Quote:
Originally Posted by Rustward
If you think that choosing a financial professional is more work than DIY then maybe you aren't doing it right.
Or, maybe the people who "aren't doing it right" are the people who believe the first list below takes less time than the second list:
1) Meet with an advisor, assure their desires are known to him/her, assure the advisor agrees and will act accordingly, and to monitor the account activity to assure no churning, questionable purchases or outright fraudulent activity is occurring. Take corrective actions when warranted, and when the advisor leaves/dies/gets transferred/gets arrested, etc--repeat the first steps.
2) Spend a couple of hours (or less) to sell shares for the coming year and rebalance their accounts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rustward
OK. If it needs repetition, put it in one of those sticky posts and refer to it with a link so we don't have to read it over and over and over and over, again. Anyone who wants to can go back and read it as often as they like.
And/or fans of using an FA can start their own sticky about the joys of active management. ("Why my FA is GREAT!" or "My FA is worth his $5k per hour," etc.). Then, when folks come through (happens frequently) who are paying exorbitant amounts for inept "assistance" by FAs/salesmen/new best friends, we can just direct them there so they can see how to pick the "right" person.
Peace to all.
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No needling here, so move on.......
If that has been your personal experience with an FA, it is regrettable. It has not been mine, and I don't think I'm any luckier or smarter than the average bear
on this forum
What many people here are, is experienced and educated over many years. That experience gives us confidence in our decisions that many people do not have. In my case that education came from doing it both wrong and right, substantial reading and a lot of conversation and listening to both winners and losers in the savings/investment game.
I disagree with unsupported, flat assertions on principle, and the claims in this thread that DIY "takes less time", is "better" have not been supported by anything other than one person's experience/opinion. And that is likely to NOT be the same as someone else's situation.
I acknowledge that the lowest cost way to invest is on your own using index funds from the cheapest providers. Considering the acquisition of knowledge it takes to make those decisions confidently and successfully over a market cycle, saying it takes less time to DIY ignores the learning curve. Selecting a quality FA is a topic for another thread (if we really need another one
).
If the objective of participating here is to learn and help others do the same, IMO it would be more helpful to avoid assertions and provide some info as to why a given approach worked for you.