do you have a financial adviser?

[♥ms.pacman♥]

DH & I are considering getting one to help make decisions on insurance, retirement planning, etc. We are leaning towards a fee-only adviser since we don't want to worry about buying stuff (e.g. insurance plans) we don't really need just because they want to get commission for selling something.

we've looked into fee-only advisers and the one downside is that the fees can be a bit much..$1000 for example, which is a lot, with me not working. but then again, it may save us money in the long run. so is it worth it, in your opinion? what have been your experiences? thanx in advance!

[pomegranate]

If you're going to hire a financial adviser, you should definitely go with fee only. But you can also just buy (or check out from the library) a couple of self help books, which is what I do. Suze Orman has a book and I have an older one by someone else called Get a Financial Life. I'm sure there are other good ones too.

We don't have a financial adviser. I basically do all that research and make the decisions in this house. But I also LIKE doing this stuff. If you don't, then it might be worth your while to hire someone.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

If you're going to hire a financial adviser, you should definitely go with fee only. But you can also just buy (or check out from the library) a couple of self help books, which is what I do. Suze Orman has a book and I have an older one by someone else called Get a Financial Life. I'm sure there are other good ones too.

We don't have a financial adviser. I basically do all that research and make the decisions in this house. But I also LIKE doing this stuff. If you don't, then it might be worth your while to hire someone.

thanx for the reply. DH has checked out a lot of books ("Automatic Millionaire" by David Bach, and a few others), plus he reads a ton of stuff on the Motley Fool. I think he kinda likes doing that kind of research but then on the other hand he figures there may be things he doesn't know about, and figures a professional with experience might be a great help.

[smiles33]

Yes, but we just started using my ILs' adviser a few months ago. He's a Chartered Financial Analyst. Rather than an hourly fee or commission per transaction, he's paid by a % of our assets. So the better we do, the better he does. ILs have used him for the past 10 years and his boss (who retired) for 30+ years. They work out of a major investment bank rather than a small firm, but FIL says it's more the individual that makes the difference as opposed to having the huge bank behind him.

[wellyes]

My FIL had a fee-based adviser and she still steered him towards annuities and mutual funds with front loads. I think there great financial advisers out there, but the great ones typically focus on clients with a lot of assets (starting at $1M in assets excluding home, cars, etc). The ones who work with middle-class people are much more hit-or-miss.


I interviewed a bunch but ended up with a DIY approach.
General Financial Advice: http://www.amazon.com/Journal-Complete-Personal-Guidebook-Guidebooks/dp/030733600X/ref=pd_sim_b_1 and http://datek.smartmoney.com/departments/
Investments: http://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0471730335

[♥ms.pacman♥]

My FIL had a fee-based adviser and she still steered him towards annuities and mutual funds with front loads. I think there great financial advisers out there, but the great ones typically focus on clients with a lot of assets (starting at $1M in assets excluding home, cars, etc). The ones who work with middle-class people are much more hit-or-miss.


I interviewed a bunch but ended up with a DIY approach.
General Financial Advice: http://www.amazon.com/Journal-Complete-Personal-Guidebook-Guidebooks/dp/030733600X/ref=pd_sim_b_1 and http://datek.smartmoney.com/departments/
Investments: http://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/0471730335

this is what my DH was thinking too.. we have been interviewing some but i think he wants to just do it on his own, esp at this stage (just starting out, etc). thanx for the book rec's, i'll definitely look into that.

[smiles33]

Yeah, I should have made clear that ILs' adviser is only working with us because they have a provision to allow adult kids with less than the minimum assets open a "subaccount" of the ILs' account. Our assets are separate from ILs, but we're "brought in" under their accounts.

[sadie427]

We do, it's been very helpful to us. He's fee-based; doesn't have a minimum income he works with but I suspect (mostly because of the area his office is in, and some things he's said) that we're at the lower end. All his advice has been spot-on so far. We had one previously who was not as helpful, it helps to ask around. We definitely wouldn't have done a lot of the things on our own, books would not have been enough for us.

[SkyrMommy]

Yes, DH is a financial advisor...

...interview them asking what you will receive for your fee, what type of other % structure is available, how available they are for your questions. You don't want to wind up with an advisor that sits down with you for the first initial meeting and then pawns your questions off. See what kind of goal analysis they would do for you... how in depth the planning will go - not just in terms of years, but in terms of your goals - retirement, home/home improvement, vacations, education, travel, etc.

[legaleagle]

A friend of mine is using the USAA financial advisors and has been really happy. I believe they're pretty reasonably priced but of course you need to be a USAA member.

[Carrots]

DH is our money advisor for now. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, works in private equity and makes our investment decisions.

However, when we need advice on trusts, wills, living wills, long term care insurance, etc. we will use a Certified Financial Planner. Haven't gotten that far yet.