Financial Advisor Or Not & How To Choose One??

Dee4707 · Nov 21, 2014

I have always gotten such good advice here that I thought I would ask whether I need a financial advisor or not and then how to choose one.

I have through the years had various jobs and kept the retirement accounts from those jobs. I also through the years saved money and I have also been very good about not touching any those accounts.

Currently I am in a situation where I have a few accounts and wondered if I should consolidate those accounts to make them work for me. When I was younger I just didn't think about consolidating them.

I am at a loss as to how to choose someone. I have read some articles that say don't go to the bank because they will just have you get another account. Choose an advisor who will charge to handle your accounts because they work the best handling the accounts and advising what needs to be done.

Have you had the opportunity to choose an advisor and how did you find one???

Amei · Nov 21, 2014

I use an advisor from my bank - he came word of mouth via reference. If you are going in cold-turkey (randomly choosing advisors) - I would talk to several and follow majority rule. I would also look into financial advisors that specifically handle retirement.

dorispulaski · Nov 22, 2014

I know 4 persons who used an advisor. In three cases, the results were not good.

One was my younger son, who generally is very astute about things financial. At this point he says, why do you think someone else will do a better job of handling your money than you will? Study more, pay more attention, and invest in index funds if you can't pay attention, and then pay attention to general market trends.

Have a clear goal for what kind of yearly return constitutes success for you. The one person I know who is happy with his advisor told him to make him 10% per year. This was after the crash, so it wasn't as hard as it would have been the year of the crash :laugh:

AFAIK, he is still happy.

louisa05 · Nov 22, 2014

Here is an interesting tidbit--investment companies like Waddell and Reed and several others recruit teachers to change careers. I received recruitment phone calls from them once upon a time. I explained on the phone once that my degrees were in English and history and I am in no way qualified to work in finance. Response: they have a short training program.

My cousin is an investment advisor for such a company. He was a math teacher. At least he has a head for numbers. But finance is not just being able to do math.

I would go with a bank and make sure the advisor there has education and background appropriate to the job.

dorispulaski · Nov 23, 2014

I am not sure whether the bank will be what you want. We went to interview an advisor connected with our bank last year. He advised us to buy their very best CD, ...which only had an interest rate of something like 0.5%.

Perhaps other banks have more useful advisors.

louisa05 · Nov 23, 2014

dorispulaski said:
I am not sure whether the bank will be what you want. We went to interview an advisor connected with our bank last year. He advised us to buy their very best CD, ...which only had an interest rate of something like 0.5%.

Perhaps other banks have more useful advisors.

We use a particular bank. We are currently in the process of moving funds in a 401(K) because my husband is no longer working for that corporation. It is not our normal bank but one with an investment department. We have not been steered toward merely using options at their bank and will actually be reinvesting the money in mutual funds of our choosing.

Not all banks offer such services, so you would have to seek one out. I much prefer this advisor with degrees in business and finance to a random financial advisor who may have switched careers from teaching elementary PE and went to that "short" and "simple" course that was pitched to me.

heyang · Nov 23, 2014

Definitely do your research before committing to working with anyone.

See if the person is a member of an accredited organization like. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_of_Personal_Financial_Advisors

http://www.napfa.org/HowtoFindAnAdvisor.asp

See if anyone in your area would recommend their planner, making sure that they don't have their own conflicting interests, etc.

dorispulaski · Nov 23, 2014

And remembering that my 3 friends were very happy with their planners...until they weren't.

Unfortunately, their liking was based too much on the sizzle and the bedside manner and not enough on financial astuteness.

Just saying, Bernie Madoff's customers thought he was just wonderful...until they didn't.

Tonichelle · Nov 23, 2014

dorispulaski said:
I am not sure whether the bank will be what you want. We went to interview an advisor connected with our bank last year. He advised us to buy their very best CD, ...which only had an interest rate of something like 0.5%.

Perhaps other banks have more useful advisors.

Banks and Credit Unions like to lock up money - so they're trained to push CDs. I speak from experience. I absolutely HATED that part of the job (that and talking people into going into debt)...

skatedreamer · Nov 24, 2014

dorispulaski said:
I am not sure whether the bank will be what you want. We went to interview an advisor connected with our bank last year. He advised us to buy their very best CD, ...which only had an interest rate of something like 0.5%.

Perhaps other banks have more useful advisors.

I had a similar experience at my bank. Also, the hard sell (especially for the bank's own products, of course) was unbelievable, not to mention the way the "advisor" seemed to talk down to me. It felt almost like a car salesman pointing out the vanity mirror and I came away doubting that they were in any way interested in my needs.

Financial Advisor Or Not & How To Choose One??

Dee4707

Ice Is Slippery - Alexie Yagudin

Amei

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl

louisa05

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl

louisa05

heyang

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll

skatedreamer

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