Hiring a retirement planner

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSmee Sorry if this has been asked - I did a search and did not see a similar thread. Has anyone hired a retirement planning firm to create a detailed plan? I am about 18 months out. The more I learn the more I realize I don't know. I'm over answering the question of "Can I retire?" and feel like I need a detailed plan to minimize tax via my withdrawal plan. If a $1000 could save me several thousand in taxes over the next 10 years it would be worth it. I don't want to do the detailed accounting myself but I don't know if just going taxable, tax deferred then Roth is going to get me the best result. If you did: - How did you choose an advisor? - Was it worth it? - What questions did you ask?

Does your brokerage offer retirement planning? Most do at least on a basic level - would get you started, and may help you decide how deep you need to delve. Not asking you to reveal your details, but we can't answer without any particulars.

Whatever you do, get referrals from happy customers if you're going to farm out your retirement plan.

[Lstansbury]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi Before retiring I used i-orp, fidelity RIP, quicken lifetime planner, and went to get my plan better by my Schwab consultant (person assigned to me because I have a lot of money at Schwab. Schwab ran my plan through their modeling. Truthfully, I learn more here than any FA adviser could tell me. A tax CPA might improve things a bit Strongly recommend i-orp, drilling down, to see the tax implications of withdrawing from tax deferred vs taxable accounts, the impacts of Roth conversions, etc.

second that on IORP, but the site is down now, from what I can tell. Glad I kept my old plans

[Lstansbury]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Out-to-Lunch But this tool does not address which accounts to draw from at which times, does it? I have used it for a long time. I just re-ran it and poked around after reading your post, but see nothing on withdrawal strategies...

agree. Personal capital (now Empower) has the level of detail you are speking of, but it requires that you are one of their clients (AUM). Tried that already and said "no way!"

[ncbill]

Might consider Planvision, gets good feedback over at bogleheads.

IIRC, under $250 for first year, ~$100/year after that.

Gets you access to e-money.

[pacergal]

Yes, we did five!
Four were free--two at different times 10 and 5 years prior to retirement, via our pension program classes, one via our work 459b consultant who also did a great spending plan, one via our Credit Union who also was a well known planner with our work pension who looked at pension, 459, and SS.
And finally, one we got as part of a one time fee only meeting just prior to retirement.

They all basically told us the same things, but had different plans on when to take different pots of money. Looking back, it was an interesting experience.

Our questions were pretty basic, and because we had pensions, we also wanted to know which option to choose for payout of that (the plan had 13 at the time!):
Budget/spend analysis.
pension payout
SS timing
459/IRA
Inherited IRA and taxable act.(these accts came on one year prior to retirement, so changed parts of the equation, hence the one time fee only with a CFP/Tax accountant)

Plus, I spent a large amount of time here and reading Bogleheads forum, and the books recommend here by the great folks on the forum, learning as much as I could.

[HunterAdvisor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by meleana I interviewed several financial advisors/planners and bottom line I went with a fee only planner affiliated with the Garrett Network. He interviewed us (and us- him) and developed a plan holistically that is in line with not only our investments, but with our plans for this stage of life, including health, insurances, relocating, Social Security, Medicare, hobbies, family, taxes, Roth conversions, ACA insurance, etc etc. . He does not handle our money- I do that. He charges us an annual fee of $1000 as needed. I can't remember exactly but I think the initial plan was something like $1500. He also has another fee structure where you can pay like $200 per hour instead of annual. Definitely worth it! I didn't ask too many questions other than the fee structure and the handling of money, and background, etc. I did more listening and went with my gut. I wanted someone who's style would jive with my husband's and my personality as well. Our guy is soft, low key and a true fee only planner. Easy to speak with. We call him, do emails and zoom calls since we moved out of state after hiring him (which he helped us to do!).

I was going to recommend the Garrett Network of planners and I was a CFP back in the day.

[rayvt]

The only thing you are going to get for $1000 is a set of advice that amounts to "don't be stupid and do stupid things." As for "investment advice", they will either give you a cookie-cutter set if index funds or steer you to high-fee mutual funds that they get a commission from.

So maybe if you are very unsure financially, that $1000 would be well spent, to get advice on what stupid things to avoid. But you can get all that for free by reading a few web sites, including this one and/or a few books.

[meleana]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rayvt The only thing you are going to get for $1000 is a set of advice that amounts to "don't be stupid and do stupid things." As for "investment advice", they will either give you a cookie-cutter set if index funds or steer you to high-fee mutual funds that they get a commission from. So maybe if you are very unsure financially, that $1000 would be well spent, to get advice on what stupid things to avoid. But you can get all that for free by reading a few web sites, including this one and/or a few books.

So not true. In our case very personalized with a fee only planner and he doesn't manage our funds- I do. I picked all of them. He did a comprehensive plan based on our individualized needs and goals.

[Ncc1701]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Out-to-Lunch But this tool does not address which accounts to draw from at which times, does it? I have used it for a long time. I just re-ran it and poked around after reading your post, but see nothing on withdrawal strategies...

You are correct, it does not address withdrawal strategies. I would assume tools like the Fidelity RIP avoid that type of advice because the single biggest factor in formulating a withdrawal strategy is future tax rates. I can understand that and plan on taking a mixture of withdrawals, careful not to keep too much accumulating pre tax.

Given that the order of withdrawals is based on a largely unknown factor, I do not believe in paying for that advice.

[Lstansbury]

Order of withdrawals is one of my biggest questions. I already have an idea, but I'd like a second set of eyes to ensure I didn't miss a gotcha somewhere. The last three "planners" I interviewed wouldn't help me with that unless I went AUM. The planner I interviewed yesterday said "you are really looking for an hourly planner and there are very few of those left. We used to do it, but no longer.".

He was also infuriating in many other ways, took 15 minutes to show me using his fancy whiteboard why drawing down now from qualified or converting to Roth was super important before SS. I told him twice that I already knew that and had been doing conversions, but he just wanted to make sure I had the education he could offer me. (Quote) And wouldn't go on to more important questions. Pure Financial is the name of the firm, btw,)

Love their podcast, Your Money Your Wealth. The free initial assessment they offer, however��*♂️��is a crapshoot.

[RetiredAt49]

I’d recommend/suggest this retirement planner: https://www.newretirement.com

Believe they have a 14 day free trial.

[blueskyk]

I love this guy - fee only planner, you pay for a plan upfront (a few years ago it was $1000 or so and then we check in every year or so for an hourly rate for a two hour meeting. He also has a podcast and a book on tax planning.



https://forthrightfinances.com/

[KarenF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spock 1. I wouldn't blindly trust what an advisor suggested anyway. 2. There are tools such as i-orp that will spit out a draw down plan and it's free. "Measure with a micrometer. Mark with chalk. Cut with an axe."

i-orp is offline and may not be coming back.

[Morgan22]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarenF i-orp is offline and may not be coming back.

i-orp has been back online for a few weeks now. I just used it today.

[KarenF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morgan22 i-orp has been back online for a few weeks now. I just used it today.

i-orp has been on and off, but I also read that the tax rates have not been updated.

[friar1610]

I am peripherally familiar with Jim Saulnier and Associates only from listening to The Retirement and IRA Show, a bi-weekly podcast focused on various aspects of retirement planning. Based on the podcasts, the team seems very knowledgeable. I know that tax planning is an important part of what they do. I don’t know the degree to which they will do planning only vs planning and asset management. You might find it worthwhile to listen to a few of their podcasts to see if they strike a chord with you.

This will take you to their web site: https://www.jimhelps.com/

Just to be clear, I have no first-hand experience with this firm but I do know from their podcasts that their focus is retirement planning. No knowledge of their fees.

[creekstone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ncbill Might consider Planvision, gets good feedback over at bogleheads. IIRC, under $250 for first year, ~$100/year after that. Gets you access to e-money.

+1

There's no hand holding. You have to have some idea of what you're doing and also input/maintain the eMoney data. But if you want someone to look over your shoulder, make suggestions, and check your math, they are great. The eMoney reports are fantastic. Heck, I'd pay the monthly maintenance fee of $8 just for eMoney.

[JohnDoe]

Fidelity assigned me an advisor a few years ago for free. In our first call, he didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know. However, I reached out to him a couple of times with specific questions in the last year and he has been helpful. (Pension and w/d strategies)

I made it clear up front if this was a ploy to push something on me, it's a waste of time for both of us, but it hasn't been like that at all.

Fidelity seems to have some good retirement planning tools, too.