Interesting. My journey is similar. Started on City Data, but got dismayed that their retirement forum is almost exclusively about issues affecting senior citizens... and at the time, I was a full generation younger. Meanwhile, their financial forum is dominated by speculation... not buy-and-hold for eventual retirement.I found this forum from the City Data retirement forum. Someone there mentioned the Early retirement forum. (Mathjak I believe…) and I immediately took a look and so glad I did! I retired at 59 (two whole weeks ago…!!) welcome
Wowza, in loco parentis, eh?Retired for a few years before I found this site. What this site has done for us has been tremendous. Because of this site, we left Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and now we DIY. We have paid about $200K in management fees between Fidelity (early on) and then Merrill Lynch. We love having full control of our funds, sell when we need money, without needing to ask FA to send us money.
Asking our FA to send us money was the most annoying aspect of having ML manage our funds. I don't think they did a bad job with asset allocation etc, but now just with a keyboard, we can sell and buy whatever we want. For instance, this morning, I finally got rid of all the bonds (legacy from ML days) from my son's account. I also manage his account for him now.Wowza, in loco parentis, eh?
Welcome to the forum. You're in friendly area for 56 year old retirement. I retired 3 years earlier at 53. If the numbers say you're good, then jump into retirement.
[...] Because of this site, we left Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and now we DIY. We have paid about $200K in management fees [...].
The only reason retiring at 57 is a bad idea is if at 57 you have insufficient assets/unearned income to cover your expenses if or your entire identity is wrapped up in your professional career with nothing to retire to. Applies to all ages.
No, it's not worth it. But what I'm finding - partially as a result of this forum, partially from other considerations - is that what one might need, is some combination of tax accountant and maybe attorney. The investment-side of financial life is easily handled, if one is patient and amenable to passive style, such as the Boglehead 3-fund portfolio. Investing is the easy part! Handling other financial matters, is less amenable to passive approach... and maybe that's where professional advice is more appropriate.When I mentioned how I handle my investments, he was sincere and said they do not do that. I think I need an FA to help me with taxes and convince me that the numbers support retirement plans. Is the normal 1% yearly fee still worth that?
No, a 1% yearly fee is not a good thing.This is my debacle as I mentioned in my previous post. When I met with a Financial Advisor I asked what will I get for the fee that I will be paying for passive investment service. So I asked, we meet for the first time, and you tell me what? He said people need to understand they should get paid for services and I asked him to provide an example. That was an interesting conversation. I think I have a good handle on investments. We have no debts, no mortgage on the house, will have a pension income and access to my Traditional and Roth IRA. We are very frugal with our pension covering approximately 85-90% of expenses.
When I mentioned how I handle my investments, he was sincere and said they do not do that. I think I need an FA to help me with taxes and convince me that the numbers support retirement plans. Is the normal 1% yearly fee still worth that?