What are reasonable FA annual fees?

[flintnational]

And you're a moderator?

He is all we could get for the $250k salary.

 

[cbo111]

I've mentioned in previous threads that I use Vanguard VPAS to manage a chunk of my assets. But I only keep a portion in my managed account. In the self-managed account, I essentially mirror what the advisor has created in line with my desired AA. That way I get the utility of an advisor without paying the full .3% fee. So in essence I get a pretty decent service for about .15%. I imagine this is a fairly common technique used by others.

 

[travelover]

He is all we could get for the $250k salary.

Yea, but he is just in it for the money.

 

[socca]

Second, understand that "Investment Advisor" and "Financial Advisor" are frequently conflated. At places like Vanguard, you are getting basically an investment advisor. The scope of a financial advisor is much broader, including things like Social Security strategies, Roth vs TIRA strategies, advice on estate planning and other non-investment aspects of financial life. So you have to decide which you want.

Yep. For some high net worth folks, investment advice is really the least of their concerns. In some cases, there is an on-going business with complex operational and succession issues. There can be a "family office" with W2 employees that needs to be managed. There can be on-going lawsuits that need to be dealt with. There can be nasty squabbles among family members and various hangers-on / parasites. The list goes on and on.

 

[Bir48die]

It certainly appears that way.

OK. My bad. Just thought it was about directing a moving threads in a particular direction or making sure comments weren't moving in an unhealthy way.

 

[CaliKid]

There is a wide range of what financial professionals do. Comparing one v. another is apples and oranges without knowing what each does and what that client needs. Some people need/desire a ton of hand holding in all facets of their financial life. Some just want some direction on how their investments are invested. That's two totally different things. Each person should do what works for them.

I have self-managed, I have had full service, I have had a combo. I have used fee based, hourly based, AUM, and other "free" advisors that ripped me off with high front load fee mutual funds. I personally like the service and advice that the full service person and his team provides. I thus have moved to a mix. Some money is with a guy at Merrill which gives me help with all forms, private banking, investment advice, etc... but over half the money is on the Edge side where there is no fee. The Merrill guy helps with that side too for no fee... or for over-charging me on the half on the Merrill side. I have other money at TD but honestly I don't like doing stuff like executing trades myself so don't like that piece of my financial puzzle. I would rather pay for stuff. It works for me.

 

[Markola]

I've mentioned in previous threads that I use Vanguard VPAS to manage a chunk of my assets. But I only keep a portion in my managed account. In the self-managed account, I essentially mirror what the advisor has created in line with my desired AA. That way I get the utility of an advisor without paying the full .3% fee. So in essence I get a pretty decent service for about .15%. I imagine this is a fairly common technique used by others.

+1. We hired Vanguard Personal Advisor Services for the 3/4 of our assets already at Vanguard. I understand investing welll enough but the .3 is worth it to us, because:

1). I also understand myself and have observed that I tend to fiddle with my AA more than I should as I learn new things and try to “optimize”, risking mistakes. Our assigned VPAS advisor won’t fiddle, which means our “manager risk (me) is greatly reduced. Over time, that alone will probably make the .3 worth it.

2). My DW would rather do most anything than discuss money management, yet she has a big stake in it. She saved a third of our portfolio and should know where we stand. Having a quarterly check in call with a third party professional reduces pressure on me for being responsible for all our money, frankly, and puts us on a more equal footing as a couple. Plus, she automatically has help if something happens to me.

3). VPAS spends millions on their state of the art software and I just choose to trust my retirement future to it and their Dynamic Spending Model more than other calculators. Once FIREd, knowing me, I’d pick a new trendy spending model every couple of years, again risking mistakes; or risking even not spending enough, e.g staying rigidly under the 4% Rule when VPAS advises we could start retirement years earlier then safely spend more.

VPAS should help us follow Jack Bogle’s rule to stay the course.