Portfolio Solutions

[BTravlin]

Is anyone currently using this management service or used them in the past? I'm interested in hearing reviews, both pro and con, from those with experience.

 

[Nords]

Is anyone currently using this management service or used them in the past? I'm interested in hearing reviews, both pro and con, from those with experience.

Rick Ferri's company, right?
Staff Bios, Management Profiles | Portfolio Solutions Portfolio Solutions

You could ask the Bogleheads. I think he has a pretty good rep over there, but if he stumbled then they'd be the first to call him out.

In your neck of the woods you might also want to research Jeff Rose of GoodFinancialCents.com. He's in Illinois but he's very Internet-savvy. Good guy, Army veteran, CFP, personal-finance blogger extraordinaire, and hungry.

 

[urn2bfree]

Rick is a good guy. You can read many of his writings on line wherein he takes to task the financial advisors who are way overcharging for passive investing portfolio management. If you are planning to have a relatively small portfolio, under 1.5 Million- then his fixed rate of 0.25% for assets under management- using ETF AND DFA indexes (which you cannot get except from DFA approved advisors) is not unreasonable. As portfolios grow though, this Assets under management % charges get increasingly unjustifiable. If you want DFA access, there are better options-- look at Evanson Asset Management, and Cardiff, for example.

 

[LOL!]

It's always interesting to me that there are never any direct forthright reviews of these kinds of places "from those with experience."

I can imagine some reasons for that. For one, folks here are really do-it-yourself types. Most of us do not believe that an advisor would add value. You can see this at Bogleheads as well. Over there Mr Ferri is well-regarded, but no one really writes about actually having their portfolio with his firm. Many folks have reported that they have mentioned to their spouses, "If I die, you can move everything to Rick Ferri if you want", but in reality they don't have true experience with him. (Full disclosure: I have met Rick Ferri and he's a good guy. I like him.)

There is this "testimonial" thread at bogleheads which is not easy to find which may be helpful: Bogleheads • View topic - Sharing how I chose a low-cost DFA advisor 3 1/2 years ago

And this thread has a testimonial: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=92473

 

[Midpack]

I don't use any paid advisors, but if I did it would probably be Rick Ferri's firm. I've read his books and contributions at Bogleheads, Portfolio Solutions site and others. But I can't offer first hand experience, sorry...

 

[ERD50]

It's always interesting to me that there are never any direct forthright reviews of these kinds of places "from those with experience."

I can imagine some reasons for that. For one, folks here are really do-it-yourself types. Most of us do not believe that an advisor would add value. You can see this at Bogleheads as well. Over there Mr Ferri is well-regarded, but no one really writes about actually having their portfolio with his firm. Many folks have reported that they have mentioned to their spouses, "If I die, you can move everything to Rick Ferri if you want", but in reality they don't have true experience with him. (Full disclosure: I have met Rick Ferri and he's a good guy. I like him.)

There is this "testimonial" thread at bogleheads which is not easy to find which may be helpful: Bogleheads • View topic - Sharing how I chose a low-cost DFA advisor 3 1/2 years ago

And this thread has a testimonial: Bogleheads • View topic - Portfolio Solutions

Thanks for those links. I don't spend much time at Bogleheads unless someone here posts a link. And while I wouldn't use an FA myself, I think I'll do some due diligence on this one, put it my file for DW, and walk her through the site a little. I think it would be comforting for her to know there is what appears to be a good place to deal with, if needed.

And maybe she'd even 'get it' - she could save $2,500 plus by sticking with a few mutual funds and re-balancing once in a while. How hard can it be?

-ERD50

 

[BTravlin]

Thanks for the input even though it's not direct experience. Especially appreciate the links to bogleheads. I searched over there but for some reason did not turn those up.