Hiring a retirement planner

meleana said:
I interviewed several financial advisors/planners and bottom line I went with a fee only planner affiliated with the Garrett Network. He interviewed us (and us- him) and developed a plan holistically that is in line with not only our investments, but with our plans for this stage of life, including health, insurances, relocating, Social Security, Medicare, hobbies, family, taxes, Roth conversions, ACA insurance, etc etc. . He does not handle our money- I do that. He charges us an annual fee of $1000 as needed. I can't remember exactly but I think the initial plan was something like $1500. He also has another fee structure where you can pay like $200 per hour instead of annual.


Definitely worth it! I didn't ask too many questions other than the fee structure and the handling of money, and background, etc. I did more listening and went with my gut. I wanted someone who's style would jive with my husband's and my personality as well. Our guy is soft, low key and a true fee only planner. Easy to speak with. We call him, do emails and zoom calls since we moved out of state after hiring him (which he helped us to do!).
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I was going to recommend the Garrett Network of planners and I was a CFP back in the day.
 
The only thing you are going to get for $1000 is a set of advice that amounts to "don't be stupid and do stupid things." As for "investment advice", they will either give you a cookie-cutter set if index funds or steer you to high-fee mutual funds that they get a commission from.

So maybe if you are very unsure financially, that $1000 would be well spent, to get advice on what stupid things to avoid. But you can get all that for free by reading a few web sites, including this one and/or a few books.
 
rayvt said:
The only thing you are going to get for $1000 is a set of advice that amounts to "don't be stupid and do stupid things." As for "investment advice", they will either give you a cookie-cutter set if index funds or steer you to high-fee mutual funds that they get a commission from.

So maybe if you are very unsure financially, that $1000 would be well spent, to get advice on what stupid things to avoid. But you can get all that for free by reading a few web sites, including this one and/or a few books.
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So not true. In our case very personalized with a fee only planner and he doesn't manage our funds- I do. I picked all of them. He did a comprehensive plan based on our individualized needs and goals.
 
Out-to-Lunch said:
But this tool does not address which accounts to draw from at which times, does it? I have used it for a long time. I just re-ran it and poked around after reading your post, but see nothing on withdrawal strategies...
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You are correct, it does not address withdrawal strategies. I would assume tools like the Fidelity RIP avoid that type of advice because the single biggest factor in formulating a withdrawal strategy is future tax rates. I can understand that and plan on taking a mixture of withdrawals, careful not to keep too much accumulating pre tax.

Given that the order of withdrawals is based on a largely unknown factor, I do not believe in paying for that advice.
 
Order of withdrawals is one of my biggest questions. I already have an idea, but I'd like a second set of eyes to ensure I didn't miss a gotcha somewhere. The last three "planners" I interviewed wouldn't help me with that unless I went AUM. The planner I interviewed yesterday said "you are really looking for an hourly planner and there are very few of those left. We used to do it, but no longer.".

He was also infuriating in many other ways, took 15 minutes to show me using his fancy whiteboard why drawing down now from qualified or converting to Roth was super important before SS. I told him twice that I already knew that and had been doing conversions, but he just wanted to make sure I had the education he could offer me. (Quote) And wouldn't go on to more important questions. Pure Financial is the name of the firm, btw,)

Love their podcast, Your Money Your Wealth. The free initial assessment they offer, however��*♂️��is a crapshoot.
 
I love this guy - fee only planner, you pay for a plan upfront (a few years ago it was $1000 or so and then we check in every year or so for an hourly rate for a two hour meeting. He also has a podcast and a book on tax planning.



https://forthrightfinances.com/
 
Spock said:
1. I wouldn't blindly trust what an advisor suggested anyway.

2. There are tools such as i-orp that will spit out a draw down plan and it's free.

"Measure with a micrometer. Mark with chalk. Cut with an axe."
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i-orp is offline and may not be coming back.
 
I am peripherally familiar with Jim Saulnier and Associates only from listening to The Retirement and IRA Show, a bi-weekly podcast focused on various aspects of retirement planning. Based on the podcasts, the team seems very knowledgeable. I know that tax planning is an important part of what they do. I don’t know the degree to which they will do planning only vs planning and asset management. You might find it worthwhile to listen to a few of their podcasts to see if they strike a chord with you.

This will take you to their web site: https://www.jimhelps.com/

Just to be clear, I have no first-hand experience with this firm but I do know from their podcasts that their focus is retirement planning. No knowledge of their fees.
 
ncbill said:
Might consider Planvision, gets good feedback over at bogleheads.

IIRC, under $250 for first year, ~$100/year after that.

Gets you access to e-money.
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+1

There's no hand holding. You have to have some idea of what you're doing and also input/maintain the eMoney data. But if you want someone to look over your shoulder, make suggestions, and check your math, they are great. The eMoney reports are fantastic. Heck, I'd pay the monthly maintenance fee of $8 just for eMoney.
 
Fidelity assigned me an advisor a few years ago for free. In our first call, he didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know. However, I reached out to him a couple of times with specific questions in the last year and he has been helpful. (Pension and w/d strategies)

I made it clear up front if this was a ploy to push something on me, it's a waste of time for both of us, but it hasn't been like that at all.

Fidelity seems to have some good retirement planning tools, too.
 
Got lots of helpful input in response to this question. So I just wanted to update with my experience. I did go ahead and pay for a retirement plan. So glad that I did.
- Value: it would have taken me a lot of effort to replicate. Definitely worth it.
- Peace of mind: I now have a base plan that I feel has been vetted and I can use it on my own with more confidence.
- Quality: there were a lot of nuances I would not have thought about. The planner gave me a viable option vs Roth conversions which is more tax advantageous.

Thanks, all, for the advice.
 
Good to know! Congrats on getting support that you appreciate. Would you mind sharing what type of planner? Was it someone at Fidelity or Vangaurd? A local CFP? A CPA maybe? An independent person with Fisher Investments?

I'm still looking. Any info is appreciated.
 
Lstansbury said:
Good to know! Congrats on getting support that you appreciate. Would you mind sharing what type of planner? Was it someone at Fidelity or Vangaurd? A local CFP? A CPA maybe? An independent person with Fisher Investments?
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I hired a CFP who specializes in retirement plan modelling. I requested models for various SS filing ages and a withdrawal strategy. I have a fairly complicated scenario in that I have Mega stock with a high NUA, my own ROTH and trad accounts, and inherited Roth and trad accounts which have RMDs.

The planner modeled these and ran a Monte Carlo simulation which I did not ask for but was reassuring. They also added some long term care for me and DW though my own plan is to engage in increasingly risky activities :cool:

Results:
- Yes, I can retire.
- I can spend more money than I thought but less than DW wants.
- Best option is to file at FRA.
- Roth conversions will result in higher lifetime taxes so they recommended moving the inherited RMDs into a regular brokerage account. I need to dig deeper on this to understand why and how much. I may opt for the Roth anyway.
- I got a better understanding of how low my balances might go in a high early spending profile. I will use the model to decide if we are ahead or behind plan before we make big spending decisions.
- I need to buy a retirement house and will have a mortgage. I have a better idea of what is affordable.
- Got some input on whether to retire at the beginning of the calendar year vs mid-year.

Net, I paid for anxiety reduction and education. I will have to work an extra week to pay for it but it was worth it for me.
 
Oh, and Mega offers me a free financial advisor who will look over the plan and give me a second opinion. That was a pleasant surprise.
 
"Roth conversions will result in higher lifetime taxes so they recommended moving the inherited RMDs into a regular brokerage account. I need to dig deeper on this to understand why and how much. I may opt for the Roth anyway."


Although you may convert your own traditional IRAs and 401ks to Roth IRAs, I do not believe you are ever allowed to convert an inherited IRA or 401k into a Roth.
 
N02L84ER said:
"Roth conversions will result in higher lifetime taxes so they recommended moving the inherited RMDs into a regular brokerage account. I need to dig deeper on this to understand why and how much. I may opt for the Roth anyway."


Although you may convert your own traditional IRAs and 401ks to Roth IRAs, I do not believe you are ever allowed to convert an inherited IRA or 401k into a Roth.
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You are correct. MrSmee has mixed up a couple of concepts. It is required that IRA RMDs (inherited or not) go to the taxable account. He can do Roth Conversions from his own 401K or traditional IRA. He could pay taxes on Roth Conversions either from taxable (replenished by those Inherited IRA RMDs) or by making additional withdrawals from the traditional IRA. If doing Roth Conversions, it's generally preferable to pay taxes from taxable. That allows more money to end up in the Roth and it reduces the taxable balance, so reduces the tax drag.
 
MrSmee said:
Got lots of helpful input in response to this question. So I just wanted to update with my experience. I did go ahead and pay for a retirement plan. So glad that I did.
- Value: it would have taken me a lot of effort to replicate. Definitely worth it.
- Peace of mind: I now have a base plan that I feel has been vetted and I can use it on my own with more confidence.
- Quality: there were a lot of nuances I would not have thought about. The planner gave me a viable option vs Roth conversions which is more tax advantageous.

Thanks, all, for the advice.
Click to expand...



Who did you use?
 
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