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My wife and I are a year or two away from retirement. We have been with a financial advisor for 2o years. The advisor is calling all the shots. Our retirement accounts have done very well. We are currently paying a 1% assets under management fee. Our advisor does not try to sell us products: he just guides the ship. We would like to reduce the amount we are paying for financial guidance. In general, are the flat-fee advisors a good choice for getting through the retirement years? What’s the best way to find one?
The benefit of a flat fee advisor is when you get good advice, but only pay for what you need. In my mind the best choice for financial guidance is when it becomes coaching that strengthens our own financial stewardship abilities and actions. That may then free us up to be much better consumers of financial advice and products no matter which option we choose.
And as has been often said, the easiest way to increase investment returns for any given amount of risk really is to pay lower fees.
One more source I read this week: Mebane Faber, who gives away one of his books at theideafarm.com “Investing is similar. …The single biggest take away from this book is to not ruin your allocation by paying too much in fees. [Global Asset Allocation, Meb Faber, 2015]”
We have had a flat fee only retirement specialist planner for over 7 years and engaged him one year prior to retirement. I am certain we pay far less than the local AUM advisor our friends use whom we interviewed and quickly rejected. It’s interesting to see the comments so focused on investment management rather than financial planning and integrating the entire financial picture holistically. It is indeed a waste of money IMO to hire an “advisor” for investment/wealth management as all one has to do is have a simple portfolio of a few index funds. The value we perceive in our advisor is peace of mind, continuity after death of spouse, minimization of stupid mistakes and advice on insurance, annuities, wills, tax optimization, and a plethora of choices in retirement and aging. It depends on what you are looking for-the comment recommending Plan Vision I agree with as they are great value for a basic look. You can look for Advice Only planners look at AdviceOnlyNetwork.com-they can do a comprehensive one time plan. Or flatadvisors.org for an ongoing relationship. Other choices are XYPlanningntwork.com and NAFPA.org. Personally I recommend looking for a small, independent shop with an advisor or two with a retirement credential like RICP or RMA who is still taking new clients but limits the number to 50 or so.
Mark Zoril of PlanVision charges $299 for the first year and $96/year thereafter. He is a big Bogleheads favorite.
Really like PV. Great value got money with access to eMoney and 1:1 calls with tax or investment specialists anytime I have a question I’d like some help with.