Financial Advice

[PimTac]

Originally Posted by Mr Nice
There's a few very wealthy folks here with nice investment portfolios, maybe they could chime in on what they would do.

Lots of sketchy investment advisors out there..... some are very good and do what's in your best financial interests. Be careful.

How old are you ?
That greatly influences how aggressive you are with your $$$

Its been over a decade since a big recession hit and 9 months to the finish line....





What has worked for me may not be ideal for the next person. There are too many variables.

Bogleheads is a good source but don't rely on one source for decisions.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by 2dogs
Originally Posted by Leo99
Originally Posted by 2dogs
Another vote for "Bogleheads". I think they have a wiki on books that one should read to get familiarized with personal finance. DO NOT let a financial adviser take charge of your portfolio. They will just want to sell you an annuity or charge large fees to manage your money. The concepts involved in managing your money are pretty easy. Staying with it is another story.


I'm going to give my guy my IRA to manage for now. He charges 1% which seems high but typical but I'm just not used to managing the scale of money my wife and I are lucky enough to have amassed. He can get me into institutional shares of a low cost retirement income fund. We talked about annuities but decided against them. Our goal is 8% annual return. I fully realize paying someone to manage money is not optimum when you can do it yourself but I don't want to screw it up.


Hi Leo,

I don't want to talk you out of your plan. It's your money. However that 1% fee in a time that "experts" say stocks are going to return about 5%, bonds even less, is a LOT of money. Your 8% goal is way optimistic.


I don't think 8% is that crazy, probably some conservative mix. Just look at this S&P 500 index fund. Lower expense ratio that Vanguard Index 500. 75% of fund managers can't beat the S&P 500. Over the last 10 years, it's averaged 13.96%. Last year it was 31.47%

So a good question to ask your adviser is if they've beat the S&P 500 and over how long a period.

https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/315911750

 

[CT8]

Buy low ,sell high and get out of debt and don't live beyond your means. That is all I got !

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by CT8
Buy low ,sell high and get out of debt and don't live beyond your means. That is all I got !


Yep, same as losing weight. Eat less and exercise. That's it.

 

[wings&wheels]

Originally Posted by Wolf359
Originally Posted by CT8
Buy low ,sell high and get out of debt and don't live beyond your means. That is all I got !


Yep, same as losing weight. Eat less and exercise. That's it.


Add in Risk equals potential Reward, find your comfort level.

 

[Leo99]

Originally Posted by Wolf359
Originally Posted by 2dogs
Originally Posted by Leo99
Originally Posted by 2dogs
Another vote for "Bogleheads". I think they have a wiki on books that one should read to get familiarized with personal finance. DO NOT let a financial adviser take charge of your portfolio. They will just want to sell you an annuity or charge large fees to manage your money. The concepts involved in managing your money are pretty easy. Staying with it is another story.


I'm going to give my guy my IRA to manage for now. He charges 1% which seems high but typical but I'm just not used to managing the scale of money my wife and I are lucky enough to have amassed. He can get me into institutional shares of a low cost retirement income fund. We talked about annuities but decided against them. Our goal is 8% annual return. I fully realize paying someone to manage money is not optimum when you can do it yourself but I don't want to screw it up.


Hi Leo,

I don't want to talk you out of your plan. It's your money. However that 1% fee in a time that "experts" say stocks are going to return about 5%, bonds even less, is a LOT of money. Your 8% goal is way optimistic.


I don't think 8% is that crazy, probably some conservative mix. Just look at this S&P 500 index fund. Lower expense ratio that Vanguard Index 500. 75% of fund managers can't beat the S&P 500. Over the last 10 years, it's averaged 13.96%. Last year it was 31.47%

So a good question to ask your adviser is if they've beat the S&P 500 and over how long a period.

https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/315911750


We're not trying to beat S&P. We need to balance returns with risk. We are going for lower risk and lower return.

I might have misstated 8%. Maybe our goal is 6%.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

I moved some money to an Edward Jones kid that was showing up at my door doing some aggressive marketing.
He had an office down the street so I thought I give him a listen.

They do the same old "pretend" planning that can easily be done by an algorithm, though they profess to act as a Fiduciary and they didn't push - or even offer - high commission insurance products. If I gaev him .5m or more I would get very active and personal account management - but I was not ready for that. So pay big to play.

I'm very Happy with Fidelity, I manage my own 401, IRA and Brokerage accounta ll in one nice dashboard..

I Found some good short term bond funds to throw in the mix now that I
quit working - though I'm not retired.

I can say that because I put "unemployed" on my Federal Form as profession

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Originally Posted by CT8
Buy low ,sell high and get out of debt and don't live beyond your means. That is all I got !


Mortgage and Car loan debit have been "free" money in recent years.

You will have lost a fortune in not leaving that money invested the past decade.

When you pay off a loan, that money is not working for you.

I did a interest only loan for the house, and put that money to work in the market.

Now 10 years later, I can pay off the house 3 times over !

But it cant last,

They Carnival ride may be ending soon.

Maybe very Soon

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Originally Posted by cpayne5
I recently left my federal job and am now working for a small contracting firm. As a fed, my retirement plan was pretty much "set it and forget it" in regards to my pension and TSP.

In my new path, I feel that I need to be a bit more proactive in order to compensate for the pension that I walked away from.

My question is...any advice on who/what I should(not) seek counsel from going forward? Any general advice in regards to the big names out there? Schwab, Edward Jones, etc?

Nearest Morgan Stanley office.
My wife suddenly came into nearly a million dollars per two different inheritances. Our Morgan rep is fantastic. He's increased our investment very well. If any section of our portfolio is anywhere near flatline for six months, it gets moved into something better.

We know very ;little about investing. At first we thought Morgan's overall fees were too high. But boy, we were wrong. They come highy recommended by us, now entering our fifth year investing with Morgan Stanley and have never looked back or regretted our decision to choose them over Fidelity.

 

[Vikas]

Save one year of expenses every year. Assuming you are in relatively high tax bracket, save 1/3 (don't even let the money touch your bank account), 1/3 for taxes and 1/3 for spending. If you get nothing else from BH forum, this is what you should do.

 

[Vikas]

Originally Posted by 2dogs
Originally Posted by Leo99
Originally Posted by 2dogs
Another vote for "Bogleheads". I think they have a wiki on books that one should read to get familiarized with personal finance. DO NOT let a financial adviser take charge of your portfolio. They will just want to sell you an annuity or charge large fees to manage your money. The concepts involved in managing your money are pretty easy. Staying with it is another story.


I'm going to give my guy my IRA to manage for now. He charges 1% which seems high but typical but I'm just not used to managing the scale of money my wife and I are lucky enough to have amassed. He can get me into institutional shares of a low cost retirement income fund. We talked about annuities but decided against them. Our goal is 8% annual return. I fully realize paying someone to manage money is not optimum when you can do it yourself but I don't want to screw it up.


Hi Leo,

I don't want to talk you out of your plan. It's your money. However that 1% fee in a time that "experts" say stocks are going to return about 5%, bonds even less, is a LOT of money. Your 8% goal is way optimistic.


So you are giving him 1/4 of your money every year? Please learn about 25X or 4% rule of thumb and then just give yourself a huge slap on your forehead when you realize you will be giving "your guy" 25% of your annual income come heck or highwater :-(

 

[Leo99]

Originally Posted by Vikas
Originally Posted by 2dogs
Hi Leo,

I don't want to talk you out of your plan. It's your money. However that 1% fee in a time that "experts" say stocks are going to return about 5%, bonds even less, is a LOT of money. Your 8% goal is way optimistic.

So you are giving him 1/4 of your money every year? Please learn about 25X or 4% rule of thumb and then just give yourself a huge slap on your forehead when you realize you will be giving "your guy" 25% of your annual income come heck or highwater :-(

4% rule of thumb is only for capital preservation. I'm not interested in preserving an inheritance for my kids. If there's money left, it's theirs but I'm not skimping just to save a nest egg for them.

1% fee is a standard thing from what I've read. And yes, it does seem high. I haven't signed any paperwork with him yet so I might do a mix of him and myself.

 

[Andrew1972]

My multi millionaire neighbor who invests family fortunes for a living ($300 M min) actually directed to of all places Dave Ramsey trusted advisors. Crazily he did not know of anyone at my level (under $1M he would trust).

 

[Kestas]

I don't have a financial adviser. I was thinking about getting one, but my colleague told me "You don't need to pay someone to make the same mistakes that you can make."

The bulk of my money is invested in Vanguard. I got hit hard and rode down the money in 2009. But I've also been able to ride it up nicely since then. My only costs are the maintenance fees for the funds, which is enough.

 

[Leo99]

Originally Posted by Kestas
I don't have a financial adviser. I was thinking about getting one, but my colleague told me "You don't need to pay someone to make the same mistakes that you can make."

The bulk of my money is invested in Vanguard. I got hit hard and rode down the money in 2009. But I've also been able to ride it up nicely since then. My only costs are the maintenance fees for the funds, which is enough.


All depends how competent you are at investing. I'm hoping the person I pay won't make the same mistakes I might make.

I mean, if I invested my nest egg 100% in TSLA, I'd be retired tomorrow instead of in 3 years.

My advisor told me that I've made a nice return on my money in the stock market and it's time to get out. Still, it's hard for me to sell my Apple stock. It's been so good to me.

 

[Vikas]

Suppose you earned $100K. Would you be willing to hand over $25K to your guy? How about an year when you *lost* $200K? Would you *still* hand over $22K to your guy that year, so that your total loss now would be $222K ?

*REALLY*?????

 

[JeffKeryk]

Originally Posted by Kestas
"You don't need to pay someone to make the same mistakes that you can make."

This is the worst advice I have ever heard.
There are thousands of investment vehicles; these people make their living learning about them and helping you choose what fits your life and goals.

 

[ArrestMeRedZ]

Originally Posted by Leo99
All depends how competent you are at investing. I'm hoping the person I pay won't make the same mistakes I might make.

I mean, if I invested my nest egg 100% in TSLA, I'd be retired tomorrow instead of in 3 years.

My advisor told me that I've made a nice return on my money in the stock market and it's time to get out. Still, it's hard for me to sell my Apple stock. It's been so good to me.

If he is saying it's time to get out is he proposing an annuity in place of investing in the market? If so, run don't walk away from this self-serving salesman posing as an investment advisor.
Having some funds on the sideline makes sense so you don't have to sell stocks in a down market to meet living expenses. Getting out of the market like he seems to suggest isn't a wise move. Unless you have an expiration date and need to stay liquid so you can spend it all.

 

[Leo99]

We discussed annuity but decided against it. What he's suggesting is a retirement income fund instead of the handful of stocks I currently own and he wanted me out of Fidelity's small cap fund. The fund he recommends is NDARX.

 

[Leo99]

Originally Posted by Vikas
Suppose you earned $100K. Would you be willing to hand over $25K to your guy? How about an year when you *lost* $200K? Would you *still* hand over $22K to your guy that year, so that your total loss now would be $222K ?

*REALLY*?????



It's not based on earnings it is based on assets under management. If I had him manage $1M, that would be $10k per year. So, if the return was 4% for $40,000, then, the advisor would get 25% of my income. If the loss was $200k, he'd still get $8k.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/investing/how-much-does-a-financial-advisor-cost/