The 1% fee seems high for educating us at one or two sessions. Let's say we have $1M in assets -- that's $10K for how much actual time instructing us? We're looking for someone that could perhaps spend 1-4 hrs. advising us... $10K is a heckuva per hour rate!

We just need someone who can look at our whole financial picture, listen to some of our long range goals and help us map out several different plans (i.e. you'll want to have X in savings before you retire, you'll need to assume your retirement living expenses will be X, if you keep saving at your current rate you can retire in the year XXXX, you should start moving $ to safer investments X years before retirement and then...., etc...)

Paying $10K or more for that kind of advice seems exorbitant.

Hourly fee advisor is what we need.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^^I should say that we use Rick as a fee based adviser. I think the firm may also do commission based stuff, but he has never tried to sell us anything in 10 years.

What is the per hour rate?

I think he charges about $250 per hour although I think the first session which may be several hours is less per hour (it has been many years since we did our initial session).

He is very efficient and has at his finger tips oodles of info, so he gets a lot done in one hour.

He does not charge for follow up phone calls (phone calls in the few weeks after the session where you might firm up a new investment).

I should add that we do not buy any investments from him - when I say firm up investment it is something we have purchased independently from him.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^^I should say that we use Rick as a fee based adviser. I think the firm may also do commission based stuff, but he has never tried to sell us anything in 10 years.

What is the per hour rate?

I think he charges about $250 per hour although I think the first session which may be several hours is less per hour (it has been many years since we did our initial session).

He is very efficient and has at his finger tips oodles of info, so he gets a lot done in one hour.

He does not charge for follow up phone calls (phone calls in the few weeks after the session where you might firm up a new investment).

Here is a link to look up Certified Financial Planners near you: http://www.cfp.net/utility/find-a-cfp-professional?utm_source=find-cfp&utm_medium=footer&utm_content=homepage&utm_campaign=header

We've used Tom Conway for years and have been satisfied.

You can get a one-time review of your financial situation. I did this with a certified financial planner (cfp). She works at money plans in Silver Spring. We got a detailed report giving specific information about insurance and investments. She charged a percentage of investable assets. You could also hire a cfp to talk to you for an hour.

Most fee-based advisors charge an annual retainer that's fairly comparable with what you'd be charged for assets under management -- so 1-1.5% of the value of your investment portfolio.

Anonymous wrote:^^^^I should say that we use Rick as a fee based adviser. I think the firm may also do commission based stuff, but he has never tried to sell us anything in 10 years.

What is the per hour rate?

^^^^I should say that we use Rick as a fee based adviser. I think the firm may also do commission based stuff, but he has never tried to sell us anything in 10 years.

We have used Rick Schaeffer for about 10 years and have been pleased.

http://www.schaefferfinancial.com/

USAA? Or maybe a Tax Attorney?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would like to talk with a financial advisor to help us map out a plan and give advice about where we are financially. I called one well-known group and they tell me they are investment managers although they will give us a "portfolio review."

We are pretty good with our money (spending less than we make)so far but we don't really have any idea how much we need for retirement, whether we should be doing X, Y or Z for college saving, etc., etc.

Can you recommend anyone? -- prefer it to be in Va, but will travel to Md.

All Registered Advisors offer, or should offer, that service for a fee. I work for an Advisor and he does this for people, charges them an hourly rate. I'm in MD. And you don't have to be an existing client, but you will have to fill out a bunch of Disclosure paperwork which is a FINRA requirement.

I'm guessing you're talking about Edelman?

wow... good guess. I wasn't impressed with the guy who called and despite my saying several times that I'm not looking for an investment manager, that's what he was proposing. I just didn't feel like he was listening to me from the get-go, so I don't have a lot of faith in trying to communicate with him more. Lost my trust already.

Anonymous wrote:Would like to talk with a financial advisor to help us map out a plan and give advice about where we are financially. I called one well-known group and they tell me they are investment managers although they will give us a "portfolio review."

We are pretty good with our money (spending less than we make)so far but we don't really have any idea how much we need for retirement, whether we should be doing X, Y or Z for college saving, etc., etc.

Can you recommend anyone? -- prefer it to be in Va, but will travel to Md.

All Registered Advisors offer, or should offer, that service for a fee. I work for an Advisor and he does this for people, charges them an hourly rate. I'm in MD. And you don't have to be an existing client, but you will have to fill out a bunch of Disclosure paperwork which is a FINRA requirement.

I'm guessing you're talking about Edelman?

Idk, but my husband would like this job way better than his corporate law job. He actually enjoys explaining this stuff to people. Zzzzzzzz.

Would like to talk with a financial advisor to help us map out a plan and give advice about where we are financially. I called one well-known group and they tell me they are investment managers although they will give us a "portfolio review."

We are pretty good with our money (spending less than we make)so far but we don't really have any idea how much we need for retirement, whether we should be doing X, Y or Z for college saving, etc., etc.

Can you recommend anyone? -- prefer it to be in Va, but will travel to Md.