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Now they are 40 miles away and she expects me to drive her there, they messed around with her last year because she was a low priority compared to people with small businesses they service that they made a nervous wreck out of her and me and I had to file an extension.
We are not paying $250, driving 40 miles each way, only to get poor service when their are thousands of tax professionals in the Chicago area.
It didn't seem like you offered to find another cpa closer to where you now lived rather you attempt to get your mother to allow you to prepare her return when she wants a professional to do it. If it's not about the money find a new local person, for the life of me I don't understand why people get upset about simple things like this
While I can certainly sympathize with the OP I'm not sure what can be done. You mother has made it perfectly clear that she is happy with this broker and also made it clear that she does not want your involvement. So why on Earth would you continue to hammer away when she made it clear to butt out?
It doesn't sound like she will ever let you take control of things, and God forbid you do wrestle control and you have a down quarter this could do serious damage to your relationship and you may not have the time to repair it. Is another 3% to a person who really doesn't care about her returns really worth risking damaging the relationship over?
Except the three I posted above are all 50-70% bonds. Won't bond funds get hammered when interest rates rise? With a bond fund you don't have the option to hold to maturity.
your purchasing power will get hit though .
a bond fund gets an increase in rates along the way lessening the nav fall . an individual bond does not get an increase in interest nor does it fall if held to maturity . instead it takes a purchasing power hit as getting your 1k back in years from now will not buy the same thing .
This afternoon I had a chat with the investment advisor. He said the % is skewed on that statement I saw because not everything is included, and she's actually done better than that statement shows. He can't get the actual performance review statement now because he no longer works for that investment firm, but my mother can get it from the prior investment company (or I can call and ask for it on her behalf). She may have it already, but she doesn't know and hasn't organized her statements in awhile.
We talked about allocations, and 60% equities and 40% bonds & other is her target (he moved firms in Nov and she moved her money in Jan 2017 to go with him). He's purchased a bunch of individual stocks (major companies including dividend paying stocks) and I'm going to obtain the list. She has a set withdrawal each month from her investments.
He actually suggested and encouraged me to access my mother's account online and routinely monitor her investments and then he and I can talk investment strategy quarterly or however often I'd like. He and I worked closely together for a few months in 2014 to consolidate my parents' various accounts after my father passed and my mother was getting set up with him/his firm, then after the work to get all the accounts moved over I stepped away and let him do the investing/management/support thing since that's what he's getting paid to do.
So, I'll soon get the real low-down on what's going on and be able to monitor performance going forward. She's not going to see the kind of huge gains the high(er) risk takers see, obviously, but all her expenses, fees, and withdrawals need to be fully covered by returns and there should be some growth potential beyond that. I told him 6% - 7% on average (better if possible) is what I consider a realistic return for her and he agreed that is totally realistic and he thinks her allocation is appropriate without undue risk.
Lottamoxie,
I think either you or the adviser is forcing your mother into riskier investments - risky considering her ability and willingness.
60% stocks - 40% bonds for a 70 YO is too risky. Sounds like your target, not hers. If there is another 2008 she will lose roughly 25% of her savings.
I think the investment adviser is caving in to your pressure. 4% is reasonable, 6-7% is not. You should allow for lower returns in the current environment - 25x PE on S&P for stocks and low interest rates for bonds.
I don't think 1% is outrageous especially if he is buying individual stocks and not ETFs/mutual funds/hedge funds, so there is only one layer of fees.
He can get 4% with a mix of 50% investment grade intermediate term corporates (yielding 3.5%), 30% stodgy dividend payers and 20% cash (yielding 0); rebalanced quarterly, assuming the stock component pays 3% per year in dividends and 4.5% in capital gains. Or some mix like that. I don't see how he gets 6-7% without a lot of stock market risk.
Your elderly mother, and it is none of your business???? Hell yes it is your business!
1) Convince her to get rid of the firm that charges 1%. Does not matter if she wants to be very conservative - she can be very conservative without paying someone 1% for that privilege. In fact, it is worse in today's investing climate to be conservative AND pay someone 1%.
2) If she doesn't trust you, figure out someone she does trust that does not charge 1%. I suggest calling Vanguard. But there are other options.
3) The easy part is what to invest in. That can come later. The hard part is getting her hooked up with someone who does not charge her 1% and who she trusts.
I second telling her to switch to Vanguard. Invest in bond and stock index funds.
This thread exemplifies how being a financial advisor is the most lucrative field to be in. I would love to sap 1% off people's savings each and every year.
I second telling her to switch to Vanguard. Invest in bond and stock index funds.
This thread exemplifies how being a financial advisor is the most lucrative field to be in. I would love to sap 1% off people's savings each and every year.
Big Bucks usually I agree with your postings but there is WAY too much risk in that right now. Markets at an all time high, and the Trump administration looks like it's coming unhinged.
I'd keep things as they are for now and let the dust settle.
Just off the collar of what I am reading here- I see a lot of issue's not only with your point of view but the advisor's potential violations if I am seeing all the facts.
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