Fee-only adviser

[firehawkocean]

I met with 2 garret advisers last week. I am having a hard time deciding on one. The one I felt the most comfortable with wants to charge me $2,000 for a financial plan that includes insurance check-up, investing check up, estate planning suggestions (not the actual documents). Is this realistic. It seems high. I have zero debt and 340,000 in cash to invest.

[photo]

For some odd reason, this forum software seems to think "advisor" is misspelled (it isn't).

Anyway, I would never pay that amount of money for someone else to tell me what to do with my money. I really think that reading a variety of books and coming to your own decision will probably save you the most in the long run. However, since you've decided to spend the money, I hope you find some good investments.

[myinvestmentinsight]

Hey Firehawkocean,

I'm a fee-only/registered investment advisor out of New York. We generally charge an upfront fee for financial plans (under $1000) for people looking to invest on their own. People who are interested in investing with us will normally receive the plan for free.

Here are some of the key things you want your plan to review:

- Insurance Needs
- Current Debt
- Education Expenses
- Income Needs
- Investment History
- Ability to handle risk
- Sources of income
- Beneficiary information
- Tax status
- Current investment portfolio
- Estate planning overview
- Goals for retirement
- Overview of current assets
- Goals for future assets
- etc, etc, etc

Our plans provide clients with the percentage of the likelyhood that they will meet their goals. If they are off track, the plan also offers suggestions/changes that will allow you to meet your goals.

Also, the term fee-only advisor is just another term for Registered Investment Advisor. What that means is that we charge a percentage of assets under management. This is as opposed to a broker who will normally charge a commission for every transaction placed. The choice to use a RIA or Broker really comes down to the investor. A key point to note is that Registered Investment Advisors have a legal fiduciary responsibility to their client. This means that the RIA has to put the clients interest first, no matter what. Stock brokers are not held to this standard.

[thefrugaltoad]

Garrett is a well respected organization of fee-only CFP's. I would only go to a fee-only advisor. Check out this great resource from CFP Board for some questions to ask when choosing an advisor.

[jpg7n16]

I met with 2 garret advisers last week. I am having a hard time deciding on one. The one I felt the most comfortable with wants to charge me $2,000 for a financial plan that includes insurance check-up, investing check up, estate planning suggestions (not the actual documents). Is this realistic. It seems high. I have zero debt and 340,000 in cash to invest.

$2k seems like a pretty standard fee for fee only planners. He's got a salary to pay, plus paying the members of the team that will help create the plan (CPA fees, lawyer fees, etc.). I think Ameriprise standard fee is $3k for comparison.

Given that the plan will cover $340k and evaluate your entire scenario, you're talking less than 1%. Doesn't seem too high to me.

I still would recommend a CFP like others have, but that doesn't mean your advisor isn't doing an ethical job with the plan.

[mcfroggin]

Unless you are doing something complicated, do the research yourself. Unless you get a GOOD planner, it may not be worth $2000.