How many totally manage their own nest egg?

[lem1955]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldShooter We have never paid anyone to run our money and certainly would never pay 1.3%. Here is a chart that I use with my investment class: Buy and read "The Coffeehouse Investor" by Bill Schultheis and "The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing" by Larimore et al and you will know more than your FA. Re moving everything to Vanguard Index Funds "next year," you should be there now. Why wait a year, which will almost certainly cost you at least 2% in underperformance? That's more than his fee.

Great chart! Thanks.

[SumDay]

I do 99% of the time. Every other year or so, I use a fee only financial planner who answers questions on asset allocation, tax planning, etc. She charges about what we'd spend on a domestic airline ticket. I like the critical eye, guidance and hand-holding. Our entire portfolio is at Vanguard.

[Rianne]

Started with VG thanks to Bob Brinker. We followed the initial VG advice, invested in their funds in the 90's. Basically have stayed with the program 50/40/10. Never looked back.

[scrabbler1]

Some of us here, including me, have an unpaid Account Executive with Fidelity. My AE is someone I meet with about once every 18 months to shoot the breeze and discuss my portfolio. He also shows me some useful features of the Fido website including the RIP program. He does not manage my portfolio. I make all the decisions like I always have.


A previous AE was most useful when I first ERed in late 2008. He set up my rollover IRA which was good when I brought my trustee-to-trustee check from my old 401k. I also had another large check from the cashed-out ESOP which he processed.

[Sue J]

I have always managed all of our assets myself. DH has no interest in things involving money (he's in charge of managing the cash in his pocket for a month at a time) and he trusts me.

My Dad had his money with Wells Fargo and had the same guy managing things for 30 years. When Dad died my sister and I inherited his IRA. His Wells Fargo guy expected I would keep mine with him, he pointed out how well he had done for my Dad over the years. But I wanted to manage it myself and I could not imagine paying someone to manage my money!

I think I've learned the most from posters on this forum and just by doing it on my own.

[Moemg]

I have always done it myself .

[Kelor]

1/3 T Rowe Price Cap App
1/3 stocks actively managed @ .65. He usually only holds 7 or 8 stocks at one time, and has done well.
1/3 passively managed stocks and ETF's by me.

I have no problem with this split. It may not be the cheapest, but my performance is good, while at the same time I have 3 very differently managed portfolios.

[calmloki]

I "manage" myself, using the rising tide lifts all boats theory. The gal likes to pay omissions to a former boss/coworker who went into brokering. His advice has been pretty horrible, but the gal has done very well picking stocks - better than my VTI or whatever. If Amazon or Apple go kerschitt her performance will take a bigger hit.The rentals and loans we manage. Biggest thing is managing ourselves, which we do to good effect.

[tmm99]

I had a fee-only CFP look at my stuff in 2006 once, and had RBC take care of my Canadian account for about 6 months when I moved from US to Canada and transferred some money to CAD, but other than that, just me. RBC was actually a great help, but it's not like they did anything after everything was bought, so I dropped them and I have been adding onto that account myself since. I've been doing the US side of finance myself since 2006.

[Lagniappe]

I had a fee-only planner for about 3 years. I wanted access to DFA funds, and found an advisor who would give me access for a reasonable annual fee.



This was 2007-2010. I got crazy busy at work, and was frozen - I'm not sure if I was afraid to re-balance in such a turbulent market or just mentally exhausted from the headlines and all the layoffs and associated angst at the office. They kept me invested, re-balanced when needed, and sent me a quarterly update.


Once all the market gyrations passed, my job was more stable, I was very close to retiring early, and I had bit more time available, I decided that Vanguard Funds/ ETF's would do just fine for my needs, no need for access to DFA funds. I moved everything to Vanguard and haven't looked back.

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

My wife and I manage our own finances and investments.

[jkern]

Count me as one who has always managed every aspect of personal finance.

[gwraigty]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRLLS I too have "my guy" at Fidelity. The downside is "my guy" has changed 3 times over the last 10 years or so. I have little faith that any relationship DW made at Fidelity will not be there when she, or I for that matter, may need one. What's a person to do? This succession planning concerns me more than my self-management of the family finances.

If you have part or all of your portfolio invested in a way that you would feel comfortable continuing to buy more of the same into eternity, then a simple talk with DW or a letter of instruction for her to do just that would suffice.

[LRDave]

Wish my funds were so large and therefore complex that FA services were warranted. But alas... Our little financial world is too simple to need FA.

[Toddtheformeraccountant]

Me.

[kcowan]

Started with a stock broker that I trusted and moved to a discount brokerage when he retired. Managed FI myself. Hired an FA to handle a small portfolio of non-standard funds (1.5%) on the understanding that he would take over the whole thing if anything happened to me. I do the taxes.

Been retired for 17 years now. If the FA retires while I am still around, there will be another decision to make.

[target2019]

We manage all together. No fees paid out for advice.

[Brat]

Except for meeting with an FA 40 years ago when I concluded that she was client shopping I have managed our investments by my self.

As our average age is 80 I have shifted entirely to balanced funds, bonds/bond funds alone are just too risky. When I can no longer do that I will pass that responsibility to DD who has more than enough skills in that area. That said I expect that we will keep with balanced funds until we both pass.

Next week we meet with our Fidelity advisor, it will be interesting what she has to say. We formerly invested with Vanguard but their website and rigid administrative policies were not acceptable to me.

[Splash]

I have always managed all aspects of our finances.

Admittedly, I mismanaged a few of our funds in the early years. But things have been smooth since I learned that I wasn't good at picking individual stocks or timing the market. Thankfully I am a fast learner and the costs of my mistakes have been significantly less than the fees we would have accumulated. I enjoy managing our finances and believe that no one cares about our money more than I do. This group has been a tremendous resource especially as we transitioned into early retirement.

[Oz investor]

i hold various LICs , REITs and ETFs ( which all have their own managers )

but in the sense the OP intended ( if i got it right ) i do not have a FA or similar manager

i also don't have a dedicted super fund or pension plan , i just have an 'investment portfolio ' which has equities of various types and property holdings and a few collectibles .

if the whole thing implodes i will know very quickly ( not wait for an email or phone call ) and can look in the mirror any time i need explanations on what went wrong ( or right )

all of which is bizarre considering i have a reputation of being totally irresponsible ( and not a recent reputation either )