Do you use a financial planner?

[Clifford McGuire]

During my working years, I did the 401K thing with company match. Gravitated to the 80/20 percent stocks/bonds and adjusted to be a bit more conservative as I approached retirement.

Planned to work until around 65 but there were changes at work and I'm out the door at 60. I'll find some work but I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing with my retiirement savings.

I know nothing about iBonds, Treasuries, TIPS, tax savy investing, etc. It almost seems learning and keeping up with all of that would be a part time job.

For those nearing/at retirement, do you completly turn that over to a financial planner (Assets Under Management)? Pay for advice and do it yourself? Figure it out for yourself? Do nothing?

[Dave Fritz]

We are doing it ourselves and a very conservative with our finances. We keep it simple with IRA's with Vanguard. Our union had free financial planning and I did use them as they were a fiduciary and not selling anything, rather they worked for a salary. I know people that use advisors that sell certain investments and get a commission. I guess they can have your best interest at heart but I think bottom line is they sell what they can get the best commission for. The folks that use them love them so there's that. I'd be inclined to go to a fiduciary myself.

[Jim Becker]

While my "friends at the institution" I keep my IRAs and other funds in would love for me to use their planning services, it's not really been needed since I only use mutual funds with specific mixes of investments that represent the level of risk vs potential that I'm willing to embrace. I've changed those choices over time as appropriate. To their credit, when I have had a question in the past, they were very responsive despite my opting out of them being actively involved in my "planning".

[Thomas McCurnin]

I meet with a Financial Advisor for about 90 minutes each year and adjust the stock-bond-CD mix according to my needs and the market. I also like to take a small portion of the 401k and invest on my hunch just for fun. I think I am at 20% equity stock growth funds, about 40% income stock (dividend stock), and another 40% bonds, CDs, TBills etc. I tweek the percentages and the various sub-manager funds every year.

[roger wiegand]

I use a fee-for-service financial advisor who is incredibly good. He charges a reasonable hourly rate, does a tune-up with us every 2-3 years, and does not touch our money-- makes no commissions on our investments, no percentage fee, or anything else. He focuses on low cost index mutual funds/ETFs as a result.

I'd never use an advisor who has a financial interest in the recommendations s/he makes. The conflict of interest issues are just overwhelming, as evidenced by the number of advisors who churn accounts to make commissions and recommend terrible investments like high cost. high load mutual funds, pumped stocks, and expensive annuities and insurance with great returns to the "advisor" and crappy return to the client. I've known too many people at this point who have been basically robbed blind by the smooth talking crooks in great suits that inhabit much of this industry.

[Bill Dufour]

Age 60 still important but not as massively as younger. Watch for annual fees. We have two ETF companies one is 0.07% annual fee the other is 0.7%. We only had the 0.7% for a few years and will move to something cheaper. The 0.7 performance is not better long term. If we had it for 30-40 years it would cost us about 500,00 in lost gains.
Bill D.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/brokerage-commissions-fees

[Paul F Franklin]

I use a fee-only fiduciary certified financial planner to manage our portfolios. He tweaks holdings a few times a year. At our age, I am less interested in chasing return and more interested in avoiding big losses. I meet with him twice a year to review our accounts, discuss upcoming major purchases, etc. His fee is not negligible by any means, but to me it's worth it to have someone I trust managing things, since I have no interest in doing it myself.

[Earl McLain]

I earned my Chartered Financial Consultant designation (ChFC) in 1989 and actively worked in planning until about 10 years ago when i migrated to employee benefits. In about 1993 or so, i started working with a planner from another firm in exchange for me working with her family. While we were both confident in our abilities, we also both felt it prudent to have a "sounding board" and second set of eyes/ears. I'd say that neither of us changed the course of the other's planning significantly, but it's been valuable to have the help. We still meet annually, even though we're both retired.
I had the benefit of bartering for a professional, but probably would have paid a fee if i hadn't been able to do that.

[Bill Howatt]

If you have little interest in learning about investing, tax strategies, different products then get somebody to manage it for you.

General rule, FWIW, is avoid financial planners from institutions that sell products since this often influences what they want you to buy and it may not be the best product; so you need to find an independent advisor. This can be taken with a grain of salt since some don't push their products and are very responsible but be aware if little else is offered.
Pay attention to the fees they charge - it can take the shine off your gains and you still pay even if you are losing.

If you want to start a learning experience there is a lot of info for better or worse on the web and there are some good investor newsletters available for a fee that provide insight and advice to investing. It does take time!
A lot of investment houses often have good articles on their websites about the state of the market, economy, what's trending and these are often free. Also you can often see their major holdings in their funds.

[Larry Frank]

My wife and I use a financial planner and it has been a huge help. There are so many things that I do not know and would have missed opportunities. When I inherited a number of different instruments from my dad, the planner kept me from making some huge mistakes.

My portfolio is adjusted several times a year to take into account changes in the economy. My investments are in a moderately conservative position.

I think unless you have a lot of time and knowledge, you are better off with a professional.

[Ralph Okonieski]

About a year before my wife and I retired, we worked with a financial advisor to find out if we could afford to retire. He is a fee-only fiduciary certified financial planner and does not buy/sell or recommend stocks. We have continued to use him as he has been very useful in helping us make decisions relative to taxes. He has provided a different perspective. We have made Roth conversions as a result of his analyses, which I am confident we never would have done without his explanations. For us, a financial planner has been a very positive experience. By the way, we only invest in mutual funds. I learned my lesson with stock when I was young and greedy.

[Brian Runau]

We use Vanguard managed service. Also, have access to a financial planner as needed, and a good tax guy. We had to use Healthcare. Gov for 2-3 years going Into Medicare. I retired went on her insurance, her company was sold and they jacked up Cobra to $2200/mon so we went on Healthcare. Gov. Wife is a breast cancer survivor and we couldn't get insurance on the open market. Healthcare. Gov was a huge blessing. Brian

[Ron Citerone]

"Do you use financial advisor?" No

I read a lot of investment books through out my life and prefer to avoid the fees. The majority of my retirement savings is in Vanguard Index funds and Brokered CD's.

Jack Bogle is kind of my advisor since i read quite a few of his books.

[Patty Hann]

My wife and I use a financial planner and it has been a huge help. There are so many things that I do not know and would have missed opportunities. When I inherited a number of different instruments from my dad, the planner kept me from making some huge mistakes.

My portfolio is adjusted several times a year to take into account changes in the economy. My investments are in a moderately conservative position.

I think unless you have a lot of time and knowledge, you are better off with a professional.

This is me also... I use a financial planner/advisor who is CFF and CRPC certified.

[Stan Calow]

Yes, we use an independent planner. The best service they provided is in showing us what we could afford to spend in retirement, in a multitude of scenarios. It was helpful to go through the process. They would have done that for a flat fee. Allowing them to manage some of the assets was optional, and they very carefully walk through every recommendation and decision we make, including when we could comfortably retire.

[Michael Weber]

I don’t recall offhand what percentage of my investments they were going to charge every year, win or lose for their investment advice, but when I saw what it was I was astonished. Vanguard oddly enough. I remember when they flat refused to give any kind of investment advice period.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I can't find a financial advisor that knows anything at all about my retirement strategy.
When I try to explain it to them, their eyes glaze over and they just zone out.

I still talk to 3 or 4 of them once a year - both to check up on some money I have invested through them and to see if anything new has come along.

[Peter Mich]

I am in this camp. I learned how little I knew when I tried to invest on my own. My comfort level is much higher now.

[Clifford McGuire]

Thanks for the opinions and advice everyone. Like I mentioned above, I thought that this would be something I'd be passionate about, but I'm just not.

So far, I've talked to a person my tax guy reccommended and someone from Fidelity (where my 401K lives). Both charge around 1% and were quick to bring up products that they probably get a nice commission from.

This week I'm talking to someone from Vanguard's Personal Advisor Services. They charge 0.3%. We'll see how that goes.

I had a virtual mini-reunion with some college budddies, all who went into business/finance. They all use a FP, which surprised me. Their reasons include 1) They do this stuff all day and don't want to do it in the off time. 2) Getting to the age where they might make mistakes, and 3) their spouse has someone to call if they die.