Looking for a fixed fee financial planner in N. IL/S. WI to review our plan

[Anthonyin2022]

My wife and I feel we are very close to pulling the trigger. I am DEFINITELY ready from a mega-corp BS perspective! Financially, we also believe we are close. I am in the process of writing a post detailing our financial facts and plan that I am hoping the vets here will pressure test.

While I finalize that, we also thought it would be smart to run our plan by an advisor that has some familiarity with a long early retirement (I am 45 and my wife is 51). Does anyone have positive experiences with an advisor in Northern Illinois or Southern Wisconsin that they can share?

Thank you!

 

[CRLLS]

I can't help you.

I would think that you will probably find more experience/advice here on FIRE than any one advisor can provide to you. I guess that is what your next post is going to look for. I will say that the 1st answers will be to use several of the more involved calculators like I-Orp, FireCalc, Fidelity's planner and others.

The problem you will find is nobody will "know" what to fill in for the assumptions needed to check your plan.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

Wishing you luck on this. I did digging for this and I got the following: crickets, our fixed fee is a percentage of assets, and we only do long relationships we dont do 1 time looks. So I washed my hands of it and am doing it myself

 

[OldShooter]

Garrett Planning Network and napfa.org seem to get positive reviews around here, but I have no personal experience. My understanding is that both offer referrals to FAs who will do financial planning on a fee-for-service basis.

Any time you get a name, go here first: https://brokercheck.finra.org/ Look for Series 65 or Series 66 licenses and also check for "Disclosures."

 

[Ready]

I would post your information here first and see what responses you get. Even if you eventually hire an FA, the questions and comments you get here will allow you to be more informed when interviewing potential FAs to see if they have the right experience to meet your needs.

 

[VanWinkle]

Garrett Planning Network and napfa.org seem to get positive reviews around here, but I have no personal experience. My understanding is that both offer referrals to FAs who will do financial planning on a fee-for-service basis.

Any time you get a name, go here first: https://brokercheck.finra.org/ Look for Series 65 or Series 66 licenses and also check for "Disclosures."

+1 on Garrett Planning, no first hand experience, but I have heard of others having a good experience.

 

[38Chevy454]

If you are 45 and 51, and considering retirement, you obviously have done something right over the past 25-ish years. I think you can do it yourself, especially with some help of people on the board here. Try some specific questions, with as much supporting data as you can. You will likely get a few opinions, but in the end the replies should help you formulate a path or plan that you can do yourself.


Depending on your assets level, the big brokerage firms offer free advisor services that you can utilize. They may not provide exact detailed choices, but can give you guidance and a trained perspective review.

 

[Markola]

Who is your brokerage or retirement plan administrator? They might offer free planning over the phone if there is a certain amount under management. Vanguard, Fidelity and Schwab do this and likely others. I think it’s $50K minimum assets at Vanguard, the last I checked. Otherwise, the Garret Network referenced above is respected.

 

[jollystomper]

Have you checked if your Megacorp offers access to a financial planning company as an employee benefit? Some do.

 

[Hopeful]

We used a Garret Network Planner in SE WI a couple years back. I more wanted a second opinion, and the wife was considering going part time. We were happy with the service, and no attempt to sell anything or AUM. Just a one time fee. I will send you more detailed info via PM.

 

[OldShooter]

@ Anthonyin2022 be sure you know what you want in an advisor. Two types of advisor are confused here all the time, including in this thread:

Investment Advisor deals (guess what?) only with investments. This is the main type of advice you get from the brokerage houses. Narrow scope. Typically the free advice you get here at ER.org is focused on investments.

Financial Advisor has much broader scope, including tax planning, saving strategies like 529s, spending and SS strategies, advise and badger you until you do an estate plan, insurance advice, ... Basically covering the whole of your financial life.

 

[Anthonyin2022]

I can't help you.

I would think that you will probably find more experience/advice here on FIRE than any one advisor can provide to you. I guess that is what your next post is going to look for. I will say that the 1st answers will be to use several of the more involved calculators like I-Orp, FireCalc, Fidelity's planner and others.

The problem you will find is nobody will "know" what to fill in for the assumptions needed to check your plan.

I agree completely. I am always fearful of missing something, so I was thinking to to do the advisor route in addition to the advice here (If I could find one that I felt was sincere and also understood our fact pattern and plan). I've used the different tools and will include the results in my soon to come plan review post. I am looking forward to everyone's feedback there!

 

[Anthonyin2022]

Garrett Planning Network and napfa.org seem to get positive reviews around here, but I have no personal experience. My understanding is that both offer referrals to FAs who will do financial planning on a fee-for-service basis.

Any time you get a name, go here first: https://brokercheck.finra.org/ Look for Series 65 or Series 66 licenses and also check for "Disclosures."

Thank you. I will check them out.

 

[Anthonyin2022]

I would post your information here first and see what responses you get. Even if you eventually hire an FA, the questions and comments you get here will allow you to be more informed when interviewing potential FAs to see if they have the right experience to meet your needs.

Very good advice. Thank you. My plan post is coming soon!

 

[Anthonyin2022]

Who is your brokerage or retirement plan administrator? They might offer free planning over the phone if there is a certain amount under management. Vanguard, Fidelity and Schwab do this and likely others. I think it’s $50K minimum assets at Vanguard, the last I checked. Otherwise, the Garret Network referenced above is respected.

Yep, we have Vanguard. I spoke to them and the review was very cookie-cutter. Maybe I am more knowledgeable than I thought and need to trust myselfn a bit more. Thank you very much for the help.

 

[Anthonyin2022]

@ Anthonyin2022 be sure you know what you want in an advisor. Two types of advisor are confused here all the time, including in this thread:

Investment Advisor deals (guess what?) only with investments. This is the main type of advice you get from the brokerage houses. Narrow scope. Typically the free advice you get here at ER.org is focused on investments.

Financial Advisor has much broader scope, including tax planning, saving strategies like 529s, spending and SS strategies, advise and badger you until you do an estate plan, insurance advice, ... Basically covering the whole of your financial life.

Thank you OldShooter. I did not think about that. I definitely think I would want the latter in order to do a "Am I missing anything" review.