Do you have a financial advisor?

[FLA]

If I ever went to one, it would be a fee-only advisor, but doubtful I'll ever go. For someone investing at my level, I feel like I can handle it with Bogle books and forums. I trust John Bogle and his company's advisors more than I would trust most financial planners after conversations with friends who use them. With Vanguard, when you hit a certain mark, you get to work with one of their financial advisors. Incredibly helpful, free and he even helped me with my 403B Vanguard funds, even though he was under no obligation to do that. I think you're supposed to get just one session but he gave me his number and in the past, I have checked in with him on small things.

[avil_saver36]

If you have a couple of million dollars of net worth, that's a starting point to having an actual advisor. Until then, if you don't trust the market, the sure way to get great returns on your money is to pay off all debts ASAP. You can take that advice for free

[amigo1989]

A wise choice.

Investing is not rocket science. When you run into a topic that isn't clear to you, folks over on bogleheads can assist you.

[financegeek]

I need advisor

There’s no such thing as a free lunch, and if you don’t understand the internal investment expenses, you may end up giving up some of your returns. Investors have access to more information than ever before and that's why I wouldn't I think that an advisor can help you adopt a strategy to protect your capital for retirement.

The main purpose of private wealth management for example is to safeguard and increase the present assets of the client by allocating a team to look after their financial interests. Investment consultants make up an intrinsic and indispensable part of such teams and provide personalized and dedicated consultancy to the customer.

[donald_s]

Important stuff

One thing that has always bothered me is how the financial services industry intentionally tries to make it difficult to figure out who does what.

If you are thinking about getting financial advice, keep a few things to keep in mind.

1. You want to work with a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) or a CPA. These are the most important initials that they have after their names. Why those? Because they are required by law to put your interests before their own. They cannot put you in an investment that benefits them to your detriment. All the other letters after their names *do not* guarantee that. CFP, CFA, etc, etc, doesn't mean they can't do what's in their own best interest.

2. You get what you pay for. There are some great 'robo-adviser' services out there that will give you some basic guidance for a very reasonable fee. But remember that it's basic. There is no nuances to that advice.

3. Be aware of the costs of the investments themselves. If an investment advisor puts you in mutual funds, those have their own management costs. An advisor who puts you in stocks, bonds, directly may charge a higher fee, but may be cheaper because they eliminate the middle man.

4. Be clear about what you want. If you just want investment advice or guidance, that's one thing. But often people want a complete financial plan. Someone who will help them figure out how much (if any) insurance they need, taking care of wills and trusts, how much to save for the kids for college, etc, etc. If that's what you need, I would highly recommend you go to NAPFA website (they won't let me post the link here yet). That's an organization of financial advisors who provide full service and are required to be fiduciaries (RIAs).

5. You can of course do it all yourself. Many people love doing that. If you have the temperament to run your own show, that's great. Save yourself some money. However, make sure it's something that you do with your eyes open. If you won't be consistent about it, if you'll sell when the news is bad after the market is down 20%, then buy when the news is all good after markets have run up 50% (and then buy what the hairdresser is buying) then I'd say get some help. In the long run it will save you money.


Hope that helps.

Donald

[zanalytics]

Re: Do you have a financial advisor?

If you have lots of works and can not get time to plan about imvestment, then definitely a financial adviser is required. Not only the time factor you should have the sufficient knowledge about every investment (where you want to investment) policies, their risks, returns etc, so you you do not have that knowledge in that situation financial adviser will help you to choose best investment policy. Best of luck..

[97guns]

My mom has been my only financial mentor and she has turned me into a real savvy investor. I'm not an investor of the markets but ive made some money there, for the most part ive let returns dictate where I put my money. I worked for home depot in the dotcom days and its stock was going gangbusters like all other stocks, I was dumping the max to the stock plan and walked out with almost 100k in 4 years going through 3 splits. Then I used it to buy a triplex in las Vegas that only broke even on through 3 or 4 years of holding it.

From 2004 to 2009 my money was in cd's drawing a risk free 5%, when interest rates dropped and the housing market blew up I dumped it all into real estate where my money sits today drawing a 10-12% return on my money through rents and gains in equity turning me into a millionaire

[dojo]

I'd use and pay one if I'd actually find a financial advisor that's good (or recommended by someone I know and trust). A good advisor could help me get better results with my money management and help me avoid some costly mistakes. I don't have anyone though, except for my accountant who's paid to take care of the money stuff related to my company (wouldn't use an accountant to be honest, but we're forced to in my country).

[snafu]

We've no idea of the investment system and their laws in Romania. It helps to first work out your own level of Risk tolerance so that you can sleep at night without worrying about how your investment plan is holding up.

A second important step which I'm guessing you've already worked out is the allocation of your investments so that some is in equity, some in bonds/saving instruments and some is invested in international stocks and bonds. Are you able to make investment purchases on-line via your computer?

Are 'Investing Clubs' popular where a group interested in growing their savings meets on-line or in person as preferred? Each person agrees to research and report back to the group their finding and view of a specific investment. Some investment groups all contribute a set sum each month to buy a specific stock, Mutual Fund or Exchange Traded Fund. [those are the terms we use]

As I mentioned in an earlier post, most are really salesmen, selling a product for commission. The products are often ok as long as you've researched the recommendation, understand what you are buying and now exactly how much the salesman profits from your purchase.

[FLA]

Chances that you need a FA are close to 0%.

Learn how to manage your own investments here: http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bogle...g_start-up_kit

and if you are a Boglehead already, once you reach a certain amount of investments, you get a one time over the phone session with one of their financial planner. He helped me immensely, he helped me fix my Vanguard funds that are in my 403B even though he did not have to do that at all. He gave me his name to call with questions and I did a few times. I also have one we can use through our 403B, his card says CFP, but I'm wary using him, IDK if he's gonna push products he earns more of a commission on. So far he has agreed with everything the Vanguard planner said.

I have to or think I should change my 403B holdings to Vanguard since I no longer work at that job, I'm hoping since that is a larger amount of money and I've had a major change in life circumstances, I can talk to one of their financial planners again.

and I can always run it by the Boglehead forum, too.

If I were you, I'd start by comparing the past performance of what you have now to the appropriate Vanguard Index funds. I'm not willing to pay for actively managed funds anymore.

ETA: also, surprisingly, both planners told me I could retire at 55, when I thought 62 was a pipe dream. that won't happen now, it looks like I will not be working at 45 instead. Called both in panic over that and each gave roughly similar amts I can take out monthly and not touch the principle. Probably could have figured the 55 thing and the 45 thing myself eventually, it was helpful to have their guidance, however, in a time of crisis. And obviously, this crisis involves memory issues as I have just realized I already posted part of this. Vanguard should pay me since I say their name 20 times in one thread. Sorry!

[FLA]

I'll most likely move over to vanguard or fidelity. Better investing with loads than not at all...I suppose that would be a positive up to this point.

I was with Fidelity, for many reasons, I am much happier at Vanguard. Fidelity offered a face to face with a planner. she had already developed a plan for me before I got there. she had no idea what my goals and plans were! Her plan included switching to all actively managed funds, big shock.

[FLA]

Other side of the coin, someone who is not interested or enthused about their finances. I see no harm in letting some professional manage their money, getting a return only 6% off their assets, that are actually making 8% still beats the hell out of letting it sit in a bank and shrink by inflation.
.

I think this type of person would be better off with a basic plan devised with a planner at Vanguard, making it very clear they have little knowledge, don't intend to gain much more and following the plan they get from that phone session. One time fee that won't cost them 2% the rest of their lives

[anhtuvp]

I’ve never hired a financial advisor myself, mostly because I prefer having full control over my investments and I get nervous about someone else’s motivations. Trust is a big thing for me, so I’ve always gravitated towards learning on my own and using straightforward index funds. The idea of hidden commissions or being sold stuff I might not need has always bothered me, even though I know not every advisor is like that. For friends who are busy or overwhelmed, it sounds like a fee-based or fiduciary advisor is the way to go if you do need professional help.

One area I’ve found surprisingly helpful to get professional advice is with for a business. It’s not just about investing, but understanding how your money actually moves is something even smart folks can overlook.

[pacerob]

Financial advisors aren’t strictly necessary, but they help if you don’t have time for investing details. I prefer fee-only fiduciary advisors to avoid conflicts and loaded funds.