Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm looking to retire soon and my wife a few years behind me.
We've been able to save, invest and prepare. I need some advice on consolidating some of our investment accounts as well as well as redistribute funds to a more balanced portfolio among the different asset classes. Also tax planning strategies.
I have made most of the investment choices on my own and have always held back from getting professional management and advice due to being unable to find anyone I trust. Most of my friends cannot give me any recommendation for a good advisor/planner.
I know that I should be looking for a fee based advisor who has a fiduciary duty to us.
Beyond that I am really at a loss as to what to look for. Certified financial planner? Chartered Financial Analyst? other certifications?
Id like to do all the purchasing. selling and transactions myself and I am really only looking for advise on how to balance, best vehicles to use. etc.
In my area in seems .8% to 1% of total amount under management is the norm.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,744 posts, read 58,090,525 times
Reputation: 46231
Shop around and interview likely candidates, giving them identical scenerios to evaluate.
You will quickly weed out those who will not fit.
Yes, keep with the fee based. CFA is a bonus if they have passed the new test in last 10 yrs. but..... They need to show you they know how to apply their knowledge and experience.
You should consider partitioning a sub portion of your holdings to go under management. You can then compare and leverage their diversity of offerings and results With your own during same period. In some cases the reduced stress might be worth it. But.... You will soon have more time to invest in your portfolio.
It certainly helps to hear other advice and strategies, but don't be tempted to hop around. Get a good plan and stick with it, only changing when the stats dictate need to do so.
I went to this website: https://www.napfa.org/ to find a fee-only financial planner. It took a lot of effort and interviewing 6 CFP before I found the one I felt comfortable with and trusted. None of the CFP that I found through this site pushed me to invest through them. I really enjoy my annual meetings with my CFP. She helps me to stay on track toward retirement and gives me someone to bounce my thinking off of... beside Mathjak :-) Anytime I want to do something financially that I haven't done before, I email her my idea and ask for her opinion and about what tax consequences can arise. Then I contact my CPA and get further information regarding tax consequences.
I opted to go the fee based financial planner route. My first one 30 years ago (when I was age 43) basically told me I needed to save/invest more and in much sounder financial vehicles. That was the most rude but needed awakening.
I would go to one every 5-10 years for a checkup and listen to their advice. Some of which I took and some of which I did not take but overall I followed their suggestions/directions.
None of them had anything to sell me. If they suggested something like large cap stocks they would list 15 or so companies and I would have to do the trade/purchase. They charged me a one time fee only.
At present my money is spread over 3 different Fidelity mutual funds (two are IRA's) and one Vanguard fund. I directly own only one stock and that is P&G as a result of my former Gillette shares.
I am an advocate of fee based advisors.
PS
At 73, I am starting to spend down some of my retirement savings. I am at the point where I have no interest in taking it with me.........LOL
I tried a fee based advisor and was disappointed. He was still selling products and he did not take the time to analyze my financial situation. I then tried a free advisor at TIAA. He was salaried and not on commission. He did a great job. Later I qualified for a higher level of wealth management. The advisor is a CFA. I had a very thorough annual review with some recommendations for additional diversification. I can call or email my advisor at any time.
I have heard that Fidelity also does a great job with advising but have turned down their inquiries since I am currently happy with my TIAA advisor. TIAA generates plenty of fees from my account. I have no qualms about using their services that I am already paying for.
I tried a fee based advisor and was disappointed. He was still selling products and he did not take the time to analyze my financial situation. I then tried a free advisor at TIAA. He was salaried and not on commission. He did a great job. Later I qualified for a higher level of wealth management. The advisor is a CFA. I had a very thorough annual review with some recommendations for additional diversification. I can call or email my advisor at any time.
I have heard that Fidelity also does a great job with advising but have turned down their inquiries since I am currently happy with my TIAA advisor. TIAA generates plenty of fees from my account. I have no qualms about using their services that I am already paying for.
At one time, all major insurance companies called all of their insurance sales people together. They gave them a few hours training on selling in-house Mutual Funds. They then had them rip up their Insurance Sales People business cards and gave the new business cards saying Financial Planner. They then informed them that if their insurance sales slipped, they would still be fired for not making quota.
The world is full of those type "Financial Planners".
We chose a local Edward Jones representative, because my DHs last 401k plan was handled by her, and it had done very well in a short time. We wanted to scrape everything into one pile, be able to sit across from a local person, and have confidence that our investments are geared towards our comfort level.
We chose to pay an upfront fee.
In my area in seems .8% to 1% of total amount under management is the norm.
The withdrawal amount for many retirees is 3-4% of the portfolio. If you are paying 1% every year for advisory services, 25-33% of your retirement income is going towards that. That is a huge obligation. Make sure that the services and help you seek is not something you can do yourself.
My recommendation is to check out the book The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing ($14 on Amazon), which is written for people who really aren't sure what to do. It can't hurt to look at it. Self management is a lot simpler than you might realize. Millions of people are doing it.
I think you want to hire someone for a couple of hours of work. My guess is most financial planners do not know a lot about taxes. I know some that hire someone to do their taxes.
Have you worked with the online brokers retirement web sites. These should help you with some ideas on asset allocation. However I do not think past history is going to work too well in future planning. Bonds are not going to perform like they did in the past and I do not think total returns will be as good. Once you think you know what you want to do and why I would look for a CPA that has tax and financial planning experience and pay by the hour. Go to AICPA.org to start finding CPA's. They also have a financial planning specialty so look for some one that has those credentials. Personal Financial Planning - AICPA
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
