Anonymous wrote:I'm on your husband's side but if you've tried self managing and it hasn't worked then it might be worth getting a financial advisor. If you dont need that much hand holding going with Vanguard PAS (or similar) who charge about .3% might be a middle ground.

1% AUM is a lot to pay, at your level they're getting $30,000 per year, whether they make you money or not. They may also be charging fees/making money on the trades they are doing

The house isn’t part of the plan so it wouldn’t be $30k

Fidelity Investments is a very good co that’s family run by the Johnsons. They’ve never been part of a major scandal in 80 years in business. I wouldn’t know the first thing in how to invest money so I leave it up to the experts. They take a percentage, the more money you have with them the smaller the percentage.

Anonymous wrote:Use an advisor that charges by the hour.

It's hard to find a good advisor who charges by the hour.

Many more established advisors only work on a percentage of assets under management basis. But those who are not yet at capacity (perhaps they are newer to the business) will be more willing to do a one time project plan (basically a bundle of hours). Look for someone like that.

You can then reevaluate the value they add after the project ends and decide whether to continue working with them, or cut them loose if you feel that you're ready to self-manage at that point.

Use an advisor that charges by the hour.

Anonymous wrote:We had a planner in the past. Had a good experience but decided to DYI a few years ago as we didn’t like the AUM fees of 1%.

There are a lot of resources now that weren’t around several years ago. We’ve learned a lot and rely on our accountant. We also have a free planner with Schwab as our account balances have as that perk.

Along with saving the AUM fees, one of the other advantages with DYI is that it made us really get more familiar with finances and retirement planning. We’re able to ask a lot better questions now.

I don’t hate planners like the PP said but I do think it’s easier to DYI if that’s what you want to do. If not, an hourly or fee only fiduciary is what you should look for.

DYI?

You could just consult with FA to get advice about organizing accounts and overall asset allocation. Once your allocations are set, you can mainly be hands off. Read Bogleheads Guide to Investing and the Bogleheads website. Once percent off the top every year adds up to a huge amount over time.

Our assets went up and now we only pay 0.5%. Still a net increase though. Still, my FA is at my beck and call when I need anything.

Just use Vanguard. We split our money between them and the 1% financial planner. The problem is that once your losing 1% off the top, they have to make you more money.

We had a planner in the past. Had a good experience but decided to DYI a few years ago as we didn’t like the AUM fees of 1%.

There are a lot of resources now that weren’t around several years ago. We’ve learned a lot and rely on our accountant. We also have a free planner with Schwab as our account balances have as that perk.

Along with saving the AUM fees, one of the other advantages with DYI is that it made us really get more familiar with finances and retirement planning. We’re able to ask a lot better questions now.

I don’t hate planners like the PP said but I do think it’s easier to DYI if that’s what you want to do. If not, an hourly or fee only fiduciary is what you should look for.

On DCUM they hate financial advisors almost as much as used car salesmen.

Expect to pay 1% of assets under management, so that's not your house, just your investments.

It sounds like your financial house is not in order planning-wise, so it probably is worth it. You can always end the relationship after a year if you like, but I think you'll get value.

Also, them actively managing your investments (tax loss harvesting, portfolio rebalancing) will probably cover their fees, compared to you trying to do it on your own. At least with us, such tasks were like #100 on our to-do list, meaning they never got done.

Seeking out a fee only financial planner is the best route IMHO. They will charge a one time fee of maybe 5k? What you are looking at will cost you around 20k per year. No brainer.

Can you recommend this place??

I pay around .83%, it’s gone down since my account has grown. I tried self managing and I’m not good at it. My advisor tends to make me more money than I can make myself (I try, I kept some play money and it proves I still suck at it). So essentially my guy is paying for himself in the returns he gets me, and the tax loss harvesting is an added bonus. The place I go also has estate planning services.

I'm on your husband's side but if you've tried self managing and it hasn't worked then it might be worth getting a financial advisor. If you dont need that much hand holding going with Vanguard PAS (or similar) who charge about .3% might be a middle ground.

1% AUM is a lot to pay, at your level they're getting $30,000 per year, whether they make you money or not. They may also be charging fees/making money on the trades they are doing

How do you use a Financial Planner, and how much do you pay the person? Also do you use a fee-based only person, or something else.

We interviewed a financial planner who we both like, but my husband disputes the value in paying roughly 1% of our total assets every year to this person.

The FP is entirely paid via fees, which amount to about 1% of our total assets every year. (Based on a certain fee percentage for our first million, plus a smaller percentage for the amount over one million). Our total assets including our house is over $3 Million dollars. We are within a few years of retiring, if we get to choose and don't get laid off. Our kids are college grads and have somewhat launched.

I think our finances are somewhat of a mess. We share everything, but we have maybe 6 retirement accounts, several separate accounts for stocks (which are $1 M of our assets), and we've not done any planning for retirement unless you count trying to save money and invest it well in general.

The FP we interviewed was recommended by a friend who uses them and has for years. The services include setting a proportion for stable vs high-growth investments, which are checked weekly and, if the proportions change by more than 20% (like becomes heavily weighted toward high-growth investments), the FP contact us to let us know they recommend selling/ buying stuff to bring it in line. Also ways to protect us from taxes where possible. Also, structuring things so we know exactly how much money we definitely need more month and making sure we have that money reliably coming in.

My husband things we should manage it ourselves and should tell the FP we don't envision an ongoing relationship, and see if they will simply sign on for one year of this and also sort of educate us on what to look for in the future.