Money-does anyone watch your investments or savings?

[magnoliaparadise]

Hi,

I have some savings that I have been going through recently as I have not been working. Not a huge amount, but enough that I want to make sure to protect it, especially now.

I have some of the money in stocks, but realize that I don't know enough about the stocks and don't have the time or knowledge to research them. I am worried that my 'nest egg' will plummet so I'm looking at how to protect it - e.g. put it in a more conservative account or get a financial advisor.

For those of you with a little (or a lot of) savings:
- do you have it in stocks? or something more conservative like mutual funds, gold, bonds?
- do you have a financial advisor or anyone watching it?
- if you have a financial advisor, how much do you pay him/her? I heard it is approx. 1 - 2% annually? That seems like a lot!!!!
- if you have a finanical advisor, are you happy with him/her?
- if you don't have a financial advisor, do you or DH watch it (or both)? (For those men on this board, does your DW watch it?)
- if you or DH watch it, how much time do you spend every month? And do you have experience/knowledge in how to do that?

TIA!

Single mama to my girls, 4.5 and 1

[TwinFoxes]

Well I think savings and investments are very different. It seems yours are kind of a combo. I've always done our long term planning. We have used a financial planner in the past for tune-ups. Look into a fee-only financial planner. You pay by the hour, they do not get commission, so they don't push certain products over others.

[KrisM]

I do it for us.

I have savings in a bank making almost nothing. It's our emergency fund and it's purpose is to be there, just in case. It doesn't get invested because I want to know that it stays the amount and is easily available.

We also invest, although primarily through our 401k and Roth IRAs. We don't have any single stocks, as I think it's too risky. We have mutual funds. There are types of mutual funds - growth, income, international, etc. We did a mix of types.

I've considered using a financial planner, but we haven't.

[wellyes]

If you go to a brokerage like Schwab or Fidelity, they have employees who will sit down with you and explain options for investment based on your goals and risk tolerance. It is not exactly tailored for you. They will not tell you exactly what fund to invest in - just what mix of investments / cash is a good match for you. It's free, and probably a good starting place for someone with your needs.