Experience with Ameriprise

[jimbo970]

Hi Everyone,

I have had money invested in Ameriprise formerly American Express for about 15 years. SInce the downturn in the economy I have like everyone lese experienced a big loss in value. My question though or advice is what others experience may have been or be with their ameriprise accounts. When the market was good things went up but it always seemed to be a slow climb but when everything went south my accounts sunk like the titanic!!

I am thinking of moving some of my current monies and any future investments to something I can manage my self. Any ideas or suggestions>

Thanks

[disneysteve]

The whole financial sector has taken a beating this year. I don't know much about Ameriprise specifically, but my sense is that it has gone down right along with all the others. They are currently trading near the bottom of their 52-week range. Not unusual for the financials.

If you want to sell your shares and take the loss, that's up to you. Where to put the money? It all depends on the rest of your portfolio and what this money is intended for. Give us more info and we'll try and help.

[jimbo970]

re - Ameriprise

thanks for the reply.

I do understand that all the financial stock account are down drastically. I am wondering about peoples experience with Ameriprise sepcifically. I ran across a few websites that specifically bash Ameriprise for a laundry list of problems. I know everyone is not perfect but I want to be proactive. My guess is I will need to keep what I already have in American express and moving forward I want to know what the best place I can begin investing on my own. I think I can do this on my own. I am able to save about 10k per year towards investing at this point.

I heard of Vanguard, any opinions of this or other options would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Me 40's, blue collar, make in 45-55k range yearly

[disneysteve]

My guess is I will need to keep what I already have in American express and moving forward I want to know what the best place I can begin investing on my own.

I'm not clear on something. Do you have money invested WITH Ameriprise through their financial services division or do you have your money invested IN Ameriprise meaning you own their stock? My initial answer was assuming you owned their stock.

If you are invested WITH them, what is that money invested in specifically? Is it a retirement account like an IRA or Roth or is it a taxable account? Do you hold individual stocks, ETFs, mutual funds or something else?

[jimbo970]

I started when it was American Express - so I still have some of their products, ira for instance. Then when Ameriprise branched off my advisor moved monies from AMEX to several SPS products Ameriprise offers - I know som of the account are in the colombia marsico family. again still a novice here for the most part

[disneysteve]

I still have some of their products, ira for instance.

IRA is not a "product" but rather a type of account. You need to know how your money is invested. What is in the IRA? What funds do you own? What are their expense ratios? How has their performance been this year, 3 years, 5 years...? How do their performance numbers compare to similar funds in the class? What is your asset allocation? What fees are you paying to the advisor? I'm guessing these are all load funds since they are advisor-sold.

Tell us what you actually have and we can give more specific advice about what you should consider doing.

[GREENBACK]

I had a Roth IRA and a money market account with Ameriprise and they stunk. My "advisor" never ever called me once and after watching it trail everything else for way to long I gave them the boot. I know others with similar experiences. I hear if you are a really big investor they treat you better but I had enough with them.

[disneysteve]

I think many investors aren't clear on what they are investing in or what services they are, or are not, paying for. I also think, as a result, many investors abdicate responsibility for monitoring their own money to an "advisor" who might manage hundreds of individual accounts and couldn't possibly track each one or call each investor every time something changes. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the investor to know what he owns, how it is performing, how it fits in his overall asset allocation and when to buy or sell. The "advisor" is little more than a salesperson who is there to actually make the transactions (and take a cut of the action).

Personally, I see no reason to pay someone to do that for me. It is quite easy to do it all yourself. Move your money to a no-load mutual fund company or a discount brokerage. You'll save a bunch of money in loads, fees and expenses and probably get similar or even better investment performance.

[Broken Arrow]

Judging by their website, I say at least the high fees are still there, and they're not making it easy to find any fund prospectuses.

Personally, I'd go somewhere else. Even if they've shed their shady past and aggressive telemarketing, the fees still seem rather high.

[jimbo970]

Steve,

What do it your self firm would you suggest? I hear "vanguard" but dont know if they are any good. I am not sure with al of my accounts down so drastically if I should make a move right now. I do plan to make future investments with a different company. I just dont know who. I have about 25k in certificates and stock market certs coming do in the next 6 -8 mo

[disneysteve]

I think it really depends on what you are looking for. If you want a good selection of no-load funds with rock bottom expense ratios and great customer service, Vanguard is a great choice, as is T. Rowe Price or Fidelity. If you want to trade individual stocks or ETFs, it would be a lousy choice and you're better off with a discount broker like Scottrade.

What exactly do you mean when you say you have "stock market certs" coming due?

[jimbo970]

the stock market certificates were based on performance of s & p. since everything fell through the floor , for those investments I will not lose princple but they dont earn anything either. I am not a day trader for sure. I just want to invest in mutual funds, blue chips, international etc,, similar to what I have with Ameriprise. Problem with Ameriprise is that orig alot of the funds I had were AMEX and I paid an upfrom charge of 5 and3\4 percent charge. they were A shares I believe. My understanding was I wouldnt pay anything more as they grew. Sometime arounfd 2003 my advisor suggested I move several of those to SPS accounts which included non ameriprise funds. I now pay wrap fees every quarter and other charges that I do not understand. I think I would be better off investing in my own funds for future investments and slowly move Ameriprise holdings over if things work out. What is better Vanguard\T Rowe?

[Broken Arrow]

I'm not Steve, but if I was in your position, I'd definitely pack up everything and leave. Seems to me that you are being over-charged.

In the most basic sense, I believe T Rowe Price is a better route if prefer actively-mananged funds, and Vanguard if you prefer index funds. But both are pretty good, and the differences are minor I think.

[disneysteve]

I just want to invest in mutual funds, blue chips, international etc,,

What is better Vanguard\T Rowe?

As I said, if you want mutual funds, I don't think you can go wrong with either of the big 3 - Vanguard, T. Rowe or Fidelity.

If you want individual stocks or ETFs, go with a discount broker.

If you want one place to do it all, consider Charles Schwab. They have a discount brokerage and offer hundreds of no-load mutual funds.

Keep in mind that there is no reason all of your money needs to be in one place. I invest in mutual funds from Vanguard, Janus, Heartland and Oppenheimeer and individual stocks in my Scottrrade account. Plus my wife's 401k is with yet another company.

[debtfree2]

jimbo, the way ameriprise works is you can either purchase mutual funds from them and pay a high load of 5.75% (current) or you can place your money in a SPS account and not pay the load but pay a quarterly management fee. In your case, you've been doubled dip since you paid the load upfront and now that the funds are in a SPS account now you're paying the quarterly management fee. This will run 1-1.5% so if you have 50k in the SPS account you'll pay approx 500-750 bucks per year so divide this by 4 and they'll charge you approx this every quarter. You'll also have to pay the mutual funds management fees and 12b-1 fees at the end of the year. This will add up significantly over the years. The quarterly management fees are a waste since they drop you into funds and then do nothing more except charge you the fees.

As steve said, you really need to sit down and understand what you own and how much you're paying. You need to understand your asset allocation as well. Just go to Morningstar and enter the ticker symbols found on your statement and look at the funds objectives, costs, and performance over 3,5,10 years. You'll also want to see what the breakdown is of stock funds and bond funds in percentages (like 60% stock, 40% bonds).