Paying a “wealth manager” 1pct fee- what can he do?

[Anonymous]

I have some savings invested at Morgan Stanley and I pay 1% fee for him to manage it. Can he also advise me about other aspects of my finances? For example, I am thinking about buying vs renting- can he go through the numbers with me and advise if it’s a good idea?

What else can I use his services for?

[Anonymous]

My financial advisor offers estate planning services (wills and trusts) included in their fees. They advise on tax implications of various scenarios and make suggestions on any financial scenario I throw at them.

[Anonymous]

He can take 1% of your assets every year plus whatever transaction fees and commissions he gets churning your account. That's pretty much about it.

[Anonymous]

Our guy charges 0.9% and would do what you are asking. He's great and always takes the time to talk us through decisions (often finding ways to maximizing tax breaks that we were unaware of).

[Anonymous]

1% seems high for just managing your money. We pay 0.6% on first 2M and after that it drops 0.1% with each 2M. Bottoming out at0.3%. Money in "cash/cd/bonds/treasuries" is not included in that, just a simple fee for purchasing them, which is way less than even 0.3%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My financial advisor offers estate planning services (wills and trusts) included in their fees. They advise on tax implications of various scenarios and make suggestions on any financial scenario I throw at them.

Ours as well plus insurance planning, education planning, beneficiary designations, charitable donation/foundation planning, and retirement planning year-by-year scenarios including major purchases, life events, home planning (sales, second homes, down-sizing, etc), and multi-generational wealth transfers. We also meet with reams of spreadsheets annually to go over all of the above in detail. And no, we don't have tens of millions to get this level of service. FYI, we also pay on a sliding scale, 1% is only for the first million and scales slides toward zero for successive amounts they manage. Big firms need/want to generate lots of revenue. Look for smaller more focused fee-for-service financial planning firms. Our estates attorney gave us some names and then we interviewed several before choosing one with a planner I clicked with. Been with them for over 10 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He can take 1% of your assets every year plus whatever transaction fees and commissions he gets churning your account. That's pretty much about it.

This.

If you are wondering how to find one, just go to any mediocre private school and find the best dressed and most insufferable ass, who also has a laughable academic pedigree, and you have found a “wealth manager”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My financial advisor offers estate planning services (wills and trusts) included in their fees. They advise on tax implications of various scenarios and make suggestions on any financial scenario I throw at them.

Ours as well plus insurance planning, education planning, beneficiary designations, charitable donation/foundation planning, and retirement planning year-by-year scenarios including major purchases, life events, home planning (sales, second homes, down-sizing, etc), and multi-generational wealth transfers. We also meet with reams of spreadsheets annually to go over all of the above in detail. And no, we don't have tens of millions to get this level of service. FYI, we also pay on a sliding scale, 1% is only for the first million and scales slides toward zero for successive amounts they manage. Big firms need/want to generate lots of revenue. Look for smaller more focused fee-for-service financial planning firms. Our estates attorney gave us some names and then we interviewed several before choosing one with a planner I clicked with. Been with them for over 10 years.

Wow! That's a lot for 1%. Mind sharing how much you have with them? We had one where we also paid 1% but we only got wealth management from them. Tax planning and other services were extra. We fired them after a few years.

[Anonymous]

Such a rip-off. So, you’re paying someone who can’t beat the market 10k/year to manage a million? Nice work if you can get it.

[Anonymous]

My guy didn't beat the market, year after year. but we our investments certainly grew year after relatively close to the pace of the market. We accepted that because we are in our 50s and wanted a conservative portfolio. (We lived through 2000 and 2008,)

The real value, it turned out, is that our investments did not fall as far as the market has in the last six months. Yes, we are down, but not nearly as much as some of our peers who were overweighted on tech.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My financial advisor offers estate planning services (wills and trusts) included in their fees. They advise on tax implications of various scenarios and make suggestions on any financial scenario I throw at them.

Ours as well plus insurance planning, education planning, beneficiary designations, charitable donation/foundation planning, and retirement planning year-by-year scenarios including major purchases, life events, home planning (sales, second homes, down-sizing, etc), and multi-generational wealth transfers. We also meet with reams of spreadsheets annually to go over all of the above in detail. And no, we don't have tens of millions to get this level of service. FYI, we also pay on a sliding scale, 1% is only for the first million and scales slides toward zero for successive amounts they manage. Big firms need/want to generate lots of revenue. Look for smaller more focused fee-for-service financial planning firms. Our estates attorney gave us some names and then we interviewed several before choosing one with a planner I clicked with. Been with them for over 10 years.

Wow! That's a lot for 1%. Mind sharing how much you have with them? We had one where we also paid 1% but we only got wealth management from them. Tax planning and other services were extra. We fired them after a few years.

Well, it started out with under 1 million but as our money grew, so did the possibilities (charitable giving, estate planning) and so did the services. So sorta commensurate with their fees if that makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My guy didn't beat the market, year after year. but we our investments certainly grew year after relatively close to the pace of the market. We accepted that because we are in our 50s and wanted a conservative portfolio. (We lived through 2000 and 2008,)

The real value, it turned out, is that our investments did not fall as far as the market has in the last six months. Yes, we are down, but not nearly as much as some of our peers who were overweighted on tech.

You can manage a conservative portfolio on your own. Invest in stock index funds and have an appropriate amount in fixed income to cushion the bumps. By paying 1% to a manager, you’re guaranteed to not keep up with the market much less beat it.

[Anonymous]

Vanguard has a white paper that claims an advisor is worth 3 percent per year. Yes, Vanguard. Though lots of people like to laugh at those who have an advisor (can’t you do it yourself?!), the value is in appropriate asset allocation for the goal, monitoring, and rebalancing. Everyone SAYS they’re going to do that, but most don’t. Instead, hubby gets some wild idea about some tech stocks or bitcoin, thumps his chest when it goes up, tells wifey not to worry when it goes down, and wishes he had a financial advisor when he loses everything (and his wife). As others have said, advisors do more than investments.

[Anonymous]

It seems that people with $1-$2/3 million aren’t sure if a wealth advisor is a good idea. Some have one, some don’t. However, almost everyone with $5 million or more has an advisor. Do you really think the less wealthy are smarter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1% seems high for just managing your money. We pay 0.6% on first 2M and after that it drops 0.1% with each 2M. Bottoming out at0.3%. Money in "cash/cd/bonds/treasuries" is not included in that, just a simple fee for purchasing them, which is way less than even 0.3%.

That seems low (even 1% is low sometimes). What are you getting for this fee? I need to find a new broker - our guy at ML does nothing and charges over 1%