financial advisors?

[albireo13]

I was wondering how many folks use financial advisors?
and who do you use?

We currently use Raymond James but, plan to move out of it to self-sustaining funds at Fido or Vanguard.

 

[retire48in2018]

Very few here use advisors.

If you do, recommend someone who is fee based, not % of assets, etc. it is recommended to learn and DIY. Perhaps an advisor who can teach you as you select funds and begin to DIY.


It can be as simple as selecting a total stock market index fund (or ETF) and/or a target fund (which includes some bonds).

 

[Trooper]

Good move. You'll find lower cost and more tax-efficient fund choices there. This site is a wealth of non-biased information to guide you going forward. Good luck!

 

[racy]

We used a Garrett Financial fee-only advisor once in 2009, mostly to see if what we were doing was OK. And it was. Last year I simplified our portfolio down to 2 balanced funds, so all rebalancing is automatic. We have no need to pay for a FA.

 

[Car-Guy]

I have one with Schwab, no fee, but rarely use them.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

The biggest advantage that I see with an advisor is when an investor needs discipline and patience. (panic prevention)

I had an advisor start helping me about 25 years ago. I realized I didn't need to pay someone 1.5% a year to put me in 4 or 5 expensive mutual funds. About 15 years ago I started putting all of our new money in an account with Vanguard. Much lower expense and better performance to boot.

Our two children are young adults in their 20's. I set them up at Vanguard with a Roth IRA and a brokerage account. They fill the Roth using monthly automatic payments and add to the brokerage accounts as they can. The Roth is fully invested in Vanguard Total Stock Fund. The brokerage account is in the Tax Managed Total Stock Fund.

I would challenge any financial planner to keep up with this simple approach over the next 35 years.

 

[scrabbler1]

I have an Account Executive with Fidelity. There is no fee for this service, as it is available to those with a sufficiently high account balance. It is nice to have someone familiar with me and my portfolio to bounce ideas (and complaints) off once in a while, and not have to explain everything to a brand new CS rep on the phone or on line. He showed me how to better navigate the website, a useful tool.

 

[albireo13]

Our advisor was useful to us a few years ago when we had a lot of moving financial parts and I was going through the retirement transition. He has my IRA in all low ER ETFs which is good.
The 1% AUM fee hurts though.

 

[albireo13]

We used a Garrett Financial fee-only advisor once in 2009, mostly to see if what we were doing was OK. And it was. Last year I simplified our portfolio down to 2 balanced funds, so all rebalancing is automatic. We have no need to pay for a FA.

I am curious ... what balanced funds did you end up with?

I am doing my research into this right now.

 

[racy]

I am curious ... what balanced funds did you end up with?....

I chose VASGX Life Strategy Growth and VWIAX Wellesley.
Disclaimer-I'm not a financial advisor, so caveat emptor

 

[SnowballCamper]

After being taken to the cleaners with a load MF salesman when I first started investing, I'll never have a regular investment advisor ever again. Not that they are *all* bad, but the industry was built on commission sales. The academic research is clear that buy and hold index investing is better for the long term.

If I do get to a point where I need expertise that I can't figure out on my own, I'll find a fee only fiduciary advisor.

FYI my initial education was reading here https://www.altruistfa.com/readingroom.htm

The Boogleheads wiki is a popular, free place to start, https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Getting_started I think it is worth the time to personally evaluate The Efficient Market Hypothesis for yourself. The extent to which you believe it drives your investing style.

 

[RetiredAt49]

FA’s are on par with used car salesmen. I was bamboozled for a couple of years and used an AUM 1.25% “wealth management company”…. I’ve posted about it here at length but save your hard earned money and put it in low cost index ETF’s (VTI, VOO, QQQ) and enjoy!

 

[pacergal]

We have one, local private office. She was with my folks and helped with all of the estate stuff after last parent died. She has also helped us move our work stuff over so we have everything in one place. We meet with her once a year to review.
She is very good, not expensive, CPA, certified Financial Planner.

 

[arcyallen]

I was an FA for six years with Edward Jones and still have my account with them. I am basically running my account, but get a bit of input from my FA. While I am not a fan of paying a % a year for advice and service, I know they can provide some great insight and benefits. I strongly recommend interviewing people at several firms (and possibly several people at your firm of choice) to see who you're most comfortable with. And I suggest asking a simple question: If I'm paying you $x/year, what I am I getting for that?

And then listen to the answer.

 

[OnTheBeach]

I use a wealth management firm for a portion of my assets and keep the remainder at Vanguard. I am charged 60bps but (1) have access to investments that I can't get on my own (Private Equity) (2) free legal/estate planning and (3) investment advice that I can use when managing my own portfolio. I find that the amount paid is worth the value of the advice received. But I agree that for most people, a diversified portfolio of mutual funds and ETFs is sufficient.

 

[rwdflynavy]

No advisor. We are pure index investors, so it is just set and forget.

 

[mrfeh]

I am curious ... what balanced funds did you end up with?

I am doing my research into this right now.

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bogleheads®_investing_start-up_kit

 

[savory]

When I started b4 learning from this and other sites, I used 2 investment companies. I do not regret it as I learned from them too. I also tried a robo investor . Now I am self directed.

The one thing I seem to do differently from most is my FIs were 90% into buying individual stocks. So while I was charged a fee, I was not charged an additional fee for a portfolio made up of mutual funds. End of the year performance was measured against the index after commission. In the years I followed this plan, I ended up around the index after commission.

Since achieving index was the end result and a good goal for my life plan, I decided index investing reduces individual stock risk. To be fully transparent, I still own some stocks from that period given their continued growth and capital gains.

 

[Toocold]

I also use an assigned account executive from fidelity just to bounce ideas and hear their perspectives. No additional fees. I very much appreciate it.

 

[rmorris50]

We use a financial advisor and it’s been helpful because my spouse and I needed a financial referee/coach. Otherwise we might have never gotten married. My husband is not financially literate, so if I kick the bucket he knows to go to the advisor, who we trust. Over the years the discipline the advisor instilled was worth the cost. We went from zero net worth to $3m with our advisor over the course of 15 years.

I also am pretty senior in the finance industry and financial employers can have many rules about doing your own trading and investing. So it’s easier to have managed separate accounts with an advisor doing the investing and trading for you, of course without my direct input.

We use Ameriprise, because they were one of few companies to openly advertise to LGBTQ community at the time.

 

[pjm-7]

My advisor is me. I was a CFP for 30 years. I am my own best client.

 

[pb4uski]

+1. Me. Retired CPA/MBA with a life long interest in personal finance and investing. Manage our money and my parent's trusts and DM's IRAs.

 

[Markola]

We use a financial advisor and it’s been helpful because my spouse and I needed a financial referee/coach. Otherwise we might have never gotten married. My husband is not financially literate, so if I kick the bucket he knows to go to the advisor, who we trust.

Yep. DW and I have different spending styles and levels of financial interest/literacy, so it’s been a relief to me to have an assigned Vanguard advisor. I’m not the one saying yes or no to this or that. Rather, a neutral 3rd party helps us identify our various needs, goals and wants and uses math and data persuasively to keep us on track together.

Also, it’s cheap “mistake prevention insurance” for my own proclivity to make trades based on what I think is certainly coming thanks to reading the newspaper. That almost never works, so instead, paying 30 basis points to ensure that I do absolutely nothing actually has a very high ROI over time compared to even one dumb trade.

 

[DrRoy]

I had one but fired him. Follow your plan to Fido.

 

[Badger]

The closest I have come to a financial advisor was listening to a couple of radio shows with Dave Ramsey in 2005. He offered to have one of his financial representatives do a free analysis of my investments which was fairly comprehensive. It was presented in a nicely bound book complete with suggested changes in MF.
I thanked him, disregarded the advice, and kept the book. He also said I was doing fine with the program I was using.
I guess that would mean my answer is NO. I have always managed with my own plan along with some of the advice offered here.
Retired for 11 years and so far it has been working well.

Cheers!