Fee-based financial advisor for retirement years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TIAA has advisors that are on salary. They will rebalance your portfolio once per year for free (we have an annual meeting for that purpose). We are approaching retirement, 3-5 years, depending on if you ask me or my spouse!

Do you have a dedicated advisor? As we approach early retirement, we don’t expect big changes in our accounts. But will need advice re tax and other estate changes and laws, etc. Where to spend down, what rate, where do we pull $ for occasional big expenses, etc. Ideally we’d like quarterly checkups and retainer for the occasional question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TIAA has advisors that are on salary. They will rebalance your portfolio once per year for free (we have an annual meeting for that purpose). We are approaching retirement, 3-5 years, depending on if you ask me or my spouse!

T for teachers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TIAA has advisors that are on salary. They will rebalance your portfolio once per year for free (we have an annual meeting for that purpose). We are approaching retirement, 3-5 years, depending on if you ask me or my spouse!

Do you have a dedicated advisor? As we approach early retirement, we don’t expect big changes in our accounts. But will need advice re tax and other estate changes and laws, etc. Where to spend down, what rate, where do we pull $ for occasional big expenses, etc. Ideally we’d like quarterly checkups and retainer for the occasional question.

Agree far easier to become comfortable with the investment side of things than the tax and estate implications. It would be great to have an advisor for the latter side, but difficult to know where to find one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TIAA has advisors that are on salary. They will rebalance your portfolio once per year for free (we have an annual meeting for that purpose). We are approaching retirement, 3-5 years, depending on if you ask me or my spouse!

Do you have a dedicated advisor? As we approach early retirement, we don’t expect big changes in our accounts. But will need advice re tax and other estate changes and laws, etc. Where to spend down, what rate, where do we pull $ for occasional big expenses, etc. Ideally we’d like quarterly checkups and retainer for the occasional question.

Agree far easier to become comfortable with the investment side of things than the tax and estate implications.
It would be great to have an advisor for the latter side, but difficult to know where to find one.

any recommendations?

[Anonymous]

I think fee-based (percentage of assets under management) is preferable to commission-based. You don't want your advisor "churning" your account when they have a big vacation to pay for or whatever . . . fee based removes the motivation to steer you towards high-commission products or to recommend buying/selling when you don't really need to. I just don't think it's realistic that many people with all the skills and qualifications of a good financial advisor (CFP, MBA, etc.) will be charging you, like, $500 to manage your assets for a whole year when they could be making SO much more money the traditional way. This is one of those things where, if you have a highly regarded financial advisor, you get what you pay for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think fee-based (percentage of assets under management) is preferable to commission-based. You don't want your advisor "churning" your account when they have a big vacation to pay for or whatever . . . fee based removes the motivation to steer you towards high-commission products or to recommend buying/selling when you don't really need to. I just don't think it's realistic that many people with all the skills and qualifications of a good financial advisor (CFP, MBA, etc.) will be charging you, like, $500 to manage your assets for a whole year when they could be making SO much more money the traditional way. This is one of those things where, if you have a highly regarded financial advisor, you get what you pay for.

Many people nee one time advice on general direction that they can execute themselves if they are willing to spend the time, as well as advice on tax and estate implications. They are not asking for their assets to be managed for $500 a year, but are willing to pay several thousands for the one time advice. But it is very difficult to find people who do that. I know some exist, but most are so backed up they are not taking new clients. So the demand for such services is quite high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think fee-based (percentage of assets under management) is preferable to commission-based. You don't want your advisor "churning" your account when they have a big vacation to pay for or whatever . . . fee based removes the motivation to steer you towards high-commission products or to recommend buying/selling when you don't really need to. I just don't think it's realistic that many people with all the skills and qualifications of a good financial advisor (CFP, MBA, etc.) will be charging you, like, $500 to manage your assets for a whole year when they could be making SO much more money the traditional way. This is one of those things where, if you have a highly regarded financial advisor, you get what you pay for.

Many people nee one time advice on general direction that they can execute themselves if they are willing to spend the time, as well as advice on tax and estate implications. They are not asking for their assets to be managed for $500 a year, but are willing to pay several thousands for the one time advice. But it is very difficult to find people who do that. I know some exist, but most are so backed up they are not taking new clients. So the demand for such services is quite high.

Yeah there's a lack of supply because people with those skills can get a significantly better a return on their time with fee-based advising.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think fee-based (percentage of assets under management) is preferable to commission-based. You don't want your advisor "churning" your account when they have a big vacation to pay for or whatever . . . fee based removes the motivation to steer you towards high-commission products or to recommend buying/selling when you don't really need to. I just don't think it's realistic that many people with all the skills and qualifications of a good financial advisor (CFP, MBA, etc.) will be charging you, like, $500 to manage your assets for a whole year when they could be making SO much more money the traditional way. This is one of those things where, if you have a highly regarded financial advisor, you get what you pay for.

You're conflating a lot of what a financial advisor does and how they charge and what people are looking for.

Some advisors charge for a one-time overview of your portfolio, for up to about $5,000. What pps here seem to be looking for is a continuing, retainer-based, advisory. But a flat-fee and no managed funds. I'd pay up to $1,000 a month for such a retainer. I want advice, I'll manage my own portfolio. But you are right that apparently this is too much to ask in this market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TIAA has advisors that are on salary. They will rebalance your portfolio once per year for free (we have an annual meeting for that purpose). We are approaching retirement, 3-5 years, depending on if you ask me or my spouse!

Do you have a dedicated advisor? As we approach early retirement, we don’t expect big changes in our accounts. But will need advice re tax and other estate changes and laws, etc. Where to spend down, what rate, where do we pull $ for occasional big expenses, etc. Ideally we’d like quarterly checkups and retainer for the occasional question.

We do have a dedicated advisor, and/but the person tends to change every 5-7 years. Like any other professional, the way to make big salary leaps is to change companies. But TIAA has a program (as do all the firms) that runs your numbers in thousands of scenarios and tells you that you have a 99% chance (or an 83% chance or whatever) of making your retirement goals.

They rebalance once a year for free, they do not give tax advice, that is what our accountant is for! Eg, We do have a big expense coming up (once in a lifetime, 3 generation trip to a very far away, very expensive locale, that we are paying for our parents, us, and our kids). We asked the accountant should we sell some inherited stocks (from the other set of parents who have passed) or use funds from an invested mutual fund?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TIAA has advisors that are on salary. They will rebalance your portfolio once per year for free (we have an annual meeting for that purpose). We are approaching retirement, 3-5 years, depending on if you ask me or my spouse!

Do you have a dedicated advisor? As we approach early retirement, we don’t expect big changes in our accounts. But will need advice re tax and other estate changes and laws, etc. Where to spend down, what rate, where do we pull $ for occasional big expenses, etc. Ideally we’d like quarterly checkups and retainer for the occasional question.

We do have a dedicated advisor, and/but the person tends to change every 5-7 years. Like any other professional, the way to make big salary leaps is to change companies. But TIAA has a program (as do all the firms) that runs your numbers in thousands of scenarios and tells you that you have a 99% chance (or an 83% chance or whatever) of making your retirement goals.

They rebalance once a year for free, they do not give tax advice, that is what our accountant is for! Eg, We do have a big expense coming up (once in a lifetime, 3 generation trip to a very far away, very expensive locale, that we are paying for our parents, us, and our kids). We asked the accountant should we sell some inherited stocks (from the other set of parents who have passed) or use funds from an invested mutual fund?

Not sure if this is for teachers only. But do you pay a retainer or monthly fee for ongoing services & advice? Is that amount calculated based on your assets? Do you mind sharing a ballpark price? Thanks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know, I have never been able to find a fee-only advisor, despite everyone saying that’s the only smart way to go. They are like unicorns.

Agree because how can they make any money if they charge you $2000 for some advice vs .75% of assets which at $5m is $37,500 a year.

We know why THEY like it.

But why would we do it, if we have simple questions around just a few major life transitions??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve found fee-only advisors through the Garrett Planning Network. One was excellent while another was acceptable.

https://www.garrettplanningnetwork.com/

Who was excellent?