Anonymous wrote:also, to the financial advisor above, do you realize that you have to beat the market by whatever your fees are (i'm guessing they are also in the range of 1-2%?), just for your clients to BREAK EVEN?

can you please explain why you are working as a financial advisor and not sitting on the beach somewhere counting your billions if you are able to beat the market by a couple percentage points on a consistent basis?

Wow, that couldn't be more incorrect. Say I charge 1.5% for your example...that means, I have to put them in vehicles that will return 1.5%. That, my friend, "BREAK(S) EVEN". You're trying to talk about generating alpha over the benchmark, or, as people like to refer to it here, the "market."

I've actually discussed what FAs do previously, and a little ad nauseum, so I won't go insane repeating myself what we do. In fact, those that are this venomous aren't worth the time because I hope people see through the vitriol. And, if not, I'm not going to change their mind anyway so I'm just wasting effort to begin with.

If you want to try and be the market or beat the market, go high risk and 100% equity exposure. Go all in!

also, to the financial advisor above, do you realize that you have to beat the market by whatever your fees are (i'm guessing they are also in the range of 1-2%?), just for your clients to BREAK EVEN?

can you please explain why you are working as a financial advisor and not sitting on the beach somewhere counting your billions if you are able to beat the market by a couple percentage points on a consistent basis?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Watch "American Greed" evenings on CNBC. Every year thousands of Americans have their wealth stolen from them by thieves who claim to be financial advisors.

Never use financial advisors!

At best they will take 1-2% of your total portfolio wealth every year whether you make money or not. After twenty years you'll have little more wealth than the actual dollars you have invested. The bulk of your investment profits will have been siphoned off in fees going to you Financial Advisor.

At worst you may be dealing with thieves like Bernie Madoff who will rob you off everything you own.

Start your own brokerage account and do it yourself.

Why would anyone not manage their own money? Are you not a very smart person? Do you not know about or understand the world around you? Do you really believe a paid Financial Advisor cares about you, your family, and your wealth as much as you do yourself? Of course not!

Everyone should have a brokerage account! Everyone should manage their own wealth and everyone should be a capitalist.

THIS, if you are worried just do an index fund or one of those low fee trowe or tiaa funds. Some of the funds have a target retirement date and adjust automatically.

In the end you want low fees and no advisory fees because the gains made would be thrown in the toilet.

someone investing in index funds is going to be better off than someone who read some books and opened a brokerage account. this is true 99 times out of 100. don't waste your time learning about investing theories and all that horseshit. just buy some cheap vanguard index funds.

"OT Alex seems to be a Financial Advisor." - That IS a fact. (Hence the FA at the end of the handle.)

"Thousands of unsuspecting people have had their life savings stolen from them by slick Financial Advisors." While I don't doubt this number is in the thousands, I also think that a very small few bad apples can ruin the bunch. If you think thousands of advisors are attempting to do this, I'd say you're overwhelmingly mistaken.

"Financial Advisors don't have any inside information which is not available to anyone who pays attention to the markets." - I'd debate that. Not to mention, I'd love to see where and how you get your information.

"Financial Advisors charge an annual fee of 1-2% of the overall value of each person's money they manage." - All of them? False. Majority? Yes. Doctors aren't free. Mechanics aren't free. Hair stylists aren't free. Counselors aren't free. I can't believe that THEY would charge for a service if I willingly go to one. The nerve!

"When people pay 1-2% of their entire wealth each year to their Financial Advisors they lose the potential of compounding their wealth." People do not have their entire wealth with FAs. I'm not investing their home equities, car titles, life insurance values, et al. But, you're doing quite the job of painting the dire scenario here.

"Over a period of decades Financial Advisors/Planners become wealthy by siphoning off the profits their client should have been earning." Is that so? Again, would love to see your statistics with this claim. Or, is "siphoning off the profits" your negative way of rephrasing that FAs charge for what they do?

"Prudent people who accumulate great wealth in their lives do not use Financial Advisors/Planners. If you are not capable of managing your own money you will never increase your wealth by giving it to someone else to manage it for you." - Well this is patently false and more of an opinion, frankly. But, I'm sure you have facts to back this up too..?


I like having this debate. I know I'm being a bit snarky in my responses but all I'm trying to do is enlighten people that paint the wrong pictures of people.

OTAlexFA wrote:I watch Dateline NBC sometimes. It must mean all of my neighbors are online child predators. I mean, it's on TV, so it must be true!

Not using a financial advisor is one's prerogative and I won't demean you for doing so by any means. However, to say that all FAs are greedy and thieves is so patently false that I'm almost disappointed in justifying that opinion with a response.

OT Alex seems to be a Financial Advisor.

Thousands of unsuspecting people have had their life savings stolen from them by slick Financial Advisors. That's a fact

Financial Advisors don't have any inside information which is not available to anyone who pays attention to the markets. That's a fact

Financial Advisors charge an annual fee of 1-2% of the overall value of each person's money they manage. That's a fact

When people pay 1-2% of their entire wealth each year to their Financial Advisors they lose the potential of compounding their wealth. That's a fact

Over a period of decades Financial Advisors/Planners become wealthy by siphoning off the profits their client should have been earning. That's a fact

Prudent people who accumulate great wealth in their lives do not use Financial Advisors/Planners. If you are not capable of managing your own money you will never increase your wealth by giving it to someone else to manage it for you. That's a fact

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The money we have with a financial advisor is mostly in individual stocks, bonds, etc. That's what they get paid for. We invest separately in funds.

Ditto

Advisors that pick stocks are at the bottom of the heap of professional asset managers. If they were any good, they'd have their own proprietary track record, or a fund, or they'd be working at a fund.

I watch Dateline NBC sometimes. It must mean all of my neighbors are online child predators. I mean, it's on TV, so it must be true!

Not using a financial advisor is one's prerogative and I won't demean you for doing so by any means. However, to say that all FAs are greedy and thieves is so patently false that I'm almost disappointed in justifying that opinion with a response.

Anonymous wrote:Watch "American Greed" evenings on CNBC. Every year thousands of Americans have their wealth stolen from them by thieves who claim to be financial advisors.

Never use financial advisors!

At best they will take 1-2% of your total portfolio wealth every year whether you make money or not. After twenty years you'll have little more wealth than the actual dollars you have invested. The bulk of your investment profits will have been siphoned off in fees going to you Financial Advisor.

At worst you may be dealing with thieves like Bernie Madoff who will rob you off everything you own.

Start your own brokerage account and do it yourself.

Why would anyone not manage their own money? Are you not a very smart person? Do you not know about or understand the world around you? Do you really believe a paid Financial Advisor cares about you, your family, and your wealth as much as you do yourself? Of course not!

Everyone should have a brokerage account! Everyone should manage their own wealth and everyone should be a capitalist.

THIS, if you are worried just do an index fund or one of those low fee trowe or tiaa funds. Some of the funds have a target retirement date and adjust automatically.

In the end you want low fees and no advisory fees because the gains made would be thrown in the toilet.

Watch "American Greed" evenings on CNBC. Every year thousands of Americans have their wealth stolen from them by thieves who claim to be financial advisors.

Never use financial advisors!

At best they will take 1-2% of your total portfolio wealth every year whether you make money or not. After twenty years you'll have little more wealth than the actual dollars you have invested. The bulk of your investment profits will have been siphoned off in fees going to you Financial Advisor.

At worst you may be dealing with thieves like Bernie Madoff who will rob you off everything you own.

Start your own brokerage account and do it yourself.

Why would anyone not manage their own money? Are you not a very smart person? Do you not know about or understand the world around you? Do you really believe a paid Financial Advisor cares about you, your family, and your wealth as much as you do yourself? Of course not!

Everyone should have a brokerage account! Everyone should manage their own wealth and everyone should be a capitalist.

Anonymous wrote:The money we have with a financial advisor is mostly in individual stocks, bonds, etc. That's what they get paid for. We invest separately in funds.

Ditto

Anonymous wrote:Then, if you're still compelled to hire an adviser, give him a small amount to invest in individual stocks.

Most financial advisers won't do this, since it's too risk to have positions in individual stocks vs broad-based exposure (like mutual funds or index funds).

Start a hedge fund if you want to get into the stock-picking business.