As referenced many times in the early retirement thread, many of you have a money person who is helping you map out the future. My wife and I don't have such a person. As I inch closer to my desired retirement age, I feel like we need to find that person. Would y'all share your insights and advice on doing so? I would appreciate it!
I interviewed several based on recommendations of friends, neighbors, and colleagues. They mostly all said the same thing, but one of them didn't promise me the world, so I went with him.
Years later I met another guy who became a good friend. I have an account with him, too, and I usually recommend him over the first guy because he pushes me to both be smarter with my money and to make sure that I am spending it on my family when I have extra.
My advisor "girl" was my grandmother. A Polish immigrant who really never mastered English. She worked as a maid in hotels on Miami Beach into her 70's. Never had a drivers license, road buses back and forth. And OBTW made incredible perogi. 
When I was growing up she always told me to put away 10% of anything I made. I tried to start doing that in my mid-20s. Not saying it wasn't an effort, but it paid off a lot by the time I was 55. Its not how much you make sometimes, its how much you keep.
I must admit a lot was saved by doing my own car maintenance, building my own homes, doing my own home/yard maintenance, etc.
I was lucky that my FIL was a bank exec, and when he died, his investment guy contacted us to see if there was anything he could do. FIL knew money, and working for the bank had access to investment advisors that offered a better service than your average investor. My Mom did like a lot of people and used an advisor that worked at her local bank branch. Their customer service is just OK, and their investment strategies are very much cookie cutter. They don't actually have strategies themselves, they do what corporate offers and act like a middle man. The guy I had was also a bank employee, but a step above that. He had a high minimum, which I didn't meet at the time, but got in because of my FIL. Since I was my Mom's POA I had access to, and was responsible for, her investments, so I saw what her returns were. They were OK, but my returns were significantly better, and I was actually in the process of moving her money to my guy when she died.
I don't think i could ever trust a private investor. I've heard to many horror stories.
Most important thing I learned is that you can always change your mind later.
I spent a lot of years with the wrong guy. He was a nice guy, and a friend of the family. He was good at diversifying a portfolio. Too good. Turns out I was way over diversified, and missed a lot of growth opportunities. I stick with him for too long basically because he was a nice guy, and I liked him.
My new guy spotted the over diversification immediately. He put a lot of time into mapping out a plan for the long term. In great detail. For free. I was super impressed when he slowed me how it could be, and how I could retire now if I want to. With no obligation. The clincher was when I realized I could go back to my old guy any time I like. I switched.
Sonce then, he's been reaching out to me monthly, and meeting with me every 3 months. I was lucky to hear from the old guy once a year. I feel very confident in my plan now, but most of that confidence is that I know I have chosen to put my finances in the hands of someone who is qualified.
I could save the fees if I did it myself. But I'd never be able to put the time in that he does and his staff and the fund managers. Bottom line.. if I saved the fees, I wouldn't earn as much. He's literally free, and takes a lot of stress off me.
Today is one of the worst downturns ever. I'm not worried I know they will use the opportunity to reposition everything, and I'll be fine.
Make sure you use a fiduciary.
Also..: make sure you use someone familiar with the tax implications of the changes.
My old guy changed the portfolio a lot. He'd sell whenever there was a gain to make the percentages look good. That meant he sometimes sold things that got taxed as short term gains- like regular income.
My new guy is waiting to convert about $250K of investments that are not performing because he wants them to be taxed as long term gains instead of short term. They need to sit for about 6 more months before he changes them over to funds that perform better.
That stuff is important.
pushrod36 said:I interviewed several based on recommendations of friends, neighbors, and colleagues.
This.
We originally had stuff with our semi-local Merril Lynch office by default, because they handled DW's SIP via her employer. They held on to our money, didn't make us much, and didn't really pay attention to us. We stayed with them far too long, because we didn't know any better.
When DD#1 was approaching college age, we attended a seminar by a local firm that specialized in investment strategies to maximize potential financial aid. We ended up ditching M/L and moving all our major investments to this outfit. We got much better attention and they made us more money, but they didn't really help too much with financial aid results. We liked our advisor and he was doing well for us, but he quit to do the FA thing full time. We were not thrilled by either of his replacements.
So, we asked around for personal recommendations, and got several. We interviewed a few and went with the one that an accountant friend used for his personal finances. We've been there ever since, which is probably going on 8 years at this point. He's very attentive, pretty good at explaining, and makes us money.
You'll get a lot of recommendations here that you should only look at certified fiduciaries. That's not bad advice, because a fiduciary is legally bound to give you the best advice for you, not for them. That being said, I would not rule out non-fiduciary advisors. Our current (and likely permanent) advisor is not a fiduciary, but his firm's fees are pretty reasonable. He's even advising DD#1 on investments at no charge, even though she does not currently have any money in his funds.
In reply to Tom Suddard :
That guy is funny!
Lots of suggestions of what not to do
Doesn't answer the op at all, but that fits right in with the apparent business model.
(I'm well aware this will be down voted, unless it, like so many posts , is not actually read)
In reply to SV reX :
If your advisor is a fiduciary, how are they also free?
Or are you saying that their fee pays for itself?
Those are not the same thing.
In reply to Duke :
He did preliminary work for free. Now that I've hired him, there is no doubt to me that his expertise earns much more than what I pay him.
Thanks for all of the comments so far. Please keep them coming!
I wish I had better advice. I took the exact incorrect approach by using the same one my dad and grandfather used. Fortunately it has turned out amazingly. At the time when my grandfather started transferring some of his investments to the rest of the family, he just did it through his "guy" and I was only about 15 at the time, and the sum of the assets was more or less a small amount to help with college and things. When you're 15 and you get $3000, you just say thanks and go back to chasing girls. I wasn't really interested in selecting a money guy at age 15.
Over the years, my guy has been remarkably good, and he showed his true grit during the pandemic. When so many people were losing their shirts, I came out on top, and not by a small margin. He always answers the phone, has great advice, and always does what I want (which is sometimes, "what do you think, Ernie?"
The sad part is that Ernie is retiring soon after almost 40 years. He assures me that the other two folks in his office are just as good, but I'm bookmarking this thread in case I have to go shopping.
What are your goals that you wish to have this person help you accomplish? I would probably be looking for a CPA or lawyer to set up a trust/estate/will. You're really looking for a tax expert, not an investment expert.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
From about 15 to 21, I inherited about $3000 total from 3 different relatives. It helped me buy my house at 21. Basicly, only smart money decision I have ever made. Now, with most of folks my age retired (except the ones that prefer working, but could afford to retire) I have a whopping $35k invested. So "money guys" ain't interested in me, anyway. 20 years ago I started with $21K. Got up as high as $41, but fees cost me more than interest, so, short answer, I'm basically berkeleyed. Good thing, despite the daily pain, I'm still tough enough to do my job.
Your intention is correct, but your execution needs refining. Admitting that you need one is the intention, but refine your source of learning. GRM forums are OK but you can do better. Start your education, read lots of books published in the last 2 years. Stuff changes. Get a trial subscription to the Wall Street Journal, intro ones are cheap and you can change the email address and get another intro one. I went a year paying very little this way. After all this you should be able to understand the lingo and know your goals and what questions to ask. Then you are ready to start interviewing people. Final thought, you can drop them at any time if you find a better fit or are not comfortable with them.
What I did doesn't matter but here it is anyway. I met with about a half dozen and was not impressed with any. Wanted to start out with 50K for a year and see what they could do. They all wanted all my money which was a real turnoff. So after reading and learning I am doing it myself. My risk factor is low as I am in my 60s so at first there were a lot of sleepless nights wondering. After a few years I moved into index funds mostly, they give decent returns and I am sleeping better.
Good luck!
My opinion is that unless you have a real interest in the science of investing, and have the time and energy to devote to it, hire someone who does it professionally. I'm fortunate to have a person who has been very good for me over the years, and I realize they know a lot more about how to do it than I ever would.
I guess I am my own money guy. I met with a money girl recently from Fidelity. Went through my portfolio and it turns out I've been on the right track all along.
I read MMM and a few other forums for a bit, but really it motivated me to just do the math myself, which is what will really open your eyes.
A few of those financial forums have a solid plan you can follow that's compressed into just a few bullet points. (Mtn or I have posted these here before).
Edit: OP, what specific questions do you have? Do you have a very unique situation/question you need an answer to, or do you just want to "get on the right track"?
mtn said:What are your goals that you wish to have this person help you accomplish? I would probably be looking for a CPA or lawyer to set up a trust/estate/will. You're really looking for a tax expert, not an investment expert.
To provide further context, my wife and I are mid-50s. We had estate plans in place and just recently updated them to include a trust so we're good on that front. Most of our savings are in our respective 401(k) plans with post-tax investments in various Vanguard admiral index funds. What I'm looking for is an expert who can guide us on tweaking our investment strategies, optimizing tax strategies, discuss things like long-term care concepts, etc.
I'd done a good bit of learning, read books, etc. But, I feel like stuart in mn does - there are very smart people who do this for a living. I'd like to find someone who has the depth of experience of working with a variety of people in a variety of situations and has a holistic picture of how best to manage assets and finances in the back half of one's life.
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