Did you use a financial advisor'

[sv2007]

I'm wondering about how the members on this forum developed their investment strategies.

[sv2007]

While I know a CFP (good friend) and a CFA/CFP (close family), I don't strictly follow their advice (in fact, family has given up on me since 2002). The CFP friend (maybe due to concern) gave my a copy of his book (I've not read it, but wife has).

I'm curious as to what others follow and how successful ?
What is the measure of success?

[corn18]

I'm a boglehead and my measure of success is Return on Invested Capital. And Capital in my definition includes $$, time and headaches. I am not good at picking stocks and it made me crazy. Now that I have gone to indexing, I am bored to death with my investments and they make more than I did picking stocks. If I invested more time, I could get a better return, but time is not something I want to invest in investing. Set and forget. Minimize expenses and enjoy the ride.

[sv2007]

I view ROI as just one measure among a group I use: volatility should be accounted for; correlation among the diversified holdings; even being too diversified (too much greed); hedging strategy; long term tax planning and withdraws. New ones pop up all the time when having a discussion with wife on why my investments isn't that bad. Old ones get forgotten, then come back to bite me.

All the above, a planner will have to balance for you. There are tons of robo planners out there today. Maybe my question/poll should have been:

Have you ever consulted with a financial advisor instead of actively using one at this moment.

[Fishindude77]

I've had some discussions with a couple different ones and they have worked up conceptual plans, but seems like most are just interested in selling some kind of investment product.
Can't say I've followed any of their plans very closely, mainly just do my own thing.

[feh]

I've been investing for about 25 years. The first 18, my spouse and I handled things ourselves. Looking back, we didn't really know what we were doing, but we chose fairly broad-based funds and probably saw returns similar to the total market.

About seven years ago, we realized early retirement was possible, as balances were getting fairly large. I realized I was a novice (at best), so, we signed up with a financial advisor who charged 1% AUM. He had us in individual stocks (and bond funds), and again, we probably saw results similar to total market.

Three and a half years ago I found bogleheads.org and decided I could do it myself, so we dumped the advisor. I did lots of reading and now consider myself sufficiently knowledgeable. We use index funds almost exclusively, and our investment expenses have dwindled to practically nothing.

[scfr]

We have consulted with a CPA on tax matters (took their advice) and have had consultations with one-time consultations with 2 financial planners, one of whom was a CFP (took some advice from the CFP) but do not use anyone on an on-going basis. Have considered buying ESPlanner software.

[disneysteve]

We have consulted with a CPA on tax matters

We've always had our taxes done by a CPA. My father and his brother had a family accounting firm which my 2 cousins took over when the elders retired. I wasn't counting that as a financial advisor for the purposes of this thread, though, since all he does is do our taxes.

[scfr]

We've always had our taxes done by a CPA. My father and his brother had a family accounting firm which my 2 cousins took over when the elders retired. I wasn't counting that as a financial advisor for the purposes of this thread, though, since all he does is do our taxes.

I do our taxes (use Turbo Tax). Our CPA consultation was just that, a tax-related consultation (on DH's self-employed retirement plans). She did not make investment recommendations but took our investments in to consideration when recommending types of plans.

I mis-read the poll question - I thought it said CFP/CPA --- lol --- curses on my old eyes!

[Jluke]

Yes, I had one for about a year (1999 to 2000).

When I wanted to invest more money, I asked for some suggestions on what funds/stocks were available. I was only given one; even when I requested more or suggested a specific stock.

Needless to say, I transferred my money out of there. After having to pay a cancellation fee... rip off.

[Petunia 100]

I'm wondering about how the members on this forum developed their investment strategies.

Reading, starting with the Bogleheads forum.

[sv2007]

Yes, I had one for about a year (1999 to 2000).

When I wanted to invest more money, I asked for some suggestions on what funds/stocks were available. I was only given one; even when I requested more or suggested a specific stock.

Needless to say, I transferred my money out of there. After having to pay a cancellation fee... rip off.

I've never used one but have had lots of discussions with some; although back then I wasn't that interested in the planning aspect as the ROI aspect.

A good planner should let you know exactly why certain steps were taken and also help recommend insurance. Ones that sell investments and with termination fees like you mentioned may have too major a conflict of interst to be that useful.

One thing I'm counting myself lucky is that most planners wanted to have good life/disability insurance, which I never carried. I just get the free company benefit insurance which can be ok or inadequate depending on the company I'm with at the time. And I was doing a lot of pretty dangerous activities; fortunately the worst that happened was getting run over by an audi A6 and an almost drowning; come to think of it there are a few more: like rolling 100ft down a cliff, traveling to too many 3rd world nations on questionable trip plans, it just goes on and on.

I sometimes, when thinking back, if I had to do it all over again, without knowing the outcomes, perhaps it would have been wiser to up the insurance. It a hedge against my activities, and a decent planner would certainly catch it (like my discussions with some).

So, asset protection may not be all about investments/ growth/when to withdraw/ etc. The life itself gets planned out in a financial sense.

[disneysteve]

I just get the free company benefit insurance

Assuming you have a need for life insurance (dependents relying on your income), the company coverage is inadequate because you lose it as soon as you leave the company. Or the company could, at any time, decide to stop offering that benefit. You should always get coverage on your own in addition to the company plan.

[sv2007]

Assuming you have a need for life insurance (dependents relying on your income), the company coverage is inadequate because you lose it as soon as you leave the company. Or the company could, at any time, decide to stop offering that benefit. You should always get coverage on your own in addition to the company plan.

It depends on the company; the best was 5x salary, the worst was 1.5x salary for the companies that I have worked for.

Yes, you can pay a little bit for increased coverage, but I never did. As I mentioned, that may not have been a wise move at the time and I was even advised by many financial savvier folks back then (but by luck, it worked out for me).

[disneysteve]

It depends on the company; the best was 5x salary, the worst was 1.5x salary for the companies that I have worked for.

Yes, you can pay a little bit for increased coverage, but I never did.

I wasn't saying that the amount of coverage was inadequate. I meant that not owning your own policy is inadequate. If you lose/leave the job, there goes your insurance. if the job decides to drop that benefit, there goes your insurance. If you health status has changed since you started there, your insurability may be questionable or you may have to pay a lot more to obtain coverage.

Term life is so cheap. There's no excuse for not getting your own policy above and beyond anything the company provides.