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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][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]

We’ve been with him since 2018 and this was all new to us at the time. We’re currently in our early 40s with two young kids and I just feel like everything is so conservative with him and we’re not making enough to justify his fees. To be fair, I have a higher risk tolerance than my husband but my husband has gotten on board with my more aggressive suggestions of investing. The main reason we signed up with him was because of the all of the pre-clearance requirements and we were just a bit overwhelmed with where to start. When the kids are done with daycare, we’ll be able to add even more cash in addition to what we contribute on a monthly basis. [/quote]

OP, pull out your latest statement and provide the fund and dollar amount. That info is key to helping you figure this out. [/quote]

OP here: here’s for our main account. 
$186k in mutual funds: CMINX, EGRIX, PGINX
$265k in individual stocks. Lots of FAANG (to be fair, we asked for these a few years ago). 
$248k in ETFs (lots of wisdom tree ones): XLK, EPS, DLN, DON, KOMP, EZM, JEPI, DWM, DES, FES, DEM, AOR. 
$21k in cash.

Does this help? [/quote]

More than likely your advisor uses a brokerage to hold your assets (e.g. TD Ameritrade). Tell them you want to manage funds on your own and ask them to transfer ownership to you. I did this a couple of years ago and they just created new accounts and moved the money from their custody to mine. Literally happened the next day. You need to do this because other brokerages may not even transact in those mutual funds.

Next deal with taxes. At the simplest level, you can offset profits and losses. I'm assuming some of your positions are in the red and most are black. Sell enough to offset the red (you'll have to sell both). For example, if you have a profit of $10K with XLK and a loss of $5K on EPS, sell all of EPS and enough of XLK to realize $5K in profit.  Even otherwise, your mutual funds are not that much. Assuming even half of your fund balance ($93K) is profit (unlikely), you are talking about a $20k tax. You just need to sit with a good CPA to find enough losses to offset that profit to minimize taxes. Remember that you will also be saving 10K/year now that you've fired the advisor.

If you like the brokerage's interface, etc. just stay with them. if not, move to a Schwab or Fidelity, engage a plan-only advisor elsewhere before you make your moves. [/quote]

This is interesting advice about staying with the our current brokerage which is Wells Fargo Advisors, which he’s affiliated with. But then I’m still paying higher account fees than say Charles Schwab, right? [/quote]

No. What I am recommending is to cut the cord immediately. Every extra day you are with him costs you at least $25. Each account that your advisor manages will get transferred over to your control (or a new account will be created and assets moved over). Wells Fargo by itself will not charge you anything to operate self-managed accounts. Once you figure out a strategy with an advisor, you could move those accounts piecemeal to another destination. For example, you may choose to consolidate your Roth IRA with another Roth you may have created elsewhere but move your brokerage to Schwab. [/quote]

Op here. This is brilliant and allows me to act quickly and re-evaluate/come up with a plan. As for money we send him currently, do you have thoughts on where we should put that in our existing plan? Thank you PP! [/quote]

As others have advised, I'd save that in a money market fund in a brokerage account for now. A lot of them yield 5%ish. Don't rush into the market (S&P funds or otherwise). The market is quite high and entering the "flat season" and will be down soon and range bound through the end of summer so you are not missing anything. I shared an advisor's name in another post. Feel them out - most will talk to you free for an hour or so - and see if they can help you with a plan. Once you have that, executing it shouldn't be that difficult. Good luck.[/quote]

Op here. [b]Yes, good thinking on not rushing into market.[/b] I’ll look into a money market fund with my current Wells Fargo brokerage (hopefully one that’s also available in Schwab if I decide to change). Obviously, I think I do need some help whether that be from fee-only based advisor or a discount brokerage advisor to start. Plus my CPA. To be fair, our current FA has provided tax advice at the end of the year. We just went with whatever he recommended. [/quote]

This is bad advise. Timing the market is a fools game. Keep what you have a find an advisor on NAPFA.org. Most CPA's do not understand investing and are not long term tax planners. They mostly look at what happened already.

[/quote]

You are pushing NAPFA very hard.  Many of those listed are fee only in that they take an assets under management fee.  This is what has eaten into OP's returns.

Her CPA can advise for end of year tax harvesting.  Over time, she may wish to have longer tern tax planning advice from an advice only financial planner.  But she is still young, and most of these issues concern retirement planning.

I am not knocking the value of long-term tax planning at all.  I wish I had had that much earlier to make me aware of things like RMDs, etc. (am way over-invested in my traditional 401k).  But I don't see it as an immediate need for her, assuming she and her DH have basic things like life insurance well in hand. Her immediate need is to get out from under her current FA as soon as possible.[/quote]

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