Reply to crash course on municipal bonds?

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[quote=Anonymous]An investment advisor I sometimes speak with is trying to convince me to invest in municipal bonds, recognizing that tax equivalent yields are now at times &gt; 8%. It seems rather attractive to have some fixed income positions with a relatively safe tax-equivalent return running at 8% or above. However, the investor advisor wants to charge me something like 60 basis points annually to manage this account, and I hate the idea of paying a fee of that sort.

Is there a reason I can't just go on Schwab, buy munis there, are hold them? The transaction fee is generally 10 basis points, just once, not annually.

I've gotten my feet wet by buying 50 to 70k of munis there so far, and it seems fairly easy. From my research to date, I'm (a) focusing on munis with 4 or 5% coupons or higher (though did a few 3% MD), (b) buying just general obligation for now, not revenue, (c) limiting to unlimited ad valorem, (d) looking for bonds that aren't callable for at least 5 to 7 years, and (e) sticking with credit rating of AA or above. What am I missing? What else goes into picking sensible municipals to build out a portfolio? I'm just doing 10k at a time, so as to mitigate risk.

Questions for those of you with experience out there: 
1. Is there any great primer to better teach me what to look for in assembling such a portfolio?
2. Am I a fool to think I can just do this myself on Schwab and not bother paying someone ~60 basis points annually to do it for me?[/quote]

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