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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, a better option would be to meet with a financial planner, that will go over your estate plan, all of your insurances, tax planning , retirement planning and investment management for a year. After the year, you can decide if you need them further. If your life is not complicated, you might not need to see a financial planner till you are a few years from retirement. This approach will save you money in the long run.[/quote]

OP here. This is what our FA did the first time we met with him. Isn’t it the same thing or very similar? [/quote]

It depends on the level of diligence that was provided. How long have you been with them? Can you tell us investments the advisor put you in and how much money roughly is in them?[/quote]

OP there are fee only and advice only financial advisors.  You are with, I think, a fee only advisor.  What that means is that he is helping you with your financial planning, charging you only that 1.25% asset under management (AUM) fee, and is not collecting commissions on the products he is selling to you.  (If he is charging commissions in addition to the AUM fee, flee immediately; the advisor is not fee only.)

An advice only financial advisor gives you advice only for your financial planning, which you then execute.  Typically, you pay such advisors by the hour or a set fee for a complete financial plan.  Even among advice only advisors, there are differences. Some will charge a fee like $5000 for a comprehensive financial plan and then charge by the hour for a further update if you need it.  Others will charge a set fee for a particular project that would be much lower.  Still others will charge an annual fee for the upfront plan and ongoing advice--some of these could be quite high like $5000 to $6000 a year.

I am strictly DIY but am in the process of engaging a fee-only advisor for a particular set of tax issues I am facing.  In the words of one well known fee-only advisor, investing is easy, taxes are hard!  This will cost me less than $1000.

If you already have received a comprehensive plan from your financial advisor covering the topics the PP listed, all you need to do is execute it yourself using Vanguard or similar. It helps if you have already determined your risk tolerance and the corresponding asset allocation (that is, split between stock and bonds) that fit your situation and risk profile. A common split is 60/40.  I have a generous pension and have an estate maximization objective, so mine is 100/0 (aside from a healthy emergency fund buffer).

If you have a good grasp of your financial plan but feel you need some hand holding, you could go with something like the cheap Personal Advisors Service from Vanguard or a similar service from Schwab or Fidelity as had been suggested earlier.

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