Estimated fee to review plan?

[ecowtent]

I had planned to have someone review my spreadsheet and estimates closer to retirement date. However, we are moving up our FIRE date. A friend's husband has offered to review for free since we are friends. I don't want him to do it for free as he is a an investment advisor and is due for his service. But I have no idea what is reasonable as we have not paid for this service. Is this based on asset amount?

[cathy63]

It depends on what kind of advisor he is. If he's a money manager, he takes over his clients' accounts and charges a percentage of the assets under management each year. These guys do free reviews as a way to drum up business, so this is probably what he's offering. He might not go for the hard sell since you are friends, but for anyone else, he'd be trying to convince them to put their money under his management and the "advice" he would give would be tailored to show how having him manage your money is to your benefit.

If he's a fee-only financial planner, then he charges an hourly rate for this type of review and advice. If this is how he works and he's offering you his professional services for free, then you could repay him with a nice gift or by taking him and his spouse out to dinner.

Do you want someone you socialize with to be so intimately familiar with your finances? I think this would be uncomfortable for me.

[ecowtent]

He isn't actually my friend and we don't hang out as couples. Based on feedback from other friends, he does not share information with his wife.

[foxfirev5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecowtent He isn't actually my friend and we don't hang out as couples. Based on feedback from other friends, he does not share information with his wife.

If this isn't a red flag nothing will be. You're not trolling us or are you?

[Aerides]

A friend, or a friend of a friend, etc., would be too close for comfort for me. I'd just find a fiduciary at a good financial firm, and pay the going rate.

If you still want to go with this not-exactly-a-friend, I think most of these run about 2-500 per hour, flat fee, not based on AUM.

[ecowtent]

Thank you. I was hoping less than $500. I tend to be a bit on the cheap side.

Fox fire...I am not sure why you would think I am trolling, but your response is exactly why I don’t post much. Maybe you could avoid responding to my posts.

[jazz4cash]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecowtent He isn't actually my friend and we don't hang out as couples. Based on feedback from other friends, he does not share information with his wife.

Huh?

[jazz4cash]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cathy63 Do you want someone you socialize with to be so intimately familiar with your finances? I think this would be uncomfortable for me.

This would be #1 concern for me. Even if it isn’t someone I personally socialize with, I wouldn’t be comfortable with anyone I considered family or friend. Plus I don’t like accepting favors and if you did start a financial relationship with someone like that it could be difficult to sever if the service was not acceptable.

[ecowtent]

Jazz4cash-that is my biggest concern. I see the wife at book club, but not much more. I wouldn’t want to be uncomfortable if he does a review for free and he expects future business. I really only need a review for my husband to be comfortable to move up my retirement date.

[travelover]

Have you run Firecalc? it is free and one of the best. https://firecalc.com/

[ecowtent]

Travelover- Yes I have and many others recommended by wonderful folks on this forum. All of my calculations have us at high probability of success. Our budget is 80k and 50k of the budget will come from a pension (as long as IL doesn’t go under). TY.

[mn54]

if you have your investments at Fido maybe a cfp at your local branch could look things over and give his/her opinion.

[RobbieB]

Keep your finances well away from "friends and family" Keep your friends friendly and your family close.

By not knowing anything about your dough.

[SecondCor521]

You could probably get better feedback and analysis for free by posting your details here.

[Bamaman]

My sister and brother in law once paid a wealth management firm to go through their retirement portfolio, and in return for $10K they got back a fancy booklet and a rather simple plan of action. After one more year and $10K more, they decided it was easier to copy that outfit's asset allocation and make the decisions on their own for free.

One of my nephew's best friends is a broker at a big regional investment firm. When all the other kids were playing basketball, he was reading the Wall Street Journal and working his family's money in the equity markets. He's been very successful at working my family's portfolio--and been given free rein. It's worked for them.

[Sunset]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SecondCor521 You could probably get better feedback and analysis for free by posting your details here.

+1
Exactly what I was thinking.

[gamboolman]

eco,

As others have recommended in responses above, you can post your information here and on Bogleheads and you will get responses for your review and consideration. Recommend you look at similar posts from other folks and use a similar format to the posts that are presented clearly and with enough information to allow useful and constructive responses.

As far as a paid professional advisor, we have used Mr. Rick Feri multiple times as we were preparing for retirement. We do recommend Mr. Feri and his fee/cost is very reasonable.

[RobinWyman75]

500$ for total I think is reasonable if he isn’t expecting any $

[Exchme]

The big risk is that your not-quite-friend will be friendly, confident and persuasive, and push you to put your assets under his management and then sell you high fee, low return products. I agree with the posters above that this forum and bogleheads are the places to post to get feedback. There are a lot of highly successful people and some true experts on these forums. They may not all agree on everything, but you will learn a lot, which is really the main point.

Successful investing is not complicated, the financial industry just wants to convince you that it is so they can steal your pants.

[travelover]

If you pay for a consultation you will get a fat book of graphs, charts and boiler plate verbiage that you will only read once, if that. Ultimately, all you want is reassurance.


I'd post my details here and on Bogleheads and filter the comments to pick out anything you'd overlooked. The sad truth is that if you have enough, most anyone can just invest in a target date fund at Vanguard or Fidelity and go to sleep.