best interest (not theirs), or you are unwilling/incapable of managing your own investments, then go ahead and stick with the FA! If not, move your funds to someplace like Vanguard! My mother's FA had her in investments in funds with a 5% front-end load, and very high fees...almost nothing she did was in my Mom's best interest, except keeping her from taking out more than 6% annually (due to sequence of returns, she did well with this, and never ran out of money).

That's all that matters to RobbieB and anyone else on this forum that has a FA. RobbieB has had his FA for quite a while and he is satisfied with him/her. I do not have a FA. I'm not going to argue with someone that likes what their FA does for them.
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Old 05-17-2018, 04:09 PM   #24
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Yesterday after months of thinking and research, we terminated our FA. I finally “got religion” and now believe not even the best FA can consistently beat the market. We were paying fees of 0.7%, which isn’t too bad, but still resulted in our advisory fees being the second largest line item in our budget (after travel). We are moving our portfolio to Fidelity and will be converting to a “lazy” portfolio over the next few years.

Many on this forum are quite critical of FA’s. Ours helped us for a particular purpose at a particular time in our lives, and I don’t regret having her for almost 5 years. However I do appreciate the challenges posted on this forum, as these comments got me thinking it was time to self-manage again.

This decision is going to save us hundreds of thousands of dollars if we live to average life expectancy. Thank you for challenging my thinking and helping me see a better way for us!

Good move!
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Old 05-17-2018, 04:13 PM   #25
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Got the sell order in for the stocks, going to start the managed muni bond thing with Fidelity next week. New AA will be 75/20/5 which I like. All the muni bonds should generate 25 to 30 grand a year double tax free.

The local Fidelity guy is a CFP, although the bonds will all be managed by the bond guys in Boston.

Yes, I like having a person I know to talk to and meet with face to face. I like having a whole team of people supporting him. I like to go where everybody knows my name.
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Old 05-17-2018, 04:24 PM   #26
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I'm not going to argue with someone that likes what their FA does for them.
I'm not going to argue either, but just wanted to point out that in some cases, their being 'happy' with their FA, might mean they don't understand the cost associated with their FA's services. In my Mom's case, she would have ended up with ~30% more assets/income, if she'd let me help her invest with a low-cost company such as Vanguard or Fidelity.
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Old 05-17-2018, 04:47 PM   #27
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I’m actually considering moving to a managed account. I’m only 61 but the brain in my head is not processing like it used to. DW is smart enough (a lot smarter than me) to manage the accounts, but lacks the desire to do so. Twenty years ago she had nearly a half million cash in a checking account. Her only stock investments were options she held from her employer. I got that straightened out when we married and she’s been pleased. But I want to get it moved in case I do develop memory problems down the road.
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Old 05-17-2018, 05:01 PM   #28
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I suffer from "inaction" I just sit and look at all the investments and do nothing.

I don't want to do it either, I rather be building, eating, riding motorcycles and having fun.
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Old 05-17-2018, 05:37 PM   #29
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Got the sell order in for the stocks, going to start the managed muni bond thing with Fidelity next week. New AA will be 75/20/5 which I like. All the muni bonds should generate 25 to 30 grand a year double tax free.

The local Fidelity guy is a CFP, although the bonds will all be managed by the bond guys in Boston.

Yes, I like having a person I know to talk to and meet with face to face. I like having a whole team of people supporting him. I like to go where everybody knows my name.
Cheers!!!!!!
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Old 05-18-2018, 12:15 AM   #30
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I'm curious what the OP's FA was getting them in in returns over that 5 year period. I have contemplated getting rid of my FA from time to time. He has only averaged about 5% since 2011 but I'm in mostly very conservative stuff and 5% was the target in the begining. I'm sort of risk averse I guess. I'm not sure I want to spend the time necessary to manage it myself. I will be retired soon and will have more time so I might reconsider then.


Our returns were slightly below benchmark over the 5 years. Some years slightly above, some below, but on average below benchmark. The benchmark I used was what we would have earned if we had simply invested in the S&P 500/Barclays Bond Index/Cash based on the weighted average AA of our portfolio. So we were still earning double digit returns in this bull market, but not as high as we should have been, mainly due to the 0.7% fees we were paying.

I would not have been happy with a 5% return but our AA was much more aggressive - about 70-75% equities.
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Old 05-18-2018, 03:50 AM   #31
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Yesterday after months of thinking and research, we terminated our FA.

Thank you for challenging my thinking and helping me see a better way for us!
Erm, I don't think anyone on this forum ever advocated for violence. Couldn't you just have fired her? :-)

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Old 05-18-2018, 04:17 AM   #32
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I'm curious what the OP's FA was getting them in in returns over that 5 year period. I have contemplated getting rid of my FA from time to time. He has only averaged about 5% since 2011 but I'm in mostly very conservative stuff and 5% was the target in the begining. I'm sort of risk averse I guess. I'm not sure I want to spend the time necessary to manage it myself. I will be retired soon and will have more time so I might reconsider then.
Bucks, I dropped my FA about 5 years ago. With an AA falling from 80% in 2012 to 60% in 2017, I averaged close to 10%/year in index ETF's and bonds.
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Old 05-18-2018, 06:54 AM   #33
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I’m actually considering moving to a managed account. I’m only 61 but the brain in my head is not processing like it used to. DW is smart enough (a lot smarter than me) to manage the accounts, but lacks the desire to do so. Twenty years ago she had nearly a half million cash in a checking account. Her only stock investments were options she held from her employer. I got that straightened out when we married and she’s been pleased. But I want to get it moved in case I do develop memory problems down the road.
I am similar age and also concerned about same issue. I have watched my mom and MIL loose cognitive ability and don't want DW to have to learn to manage.

Fidelity in Reston VA has FAs that have meet with us 3 times over past 2 years as I get ready to retire and I have asked about help for the DW if needed. I wrote up a plan of AA and draws and went over it with the FA and she can execute it for me with a rebalance every year. I have not paid any FA fees and she said no cost to execute my simple plan. She is much younger than I am, which worried me as I spoke to various advisors who were all about the same age as we are. Don't want them to loose it just as I do

I'd suggest you contact local Fidelity office and see if they can fit your needs.
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Old 05-18-2018, 07:30 AM   #34
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I suffer from "inaction" I just sit and look at all the investments and do nothing. ...
"Inaction" is a great strategy (Buy and Hold), it's the one I use! And I don't suffer at all!

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One of the most prevalent misconceptions about DIY investment management is that it is time consuming. It isn't.
...
Another prevalent misconception is that is it difficult. It's not.

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Originally Posted by REWahoo View Post
... I spend less than an hour a month, and most of that is just checking balances and making sure I'm on track to meet our RMD withdrawal requirements for the year.
You are working too hard, IMO. I need to take a nap now, just from reading about all that effort.

Now that I have my accounts and credit cards emailing me any transactions, I rarely check balances. I still get paper statements (I think that would be easier for someone if I were to become incapacitated), so I do glance at those, but I already know what they are, so it's anti-climatic.

I set up my MIL's RMD to be automatic, so that's about 2 minutes work once per year, and I know her requirements will be met for the year.



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Originally Posted by splitwdw View Post
... I'm not going to argue with someone that likes what their FA does for them.
I'm not going to argue either, but just wanted to point out that in some cases, their being 'happy' with their FA, might mean they don't understand the cost associated with their FA's services. In my Mom's case, she would have ended up with ~30% more assets/income, if she'd let me help her invest with a low-cost company such as Vanguard or Fidelity.
Agreed. Some people take my 'challenges' to their understanding as 'arguing', but I'm only trying to inform them. Some people are 'happy', but it may be because they don't fully understand the impact of what they are doing.

I saw a T-shirt that said:

"I'm not arguing with you, I'm merely explaining to you why I am RIGHT!".

-ERD50
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Old 05-18-2018, 08:35 AM   #35
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Got the sell order in for the stocks, going to start the managed muni bond thing with Fidelity next week. New AA will be 75/20/5 which I like. All the muni bonds should generate 25 to 30 grand a year double tax free.

The local Fidelity guy is a CFP, although the bonds will all be managed by the bond guys in Boston.

Yes, I like having a person I know to talk to and meet with face to face. I like having a whole team of people supporting him. I like to go where everybody knows my name.
Good deal and since I never have had a FA it would be nice to have someone that works with it everyday and can give advise.
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Old 05-18-2018, 08:43 AM   #36
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Yes, I like having a person I know to talk to and meet with face to face. I like having a whole team of people supporting him. I like to go where everybody knows my name.
Sounds like the old Cheers theme
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Old 05-18-2018, 11:03 AM   #37
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...Agreed. Some people take my 'challenges' to their understanding as 'arguing', but I'm only trying to inform them. Some people are 'happy', but it may be because they don't fully understand the impact of what they are doing.

I saw a T-shirt that said:

"I'm not arguing with you, I'm merely explaining to you why I am RIGHT!".

-ERD50
Have an aunt that's always pointing out what you are doing wrong "for your own good". "Do you really think you should be eating that since it looks like you've put on weight". "Maybe you shouldn't go to college, you're not as smart as your brother". "You shouldn't wear that dress, it makes you look fat". None of us like to be around Aunt Perfect!
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Old 05-18-2018, 11:28 AM   #38
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The inaction I suffer is just letting cash build up and earn nothing sitting in the bank.
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Old 05-18-2018, 11:28 AM   #39
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Yes, I like having someone who knows what they are doing watching my stash.
If you are happy with the situation/relationship, that is really all that matters. I don't know you, or your FA, and have no desire to persuade you to cease working with them.

That caveat aside, one of the problems with FAs generally is that they (too) often don't know what they are doing. Many are no more than salespeople.

Another common problem is that FAs rarely spend significant time monitoring their clients' individual accounts: perhaps a 20 minute annual meeting preceded by 10 minutes preparation, and maybe a quick telephone chat every quarter. YMMV, but unless a portfolio exceeds, say, $10 million (minimum!), it is very unlikely that much "stash-watching" is happening.

Probably the biggest problem with FAs is a lack of transparency ... but that is a topic for another thread.
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Old 05-18-2018, 11:40 AM   #40
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I don't have any of these problems with my FA.
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