Vanguard advisors

[Smilinggirl]

Hi all. I've got my retirement money invested in Vanguard, (and a small 401k with Voya) in target funds. As I get closer to retirement age though, I'm thinking maybe I should get some help, so I have an appointment to talk with an advisor from Vanguard. They charge 0.3% annually to guide me. Is that reasonable (I called the guy my ex and I used when we were married and he charges 1.25%) and in your experience, do you think it might be worth it for me? I was earning roughly 9.5% returns. It's down to 8.2% as of today, given the current market. Thank you for any input!

[kork13]

If you feel that you need some guidance, Vanguard's advisory services are probably not a bad option. .3% AUM is easily one of the lowest rates available, and you should be able to get the tailored advice that you're looking for no problem. I've honestly not heard alot about them, but if you ask over at Bogleheads or maybe the early-retirement Forums, someone there has probably used Vanguard's advisory services & can give you a proper recommendation.

[disneysteve]

Is 0.3% reasonable? Absolutely. Most advisors start at 1.0%.

The bigger question is do you need an advisor. What do you feel you need help with? What questions do you have that you haven't been able to find answers to? If you do have questions, there are various great online resources that are free. Or if you really feel you'd like to speak with a professional, perhaps a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) can meet your needs at a much lower cost. Many of them work on an hourly or flat fee basis to do an evaluation of your situation. My wife and I actually met with one late last year just to have someone look over everything and do some retirement projections for us. We had 2 meetings for a fixed price and we're done, unless we feel the need to speak with him again in the future (which we probably will once I'm actually ready to retire).

[bjl584]

If you don't desire to navigate the waters yourself, then .3% is a good fee.
I second doing some homework on Vanguard and their advisors.

[Jluke]

Vanguard advisors will most likely invest like:
total US
total international
total bond
maybe total bond international

if you are going to stick with target date fund then you don’t need an advisor.

0.3 is good and you can always get out of the advisory service when you are comfortable.

in addition to the 0.3 just keep an eye on the expense ratios of any suggested funds.

[Glacier View]

Yes, as others have said, 0.3% AUM/yr is an inexpensive rate for an advisor. Though, if you are only looking for a one-time only session to advise you on how or if to change your Vanguard funds, then another choice that might be cheaper (depending on your balance) would be to hire a fee-only financial advisor. Fees might be an hourly charge or $1500-$3000 to suggest a plan for you. The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) has a list that you could search to find one near you.

[srblanco7]

I had an initial consultation with a Vanguard advisor. Ultimately, decided not to proceed. Biggest issue I had with them was that they will/can only consider allocation for funds held with Vanguard (in my case this is largely a brokerage account) with tax-deferred accounts held elsewhere. Perhaps something I should have anticipated - but didn't make sense to me to create a model portfolio without being able to consider the full picture. Of note, model portfolio was heavily focused on international - as VG portfolio models (at the time) were predicting higher returns from international over the next decade.