What price for convenience

[Arc]

I'm with all of you folks as it relates to advisors and their fees. With that said, how much are you willing to pay annually - in % of assets - for the convenience of having it all in one place - one statement - easy tax prep - one belly button to push? The question assumes you are Ok with the returns, allocation and the person.

 

[REWahoo]

I'm with all of you folks as it relates to advisors and their fees. With that said, how much are you willing to pay annually - in % of assets - for the convenience of having it all in one place - one statement - easy tax prep - one belly button to push? The question assumes you are Ok with the returns, allocation and the person.

$0, 0%.

No matter how "Ok with the returns, allocation and the person" I was, I'm already paying fees to Vanguard and Dodge & Cox to manage my investments. No way am I willing to pay for another layer of unnecessary management simply for the sake of convenience.

Control freak? Maybe...

 

[MooreBonds]

$0, 0%.

No matter how "Ok with the returns, allocation and the person" I was, I'm already paying fees to Vanguard and Dodge & Cox to manage my investments. No way am I willing to pay for another layer of unnecessary management simply for the sake of convenience.

Control freak? Maybe...

A fellow "control freak" agreeing with the $0, 0% answer.

Hey, I don't clip coupons or scan grocery store ads to save $800/year, just to turn around and fork out thousands of $ to some fruitcake who knows less about investing and personal finance than I do, and who isn't really doing anything for me. Besides - I keep all of my tracking data in Excel, so there really isn't that much of a need to have it all in one place. Logging into different websites a few times a year to see my mutual fund balances isn't that much of a hassle to pay a fraction of my net worth to just log into one place.

 

[2B]

The salesmen investment advisors don't take rejection easily and I've known many people that keep their funds somewhere with a 1 to 1 1/2% fee because they've become "friends" with the advisor. I think that's part of their MO.

Mine is nearly 0,0 but I must confess that I have some Vanguard funds at my Etrade account that would qualify for Admiral level if I moved the assets. Etrade won't allow new purchases of Admiral shares. I assume that's part of how they make money off of us. Anyway, that works out to a couple of hundred dollars per year in extra mutual fund fees. I am considering moving these assets but I like having everything on one statement.

 

[Arc]

More info on this particular issue. Retired relative had money all over the place - was very difficult to get a handle on net worth , total investments, tax planning or asset allocation. Dollars were spread out among Mutual Funds, 403b plans, Insurance policies, etc..... Relative was very active investor but had grown weary of hassle required to manage all the accounts.

Ended up going with National City - the Investor Group - and after a rough start, came across a guy who just did a fantastic job at bringing it all under one roof where we can now make some more informed decisions. All good stuff. Now that things have settled down and the other hassles are gone, the management fees on the monthly statement sting a little to me - not necessarily my relative though. Was just interested in your guys thoughts.
Thanks for the input.

 

[audreyh1]

I'm with all of you folks as it relates to advisors and their fees. With that said, how much are you willing to pay annually - in % of assets - for the convenience of having it all in one place - one statement - easy tax prep - one belly button to push? The question assumes you are Ok with the returns, allocation and the person.

All you have to do is roll over your assets to one mutual fund company that has low, low cost mutual funds. Put all your money in one low-cost balanced fund, or one target retirement fund. Then you'll have super low cost, no need to manage your assets, and a simple tax statement.

Audrey

 

[youbet]

I'm with all of you folks as it relates to advisors and their fees. With that said, how much are you willing to pay annually - in % of assets - for the convenience of having it all in one place - one statement - easy tax prep - one belly button to push? The question assumes you are Ok with the returns, allocation and the person.

Arc, you didn't really ask your question correctly. You should have asked "how much are you willing to pay annually - in % of assets - to have an advisor manage your money?"

You are paying the fees for the advisor, NOT for having your assets all at one place.

 

[Jake46]

Put me in the $0, 0% camp. I have all my investments with Fidelity and Vanguard. It's not that hard to get the information I need whenever I need it.
Jake46

 

[Alan]

Put me in the $0, 0% camp. I have all my investments with Fidelity and Vanguard. It's not that hard to get the information I need whenever I need it.
Jake46

Ditto. all our investments are with Fidelity and Vanguard.

 

[Moemg]

I'm with Vanguard .They answer all my questions and I don't even hear them snicker.

 

[LOL!]

I would not pay anything because one can do this all for free. One can move assets around "in kind" if you like. I just moved some of my long-held American Century stuff to my WellsFargo brokerage account in-kind which reduced my mailings by one.

WF is happy to hold all my assets and is happy to let me buy/sell funds and stocks for no commission -- even Vanguard funds.

Vanguard has great tools for asset allocation, so I'm not giving up my Vanguard account. One can enter all outside assets as well to get the total picture on asset allocation. I highly recommend this.

I also like some of the tools at TDAmeritrade, so the buy-and-hold ETFs I have there will be kept there, but I no longer do any buys/sells there because the commission is not $0.

 

[FinanceDude]

Why ask this forum

 

[2B]

Why ask this forum

For once, I totally agree with you.

 

[bssc]

Ameriprise. I don't have an advisor, get free trades and one monthly statement.