-It is not hard to do this investing by yourself. There are good resources here and people who will provide solid advice--and the advice will be totally without conflict of interest (something that cannot be said about most FAs or any broker).
- As a rule of thumb, most studies and models say that a typical 50-65 YO retiree can withdraw about 4% of their money every year to support their living expenses without much fear of running out. If you are paying an "advisor" 1% per year in direct fees and higher costs on the funds they've selected (which is probably on the low side, many charge much more), it has to come out of that 4% withdrawal. In other words, your annual spending money will be reduced by 25% if you use such an advisor. I don't know about you, but I didn't squirrel away money over my working life just to give 25% of my annual take to somebody who does about 5 hours of work for me every year. And, really, that's all it takes.
Further, even if you stick with this advisor, you like him, and he does a good job at very low cost--someday he'll retire or move to another job, and your funds will be "managed" by somebody else. How will you know if they are ripping you off? Once you learn a few basic things you can easily do this yourself for decades, save a ton of money, and know that no one is taking advantage of you. It's very empowering, and a very good use of your time.
Your wife will need to be aboard or you can just forget the whole thing, at least with regard to her money. Still, you could manage your own funds for a few years, then she'd likely gain confidence in the idea of breaking from her FA (especially once she understands what she's paying and what she's getting).
