[MRM]

Unless you have so much money that you need to hire someone to keep track of it all, you have no reason to pay someone a percentage of your portfolio (wrap fee) for managing your investments. With that kind of a fee on top of comissions, you'll have to significantly out perform the market to break even. More studies than you can shake a stick at prove that about one money manager beats the S&P 500 on a consistent basis. That gentleman lives in Omaha. Seriously, over a five year period, the S&P 500 outperforms somewhere between 95anf 99% of all fund managers. That means that if you buy a low-fee S&P 500 index fund, you'll do better than 95% of all the professionals, and better than 100% of the semi-profressionals who want to charge you a percentage of your portfolio to put you into the S&P 500.

The only investment advisor worth going to charges by the hour and tells you how to allocate your portfolio, explains your options, and helps you get set up to manage your own money. This is not a stock broker. Stock brokers want to charge you fees for trading, or for holding your portfolio, as this gentleman wants to do.

Go to a certified financial planner who charges by the hour and does not trade on behalf of his clients and you'll get the straight story. Go to a stock broker who makes money off your trades, and guess what his advice will always be? Hint: it will involve trading in ways that will result in a commission for him. You want to remove any intentional or unintentional bias from your financial advisor by eliminating the profit motive from his advice. That's why you pay by the hour. That way the financial advisor has a profit incentive to give you the best advice possible so you make money and keep coming back to him.

Do not pay a percentage of your portfolio to anyone. You can buy your own mutual fund and have a professional manage it for you for almost free. Or, if you want the best return on investment, buy an S&P 500 index fund and forget about it.