Exactly. That’s what I’m advising against.
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Just because they charge hourly fees does not make them a better or more knowledgeable advisor. Also, some people want a long term relationship and need consistent help, not one transaction.
And the CFP designation isnt that difficult to obtain. I studied for 3 weeks using a Kaplan book and passed the exam with no problems. It’s nothing compared to the Bar Exam, CPA exam, CFA.
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Here is an article to help people understand how much money can be spent on fees that seem reasonable…until you do the math -
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Discussion has moved totally off subject. Please start another thread if you want to discuss financial advisors.
@Marilyn, respectfully, this is VERY germane to the OP’s question.
@CFP, I get that. Not all CFPs are created equally. The guy I use is an author, one of the Bogleheads, and did his MBA thesis on investing. He did’t arrive to the game yesterday. This is indeed off topic though.
What is not is that is that 1% is a huge drag on return and that’s important to the OP. Taking the market average of 10% less 3% inflation and arriving at 7%, at then subtracting just 1% over a ten year return on a $1M portfolio will reduce it by close to $200,000. One percent is not trivial.
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Most classes, articles, are extremely generic. Getting good information from an off the shelf resource is like finding a needle in a haystack.
Many people teaching community college type classes are advisors who want to gather assets from their students.
Investopedia is a great website that can help answer a lot of questions.
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@Snowball–I know you said that the Boglehead site seems overwhelming; I thought the same when I first started reading it, but as others have said, there are a lot of extremely patient participants who will be happy to help you.
You could create a post listing your age and assets by type, as in, $$ amount in IRA, amount in Roth (if any), amount in taxable, value of house and outstanding mortgage, if any, and any projected inflows: SS, pensions, annuities.
You would then pose your question, asking for suggestions on how to invest the insurance payout. I think you will be very pleasantly surprised by how helpful the respondents will be.
Best of luck to you.
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Im not saying it’s trivial. Im saying that most RIAs charge advisory fees.
I think many people in the public have this notion that “fee only” means better advice or service which isnt always true.
Fee only is a term of art. Does the advisor mean they charge fees for advice? Hourly? Flat fee? Fees managing assets?
Im not sure people understand that “fee only” could mean a lot of different things.
Ive met some IARs that are complete morons.
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@eyemgh -OP specifically said all she wants at this time is advice on where she can learn the basic terminology of investments, preferably with a live instructor. She wants to understand what kinds of investments she owns as a beginner. She has no intention right now of making any changes.
My initial suggestion was to look for local Emeritus/continuing education classes and others have given similar advice.
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@Marilyn is correct; I am not looking for investment advise, that is what my FP is for at this time. I am looking more to understand terminology and differences/advantage/disadvantage between let’s say CDs, HYS, stocks, etc.
Maybe once I am more confident in my understanding of the pros and cons as well as comfortable with my knowledge, I can work a bit differently with my FP.
I have basic knowledge, but want to increase my knowledge.
Most firms who specialize in do it yourself type investors typically have a great library of resources.
Fidelity/Vanguard/Schwab etc.
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That’s a very complicated question. As I said to my son when he asked to learn about investing, “Do you want the 5 minute discussion? The multi-day discussion? Or, ya know, people get PhDs in this.” 
What you’re really trying to understand are asset classes. Below is a good start.
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I learned a lot listening to podcasts. A fave is the daily Jill on Money with Jill Schlesinger of CBS. They are 10-20ish minutes each. People call or write in with questions and I always listen even if it doesn’t seem like the topic applies to me, because I learn vocabulary and am now at the point where I form advice in my head and then see how what I thought matches up to what she says. Thought I would suggest listening while you figure out a more formal way to gain knowledge. Good luck!
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Huh? In my area, the community college teachers are actual professors of finance who have an interest in personal finance and want to share that knowledge, even for the relatively low payments that the classes generate. My mom’s community college teacher was a retired journalist and writer who covered personal finance for decades for several reputable publications.
“gathering assets”- yikes. Have you ever taken a community college personal finance course?
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It’s not a complicated question. And the OP doesn’t need an advanced tutorial in order to better understand what everything is and how it should be held and titled. And doesn’t need a PhD. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be…
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I assume y’all are talking about two different things.
You, I think, are talking about an actual college course with real teachers over the course of a semester. I think @CFP is talking about someone who uses a community college as the setting for their short class. A lot of those people are trying to drum up business, like the ones who treat you to a steak dinner.
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My community college has “conflict of interest” policies. If you are teaching the evening yoga class, you can’t pass out business cards for your own yoga studio. (If students google the instructor and realize they can pay double for what they are paying at the community college for the same class, that’s on them). If you are teaching floral arrangement, resume writing, or any of the other community college continuing ed classes, you are there as an instructor, not to drum up clients for your business or side hustle.
If you want a steak dinner in return for your social security number and a list of your assets and where they are held- go for it.
I guess you didn’t see either of the links I offered. 