Talk to me about why we should or should not use a financial advisor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on what you're looking for. My H works as a portfolio manager for an investment firm, which means you actually give them money to invest on your behalf. Of course I'm biased but I think that is worthwhile. A lot of these places have pretty high minimums you have to fork over to be involved though. At H's you have to give them $1M cash. Gains are pretty good (they often beat the S&P).

Right, this is the kind of thing that is worth shelling out for but I don't think this is what the OP is talking about. I don't think she wants active money management, she just wants advice.

Until they Madoff you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Why is there an assumption that someone had a silver spoon? What if this same person came from nothing, busted his or her butt to get where he or she is? There are a lot of people who come from very modest backgrounds and do quite well in life and there is no reason that people should think that just because you have enough money to hire a financial advisor that you automatically have a silver spoon.

A lot of people simply do not understand the time constraints that come along with certain jobs and how you time can be more valuable than money. But it really is true.

I think I'm the PP being referred to. No silver spoon -- start a company from nothing, worked long hours to grow it, and have been blessed to be successful at it the last few years. Time is the most valuable asset right now, especially with young children.

I also will spend $1,000 more on an airplane ticket just to get a flight that gets me home in time for dinner with the family, instead of the one that arrives at 10pm when they're in bed.

You sound horrible with money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on what you're looking for. My H works as a portfolio manager for an investment firm, which means you actually give them money to invest on your behalf. Of course I'm biased but I think that is worthwhile. A lot of these places have pretty high minimums you have to fork over to be involved though. At H's you have to give them $1M cash. Gains are pretty good (they often beat the S&P).

"often beating" is not good enough for me with deciding to pay higher fees. and all of those "often" seen gains are totally diluted once you pay the fees, which are all based on a % of the value of your portfolio. The more you have in your account, the higher your fees in terms of dollars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Why is there an assumption that someone had a silver spoon? What if this same person came from nothing, busted his or her butt to get where he or she is? There are a lot of people who come from very modest backgrounds and do quite well in life and there is no reason that people should think that just because you have enough money to hire a financial advisor that you automatically have a silver spoon.

A lot of people simply do not understand the time constraints that come along with certain jobs and how you time can be more valuable than money. But it really is true.

I think I'm the PP being referred to. No silver spoon -- start a company from nothing, worked long hours to grow it, and have been blessed to be successful at it the last few years. Time is the most valuable asset right now, especially with young children.

I also will spend $1,000 more on an airplane ticket just to get a flight that gets me home in time for dinner with the family, instead of the one that arrives at 10pm when they're in bed.

You sound horrible with money.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Why is there an assumption that someone had a silver spoon? What if this same person came from nothing, busted his or her butt to get where he or she is? There are a lot of people who come from very modest backgrounds and do quite well in life and there is no reason that people should think that just because you have enough money to hire a financial advisor that you automatically have a silver spoon.

A lot of people simply do not understand the time constraints that come along with certain jobs and how you time can be more valuable than money. But it really is true.

I think I'm the PP being referred to. No silver spoon -- start a company from nothing, worked long hours to grow it, and have been blessed to be successful at it the last few years. Time is the most valuable asset right now, especially with young children.

I also will spend $1,000 more on an airplane ticket just to get a flight that gets me home in time for dinner with the family, instead of the one that arrives at 10pm when they're in bed.

You sound horrible with money.

+1.

No, he doesn't in fact. He sounds like someone who values convenience and time and he has the resources to do so. There is nothing wrong with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on what you're looking for. My H works as a portfolio manager for an investment firm, which means you actually give them money to invest on your behalf. Of course I'm biased but I think that is worthwhile. A lot of these places have pretty high minimums you have to fork over to be involved though. At H's you have to give them $1M cash. Gains are pretty good (they often beat the S&P).

"often beating" is not good enough for me with deciding to pay higher fees. and all of those "often" seen gains are totally diluted once you pay the fees, which are all based on a % of the value of your portfolio. The more you have in your account, the higher your fees in terms of dollars.

well considering they have ~100 billion under management, i suppose they would disagree with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on what you're looking for. My H works as a portfolio manager for an investment firm, which means you actually give them money to invest on your behalf. Of course I'm biased but I think that is worthwhile. A lot of these places have pretty high minimums you have to fork over to be involved though. At H's you have to give them $1M cash. Gains are pretty good (they often beat the S&P).

"often beating" is not good enough for me with deciding to pay higher fees. and all of those "often" seen gains are totally diluted once you pay the fees, which are all based on a % of the value of your portfolio. The more you have in your account, the higher your fees in terms of dollars.

well considering they have ~100 billion under management, i suppose they would disagree with you.

^ their clients, I mean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on what you're looking for. My H works as a portfolio manager for an investment firm, which means you actually give them money to invest on your behalf. Of course I'm biased but I think that is worthwhile. A lot of these places have pretty high minimums you have to fork over to be involved though. At H's you have to give them $1M cash. Gains are pretty good (they often beat the S&P).

"often beating" is not good enough for me with deciding to pay higher fees. and all of those "often" seen gains are totally diluted once you pay the fees, which are all based on a % of the value of your portfolio. The more you have in your account, the higher your fees in terms of dollars.

well considering they have ~100 billion under management, i suppose they would disagree with you.

^ their clients, I mean.

Again, Madoff's clients all thought they had lucked into some wonderful well-kept secret, so there's that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on what you're looking for. My H works as a portfolio manager for an investment firm, which means you actually give them money to invest on your behalf. Of course I'm biased but I think that is worthwhile. A lot of these places have pretty high minimums you have to fork over to be involved though. At H's you have to give them $1M cash. Gains are pretty good (they often beat the S&P).

"often beating" is not good enough for me with deciding to pay higher fees. and all of those "often" seen gains are totally diluted once you pay the fees, which are all based on a % of the value of your portfolio. The more you have in your account, the higher your fees in terms of dollars.

well considering they have ~100 billion under management, i suppose they would disagree with you.

^ their clients, I mean.

Again, Madoff's clients all thought they had lucked into some wonderful well-kept secret, so there's that.

omg are you serious? how often do you think that really happens??????

[Anonymous]

Right now the conversation is all about fees and who is beating what index...etc...etc... The value of a good financial advisor happens during the bear markets. The real bear markets. We haven't had one in years. A good bear market will shake down a lot of people. You think you are ready, some can handle it, many cannot. There is so much misconception about fees. It really varies from advisor to advisor even within they same firm. I can tell you, with a good advisor you may or may not earn more than the indexs, it really depends on the amount of risk and downside protection you are willing to accept and what your objective is. Also as you age the help of someone to manage the account changes, distributions, estate and tax planning, makes a good advisor worth their weight in gold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right now the conversation is all about fees and who is beating what index...etc...etc... The value of a good financial advisor happens during the bear markets. The real bear markets. We haven't had one in years. A good bear market will shake down a lot of people. You think you are ready, some can handle it, many cannot. There is so much misconception about fees. It really varies from advisor to advisor even within they same firm. I can tell you, with a good advisor you may or may not earn more than the indexs, it really depends on the amount of risk and downside protection you are willing to accept and what your objective is. Also as you age the help of someone to manage the account changes, distributions, estate and tax planning, makes a good advisor worth their weight in gold.

What misconception about fees have you seen in this thread?

Relative to the benchmark of just buying a few index funds, what value does an advisor provide during a bear market?

[Anonymous]

Here's what an advisor tells you during a bear market. "Don't panic, don't sell. Hold."

The rest of us already know this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's what an advisor tells you during a bear market. "Don't panic, don't sell. Hold."

The rest of us already know this.

Actually they do tax loss harvesting, but yes, they do say not to exit the market and hold in general.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Why is there an assumption that someone had a silver spoon? What if this same person came from nothing, busted his or her butt to get where he or she is? There are a lot of people who come from very modest backgrounds and do quite well in life and there is no reason that people should think that just because you have enough money to hire a financial advisor that you automatically have a silver spoon.

A lot of people simply do not understand the time constraints that come along with certain jobs and how you time can be more valuable than money. But it really is true.

I think I'm the PP being referred to. No silver spoon -- start a company from nothing, worked long hours to grow it, and have been blessed to be successful at it the last few years. Time is the most valuable asset right now, especially with young children.

I also will spend $1,000 more on an airplane ticket just to get a flight that gets me home in time for dinner with the family, instead of the one that arrives at 10pm when they're in bed.

You sound horrible with money.

The $1,000 means little to me compared to putting my little ones to bed after being away for a week.

Our HHI is where $1,000 doesn't really make much of a difference to us anyway, but I really do value spending time with my kids especially while they're still little and enjoy spending time with me.

[Anonymous]

We use a financial advisor just for time savings. I checked our reports. For the investments that are 100% in equities.. our retirement funds.. our returns net of fees are:

2016: 11.6%
last 3 years average (calendar years 2014-2016): 5.6%

Looks like S&P 500 is 7.99% for the last 3 years (up to Feb 2017), but couldn't find it for the last 3 calendar years:
http://us.spindices.com/indices/equity/sp-500