@busdriver11 if you find more education, I also would get a fee only review of your situation and suggestions - it would be worth the $$ IMHO.
I plan to read the chapter “The Relationship between Courage and Wealth” in Tom Stanley’s book “The Millionaire Mind”. Maybe I will gain some additional insight.
Good credentials don’t mean much. What is being sold matters more.
@SOSConcern, Iirc I didn’t mention “annualized,” but AA is short for asset allocation (eg, stocks/bonds/cash).
I will give you feedback on this thread @dstark and then you (and others) can see if we have a decent ‘deal’ or not. Your input is good info.
Great!
Don’t do what my in-laws did, several years ago, when they were in their early 80s (both turn 90 this year). FIL has a reasonably good income from his pension and SS. He had hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock of his former employer. He and other retirees were invited to a “free lunch” investment discussion. He signed up with the investment advisor. He pulled all or much of his employer-invested retirement assets and put approximately 600K into an annuity. This particular type of annuity carries a high penalty for “early” withdrawal – in the first 10 or 15 years – of more than a minimal amount. FIL also was persuaded to buy a life insurance policy on MIL’s life, with the hope that it would ensure an inheritance for the children (H and his three siblings). The annual premium on this 20-year policy is $30,000. MIL has Alzheimer’s disease, so maybe it seemed like a good bet to FIL. But MIL is still alive, and women in her family live a long time; she has two older sisters who are still living at home and her mom died at age 101, also from Alzheimer’s disease. It’s likely that the investment advisor earned commissions in the range of $30,000 to $40,000 on these investments. It still sickens me to think about this.
In addition to following John Bogle, what do others on this thread think of David Swensen’s book “Unconventional Success, A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment”? David Swensen is quoted in John Bogle’s “The Little Book of Common Sense Investing”.
Yes one has to be very careful when employer/HR allows a financial consultant to ‘help’. Many years ago, we had retirement stock/cash to roll over when the company was sold. H and I were both very busy and ran out of time to do anything else but to roll it into this investment firm (the 60 days rollover). Then we found out withdrawing in the 1st year was 3% of our funds, 2nd year 2% of our funds, and 3rd year 1% of our funds. They pushed a two new investment issues - and actually we hit a real hit with one, but it was a smaller portion of the two choices - and they really pushed the other; I did $2K in the one and $8K in the other - it was one fund that all stock brokers were showing later as what could be done in the market - Templeton Foreign (the great one) and Templeton Global (very avg returns). As soon as we could get out of brokerage, we did. Traditional stock broker place.
H’s company now just has 401k - the most recent sale ended the company pension (again we received stock and cash). What hurt was these last 15 years if we could have continued with the company pension and 401k. Oh, and new company maxed at 1 week less of vacation time (4 weeks instead of the 5 weeks H had) which also really stinks. Oh and H hasn’t had real earnings increases either. Job security has been important at this point in our life, and H has that. Plus happy with the health insurance, esp during my cancer fight; and our out of pocket costs remains low.
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rosered55,
That is a hell of a story.
When I get invited to one of those free dinners, I rip the invitation into little pieces and throw the crap in the recycle bin. The last invite was at a great restaurant so I did hesitate for a second before I ripped the invitation up. 
A friend has a financial advisor who graduated from Harvard. The advisor charges 1 percent a year on assets. She wanted me to look over her portfolio. So, I was curious what this Harvard grad was telling my friend where to invest, so I looked.
There were many fixed income investments returning less than 1 percent. 1 percent fees and fixed investments yielding less than 1 percent doesn’t sound like a winner to me. 
So I told my friend to make sure she is being charged 1 percent. If so, move the money out of the managed account. The managed account is at Schwab so open another account at Schwab and Schwab will move those assets over for you.
She still hasn’t done this yet. She wants me to go with her to talk to the advisor.
^ Your friend could very well be charged 1 percent on the fixed income assets. That is how mine charges; percent on all investable assets.
"When I get invited to one of those free dinners, I rip the invitation into little pieces and throw the crap in the recycle bin. The last invite was at a great restaurant so I did hesitate for a second before I ripped the invitation up. "
Every single restaurant we’ve been to has been fantastic
4beardolls, so why would you have those assets returning 1 percent or less with your financial manager?
1 percent fees are way too high.
“When I get invited to one of those free dinners, I rip the invitation into little pieces and throw the crap in the recycle bin. The last invite was at a great restaurant so I did hesitate for a second before I ripped the invitation up.”
LOL… I feed those into the shredder. We do timeshare pitches. Stayed at nice Westin and Marriott properties in HI twice for under $100 per night. The downside is that you need to listen to a 60-90 minute spiel, but we schedule it during the hottest time of the day to stay out of the sun. Mr. always lets the sales guys talk away and then rains on their parade. I have no problem saying no. If Trump sends me one of his timeshare invites, I will shred it.
My crappy credit union checking/saving account yields 1% per annum. Costco gives me 1%-3% back on the money we spend… Not annualized So what comes out of the checking account does better… lol.
@dstark, I was just speculating on your friend’s situation. My fee-only planner charges about .5% on my assets. I have next to non fixed income other than what is in my bank checking/saving account (not considered part of planner’s managed asset). As I said unthread, I feel .5% is high but I am too afraid to manage on my own.
Vanguard can manage assets for 0.3% and use only low cost index funds if that’s what you want.
Years ago we signed up for a vacation time share. I was hesitant, but DH was excited about it an the main location (ski condo) was 2 hours away. But on the way home I fretted about the high annual fees and uncertainty on trading weeks etc. We drove up the next morning and cancelled. (At that point DH still thought it was a good idea, but he didn’t like seeing me so stressed and losing sleep.)
“OL… I feed those into the shredder. We do timeshare pitches. Stayed at nice Westin and Marriott properties in HI twice for under $100 per night. The downside is that you need to listen to a 60-90 minute spiel, but we schedule it during the hottest time of the day to stay out of the sun. Mr. always lets the sales guys talk away and then rains on their parade. I have no problem saying no. If Trump sends me one of his timeshare invites, I will shred it.”
Sometimes we stay at one of the timeshare places too, where you have to listen to the pitch for the deal, and they don’t have a shot with us. In fact, they stop trying immediately when I tell them that we are airline employees, get deals all over, and do spontaneous travel. They know how cheap airline employees are, and they don’t even bother being nice anymore. It’s great!
@HImom, does Vangard manage assets like a financial planner? i.e., taking into account of your age, goals, risk tolerance, family situation, etc… 0.3% sounds good.
Yes, the will do a consultation with you and do a audio and visual chat with you, whichever you prefer. They have you fill out a questionnaire to help determine your risk tolerance.
We were thinking of moving much of our money to them and did talk to them a few times.
They give you more benefits the higher your total investments with them are, including not charging for the consultation if your assets are high enough.
Fidelity Spartan index funds are another option where you can have low cost index funds, plus they have some bricks and mortar offices, for folks who want to meet face-to-face.
To be repetitive, I use both Vanguard and fidelity. I talk to my Vanguard man a few times a year, to keep my account balanced. A few years ago, I shifted my retirement account in Fidelity to their management. A that costs under 1%. We had a few meeting recently, when I was trying to decide on when to start taking SS. Their program was quite helpful.
When my parents set up annuities with Allianz 20+ years ago, the rate was 6% or 6.5%. When I looked, more like 1-2%.
I tried 2 meetings. The dinner one, which only invited women, was all about variable annuities. I haven’t gone to another one.