On our own now

[HI Bill]

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.

 

[Dash man]

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.

 

[RobbieB]

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.

 

[Dtail]

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!!!!!!

 

[Scuba]

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.

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

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?

-BB

 

[DrRoy]

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.

 

[RetireBy90]

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.

 

[ERD50]

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!

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.

... 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.

... 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

 

[street]

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.

 

[RetireBy90]

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

 

[splitwdw]

...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!

 

[RobbieB]

The inaction I suffer is just letting cash build up and earn nothing sitting in the bank.

 

[Milton]

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.

 

[RobbieB]

I don't have any of these problems with my FA.

 

[Milton]

Great! That being the case, I can only applaud your decision to delegate to him or her.

 

[Scuba]

I don't have any of these problems with my FA.

I didn’t either, RobbieB. I thought my FA did a good job, although she could not consistently beat the market net of fees. I don’t have the problem of leaving cash sitting around if I’m self-managing so for me, it made sense to stop paying the fees. But YMMV - our FA served us pretty well for the time we had her. It was just time for us to move on.

 

[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!

Well sure, there are ways to go about it. And I don't think comments like "Have you taken into account the fees?", or "Have you taken into account the cost of taxes from all those capital gains from all that buying/selling", or "Have you actually measured your after-tax, after-fees performance against a couch-potato portfolio?", or "A couch-potato portfolio doesn't take any significant time or knowledge." or "How is an unsophisticated investor supposed to determine if the FA is any good or not? That seems more difficult than just implementing a couch-potato portfolio." are anything at all like " "Maybe you shouldn't go to college, you're not as smart as your brother".

If someone thinks they are similar, I'd say they are like the lady who doth protest too much.

-ERD50

 

[RobbieB]

Each to their own, whatever works best for you.

 

[splitwdw]

...If someone thinks they are similar, I'd say they are like the lady who doth protest too much.

-ERD50

OMG, I didn't know you were a lady.

Point is that RobbieB and others on this forum that have a FA, like using them. Probably, no amount of "pointing" will change their mind. Maybe we can convert newbies!

 

[Scuba]

Y’all convinced me! I liked our FA bout decided I liked eliminating the FA fees more. [emoji3]

 

[ERD50]

....

Point is that RobbieB and others on this forum that have a FA, like using them. Probably, no amount of "pointing" will change their mind. Maybe we can convert newbies!

It is about the newbies, really. A newbie reads this stuff, and may take it at face value. If they're gonna hear "I like my FA", fine, that's one opinion. But they should also hear the counterpoints to it, and if the counterpoints aren't brought up, maybe the newbie thinks we all agree?

-ERD50

 

[Aerides]

It is about the newbies, really. A newbie reads this stuff, and may take it at face value. If they're gonna hear "I like my FA", fine, that's one opinion. But they should also hear the counterpoints to it, and if the counterpoints aren't brought up, maybe the newbie thinks we all agree?

-ERD50

First, when do we all agree on anything here? I can't remember the last thread that went even 5 posts without a differing opinion. Heck, this board almost comes to blows over topics like should Harry have kept his beard yesterday....

Second, I'd give the newbies a bit more credit. I'd be very skeptical of the idea that someone is going to come here for the first time, read's Robbie's post and goes "that's IT! FA all the way and I can go blow my dough!" and never look back.

 

[REWahoo]

First, when do we all agree on anything here?

I disagree.

 

[braumeister]

I disagree.

No, I don’t think you do.