Do you use a financial adviser?

11 years ago

I am not particularly financially savvy. I know enough to know that I need help with my investments. I'd been using a guy from Merrill Lynch, but everything I read says not to use a broker for financial advice. So, now I found a guy who is a fee-only adviser.

Anyway, what do you do? Do you do do-it-yourself-financial management or do you use an adviser? If you use an adviser, who are they -- I don't mean their name, of course, but are they a broker or a fee-based person, hourly paid or what?

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Comments (20)

mary_c_gw
11 years ago
We use a fee-based advisor, and he's worth his weight in gold. Of course, we researched his credentials before deciding to use him. His business is only advising, and he gets no fee for recommending any stock or fund.

I would never use a broker, or a brokerage firm. They want to make money for their firm, and it's nice if they make money for the clients. Not what I want.

My advisor works on a percentage of what he makes for ME, not some brokerage. His fee is a yearly percentage, which I find quite low and well worth the money.
glenda_al
11 years ago
Had my financial advisor for 27 years and he does the same as mary c's.
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azzalea
11 years ago
Mostly, I use my common sense. When I do have a question that's more involved, I check in with my accountant. He's not selling any products, he understands finances and tax liability, so I trust his advice and he hasn't steered me wrong.

I do have a SEP account--which I bought from a so-called 'financial advisor' but I went to him knowing exactly what I wanted to buy, and what I planned to spend--not for his advice on what to do with my money.

DH and I aren't rich, but we have enough that if we had to, we could survive for several years on our savings, even if we had no other income at all. That's more than a lot of people, so guess we haven't done too badly.
ruthieg__tx
11 years ago
Same as with Mary, our advisor is worth every penny he costs us and he makes us good money...
YogaLady1948
11 years ago
Mine is my DH~~~he has set us up very nicely in our retirement. The only outside thing we have ever done is had someone do a family trust for us.
drewsmaga
11 years ago
Our's charges a small yearly retainer and then takes a small percentage of our gains. She has done great for us for a dozen years.
lazypup
11 years ago
Frog is my financial adviser,,every time I want to spend money he gives me hell.
sheilajoyce_gw
11 years ago
My DH does our planning. He was with Merrill Lynch years and years ago and has stayed in the finance industry all these years.
kayjones
11 years ago
Yes - he is another that is worth his weight in gold - he has become like a family member to me - does a really fine job for me. I also have a CPA who does a great job.
fran1523
11 years ago
I've had a fee only financial planner since my mom died and left me some money. I pay my adviser by the hour and not a percentage of my portfolio. Some years it may cost me $800, another year only $200. She's done very well by me. She makes recommendations and I do the actual transactions on line.
dedtired
Original Author
11 years ago
This is so helpful to know. I have been kind of paralyzed about moving forward with making a decision about who to hire.

How did you find your adviser? (Other than those of you whose spouse does the planning, although that might be a romantic story). Were they recommended by someone else?
3katz4me
11 years ago
Yes - same exact arrangement as fran1523; pay by the hour and make the trades myself as recommended by the CFP. My CPA recommended the CFP. Prior to that I interviewed lots of sleazy people with motives other than my financial well being.
maire_cate
11 years ago
Technically - ours is a broker/financial adviser, however we negotiated a flat annual fee. I like the fact that he works for an investment firm and he can offer a wide range of services for us.

dedtired: Do you have an attorney that you can ask? We asked the attorney who did our wills and trusts for us and who specializes in estate planning.
chisue
11 years ago
We used a CFP when liquidating some of our portfolio to build our house (1999-2001). His services were free for one year. We went along with him for another year after we were in our home. Eventually, because our portfolio is SO CONSERVATIVE, we felt we didn't need him. There wasn't a lot of 'managing' to do, and we were paying a percentage of the portfolio.

We are almost entirely in mutual funds now. (And cash.)
elaineinnj
11 years ago
We have never used a financial adviser. Most of our stocks are with the company that my DH worked for, our other stocks are blue chip stocks and we are doing very well with them.
WalnutCreek Zone 7b/8a
11 years ago
I had a financial adviser (from a very highly esteemed nationwide group of advisors) until he lost all of my money. Now I have no advisor and no investment money.
joyfulguy
11 years ago
After I'd taken the course that stockbrokers take, 30 years ago, then sold mutual funds for a year, with a broker that could sell funds offered by various carriers rather than a tied agent that could sell products managed by his/her company only, when a client bought something, I made commission, and would have made trailer fees annually for as long as the client held that mutual fund through my "employer". If no one bought anything, I made zero income ... so I had incentive to sell.

After a year, I'd sold enough to suit my immediate supervisor, but not the guy above him ... so I was "decommissioned".

I enjoyed this game, and worked for a number of years selling no financial products: as I said, "no conflict of interest".

When dealing with the folks who sell stuff, watch their mouth closely, to see whether they're taling out of the side of it that's mainly good for you (darn computer: that was supposed to be "talking")... or mainly good for them.

Don't forget, as well, that they receive differing rates of compensation for different types of investment ... and there may be incentives for making major sales quotas for one type, like seminars in exotic locations, etc.

When I began with the mutual fund broker, one of the newly-minted agents was a fellow who'd been selling no financial products, offering financial advisory only with the client paying a fee for service. He said that was a good way to starve, and I rather agree. People claim that they want unbiased advice ... but don't want to pay for it.

A medical professional asked once why he should pay me for advice, when he could get it for free from the folks selling the products. I told him, that his circumstances being as they were, no doubt the discussion would relate to similar circumstances ... but that recommendations regarding products offered by the sales folks and me could well be quite different.

My current print copy of "Canadian MoneySaver" magazine arrived yesterday (I subscribe to electronic one, as well, which lets me view their archives) and it had an article "Your Financial Planner knows a lot about you - you should know a lot about him/her" and offered a form to fill out, similar to the "Know Your Client" ones that the responsible ones have us fill out.

Enough for now - I had part of this composed earlier ...

... and it disappeared: sometimes my operation on these computers gets dumped, and I have to sign in fresh - and I can't hit "Save".

Good wishes for finding a well-trained, capable and responsible advisor.

ole joyfuelled
drewsmaga
11 years ago
dedtired, we found our advisor when we finally had enough money to invest and it was our son's (and his in-laws) person. Two other sons have also gone to her even though they have way below the minimum money of people she normally takes on as clients. We and (other sons) found her "word-of-mouth" (son's in-laws to son to us to 2 sons.)
susanjf_gw
11 years ago
we belong to a credit union, and have a free advisor there...
chessey24
11 years ago
We have a fee-based FA and have been very happy with her work and the whole organization. It's one of the top ones in the country and they do a very good job

Do you use a financial adviser?

Comments (20)

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