Should I dump my Vanguard Advisor?

[GreenEggs]

It's been a few years for us. At the time, here's how it went for the free advice:

We made an appointment, and we had to fill out a few quesitons, and we were asked to put all of our outside Vanguard stuff into the "OTHER" section of the dashboard. Here you can track non-VG assets (a handy feature too). I think we also had to give permission for the CFP to see our entire dashboard.

We had the meeting, he looked at our balances in asset classes, taxable vs. non-taxable, and domestic/international.

We had a nice discussion about those items and he gave some advice, which was actually pretty good.


Nothing written down, no booklet or plan, etc. Mostly, advice on how to keep these things in balance and to watch our portfolio analysis view.

Same here. I do have a Vanguard representative that I can usually reach directly. She invited me to lunch or a coffee sometime, since their office is local.

But, as for ongoing advice that is for a fee. The free one-time consult was just a general chat about diversifying the portfolio.

Maybe they offer more perks when you reach 8 figures.

 

[mickeyd]

PAS is not a lifetime commitment. Once you feel competent enough to DIY, call VG and thank them for getting you up to speed and cut yourself free of that 30bps shackle.

 

[ziggy29]

PAS is not a lifetime commitment. Once you feel competent enough to DIY, call VG and thank them for getting you up to speed and cut yourself free of that 30bps shackle.

Exactly. If you need the help setting up a strategy at first, it's okay to pay a reasonable fee to a competent fee-only financial planner. But it's also OK to no longer need it, especially if you are setting up a simple asset allocation model with index funds and ETFs. And if you get to a point where you know where you want your investments to be and you feel comfortable managing them yourself, absolutely, kick the professionals to the curb.

 

[teej1985]

Same here. I do have a Vanguard representative that I can usually reach directly. She invited me to lunch or a coffee sometime, since their office is local.

But, as for ongoing advice that is for a fee. The free one-time consult was just a general chat about diversifying the portfolio.

Maybe they offer more perks when you reach 8 figures.

Do you happen to live in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, or Arizona? I never got invited to lunch when I lived in the same city of their AZ office. haha.

 

[The HalfBreed]

I could save over 6K by dumping the advisor, but I also know that the service isnt really designed to be bounced in and out of. Is this a good idea?

I have a ROTH IRA and taxable account @ Vanguard in Wellesley and Wellington and I do my own thing there, and I have about half of what you have in Vanguard.
The majority of my retirement is in the Federal TSP and I manage my own accounts, making my own decisions which I enjoy doing.
May I suggest becoming a "Boglehead", named after the Vanguard Founder, John Bogle. There are MANY, Hundreds of intelligent investors there with more information than you'd ever believe, all Vanguard investors for decades and many newbies as well.
Make your name, enter your password and join the conversation forum.
Trust me....you'll be glad you did, if you haven't already done so.

https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/

 

[retiredtillwepart]

We all have different needs, I was a self or independent investor until 2014 when I turned 76 and decided that my DW and daughter had no interest in investing and was concerned to that on my passing they would be in deep "shet". My previous advice to my DW was that the day after I croaked to call Schwab & Vanguard to sell everything. At that time Vanguard had started their PAS program and at 30 base points it made sense. I have no complaints on performance and it should serve my DW well.

 

[Paulz]

I would definitely dump.

If you need advice, Dan Wiener/Jeff DeMaso have "The Independent Adviser for Vanguard" newsletter that is somewhat helpful. I paid $60 a year for 3 years for it, but their prices are all over the map. It's been as high as $290 a year, so if it's a bad price just wait a week!

 

[ohsusana]

To kgtest -
"FIRE in 2031 @ 50yrs old (+/- 2yrs) w/ a hypothetical $2.5mil portfolio, 3 appreciated homes worth $1.0mil and rental income to fund my gap years until RMD. Assets will go to an inherited IRA where I plan on watching the investments grow until I die or the trust gets executed. "


What is an inherited IRA? One you set up for YOUR heirs?

 

[RobbieB]

Nah, one that you inherit.

 

[ohsusana]

I was not aware you could "add" to any inherited IRA. Where are you getting your info?

 

[travelover]

............
If you need advice, Dan Wiener/Jeff DeMaso have "The Independent Adviser for Vanguard" newsletter that is somewhat helpful................

In my experience, people that know how to invest do so, profit and live well. People that don't actually know how to invest write newsletters and give seminars on investing. YMMV

 

[target2019]

I cancelled the PAS today. I am on my own now!
I am hopeful that when important decisions need to be made, I can get some good advice here. Thanks everybody!

OP, that was a fine decision. 100's of forum advisors are standing by for your call!


Keeping basic facts about the portfolio in a spreadsheet can be very helpful, too.

 

[target2019]

To kgtest -
"FIRE in 2031 @ 50yrs old (+/- 2yrs) w/ a hypothetical $2.5mil portfolio, 3 appreciated homes worth $1.0mil and rental income to fund my gap years until RMD. Assets will go to an inherited IRA where I plan on watching the investments grow until I die or the trust gets executed. "

What is an inherited IRA? One you set up for YOUR heirs?

I was not aware you could "add" to any inherited IRA. Where are you getting your info?

The information you have put between quotation marks does not appear in this thread.

What the statement means, in any event, is that the the individual is currently contributing to an IRA, and one day that IRA will be inherited by other(s).

I suggest you start a thread about yourself, your goals, and so on. It helps a lot.

 

[Bestwifeever]

The information you have put between quotation marks does not appear in this thread.

What the statement means, in any event, is that the the individual is currently contributing to an IRA, and one day that IRA will be inherited by other(s).

I suggest you start a thread about yourself, your goals, and so on. It helps a lot.

Yes, it's in kgtests's signature--see post 3 here. I also wondered how putting one's assets into an IRA worked, regardless of whether one inherited the IRA or plans to have one's own IRA be inherited.

 

[target2019]

Yes, it's in kgtests's signature--see post 3 here. I also wondered how putting one's assets into an IRA worked, regardless of whether one inherited the IRA or plans to have one's own IRA be inherited.

"I see nothing!" - Sgt. Schultz

 

[eba1225]

I agree to drop the adviser at this time, maybe in a couple years get them back. I am a big proponent of Vanguard and have all of my non Pension assets there >600k. I find that it is best to look at their full fund listing and pick a could funds that are lower risk with a good track record over the past year and past 10 years to invest in.

 

[Bestwifeever]

"I see nothing!" - Sgt. Schultz

Looks like kgtest has destroyed the evidence by editing the signature.

"Interesting, very interesting." - Wolfgang (Arte Johnson's German soldier)

 

[davidfin]

I recently transferred a combined $500K assets from Fidelity’s bond fund, various CDs and cash in sweep accts to a Fidelity Separately Managed Account (SMA) consisting of individual bonds selected by Fidelity advisors (probably automated in a back room somewhere). Gains are a bit higher, greater transparency, know each IR & maturity etc. with half the expenses. So far so good.

 

[teej1985]

I recently transferred a combined $500K assets from Fidelity’s bond fund, various CDs and cash in sweep accts to a Fidelity Separately Managed Account (SMA) consisting of individual bonds selected by Fidelity advisors (probably automated in a back room somewhere). Gains are a bit higher, greater transparency, know each IR & maturity etc. with half the expenses. So far so good.

How do you have half the expenses with a SMA vs doing it yourself?

 

[almost there]

Vanguard was great 20-30 yrs ago.
After 20+ yrs. I left them all together.
And never looked back.

 

[davidfin]

The majority of funds were invested in Fidelity FTBFX. The fees charged for the SMA are half the fees charged in FTBF Total Bond fund.

 

[teej1985]

The majority of funds were invested in Fidelity FTBFX. The fees charged for the SMA are half the fees charged in FTBF Total Bond fund.

That's interesting. I Guess FTBFX does have high fees for a bond fund. Did you not want to use an index fund for bonds? Edit: FBTBX has 45bps fees, the Fidelity bond SMA are 35bps-40bps.