PRetty consistent thoughts...thanks. Yes, a fee only arrangement seems logical. As I approach retirement I have this nagging feeling i should be doing something...or not.

Walked through the retirement planning calculator on Janus website and it indicates we’re doing ok. Peace of mind. Plan to keep saving and as kids get out of college, that should expand...we are not big spenders!. One down, two to go.

Know your risk tolerance. Diversify. Rebalance your portfolio on a quarterly or semi annual basis.

see line 3 for the factors that affect how much should be in cash

you are on the right path - see bolded

money is a great buffer, but not a substitute for being self-contained

i.e. it cannot make you happy, but can be used to prevent various types of unhappiness

A good FP really can comes in handy when the world goes to ****. Mine save bucketloads of dough when the last crash happened. During good times, it isn't that hard to manage yourself. My opinion.

That was 2 decades ago...I used the same guy for a quite a while when I was just living life pumping $ into funds, etc. Well...yesterday, I (we) fired him again. What "they" drained from my parents pisses me off...but I've never intervened in their financial stuff before now...just casual advice...often ignored :)

I like the guy, we graduated hs the same year, but he's not in my league with numbers....just a salesman actually :(. I knew him well years ago....drank a ton of beer with he and his wife back when ....she had a TON of aftermarket part$ and liked to show 'em off at the pool :)

My mom will now sleep well at night....I've got their fronts covered now....have always had their backs...payback time.

Everyone's situation is unique....this board is full of smart folks with different talents....figure out what works...for you...jmho.

I had a Supra Turbo back then.....John's new BMW couldn't match it in performance either....but we were drinkin' buddies....that never talked about cars...or politics, or investment stuff...go figure ;)

Same here. Last college tuition three years age, expected clear sailing.

Then my daughter got engaged. Wedding next spring, same as another 2 years of college.

Hope you have all boys...... ;) SmileWavy

+1 and visit https://www.bogleheads.org/ for more. pwd72s made a similar reference on another thread back in December of 2011. I immediately bought the first book mentioned above. I can't thank him enough for that.

Question: how much do these financial advisers charge?

I've always managed my own finances and that has worked out well but that might just be lucky timing. I've always been aggressive, probably too aggressive.

So I met with a financial planner a couple times.
The news was good, He says the wife and I can retire and maintain current lifestyle/budget indefinitely. Cool.

But then he told us he works on a percentage of total amount managed, and it works out to be as much as an average house payment every month! I said no friggin way and thanked him for his time.

So I'm curious, what's the going rate, the range?

I like the idea of having someone just provide advice and tell me what I should do and how to structure, and I can do the work myself. Doan mind that. I just want the consulting exper-tease.
See what I did there? Tease?

I crack me up.

BTW, I just ordered that book "The Bogleheads guide to retirement planning".
$5.04 with free shipping. Did I mention I'm .... frugal? ;)

Depending on complexity and amount the initial set up of a plan will be around two grand. It you want them to actively manage the plan and accounts you can expect 1% (or more) of the account balance a year.

+2. Read these books and/or the primer at the Bogleheads forum and consider asking for financial advice there. It's a very good forum.

Preview: They generally favor low cost, diversified buy/hold/rebalance strategies. If you need additiinal professional advice or situation review, choose an advisor that works on a fixed fee basis. And always live within your means. This strategy works.

Tanks for the info.
over "X" grand a month for a planner ain't gonna fly, I can learn to do it myself for that much. I like the idea of a decent fixed fee for initial set-up and reduced level of support and cost after that.
The basic investing/diversify stuff is not hard as I have tools available to help with all that.

It gets complicated when we have two 401ks, a personal investing account, way too much sitting in a bank saving account (shameful), and three large pension funds that can either be anuitized several ways or can be lump-summed, and some other not-typical stashes.

How not to take a big tax hit, when to move and where, and how to minimize potential downside without giving up all upside is what I need the book-learning for.
A good tax adviser would prolly be more beneficial than a financial planner.

Hay maybe I could retire and go to school to learn me a financial planner job, but that requires doing maths and I'm not that good with 'puters. Bad idea.

I used to use this guy on a car forum....I lost my a$$....whatever ya do...don't listen to him :)!

You just bailed too early. It ended up with a 1500% profit but it took a lot longer than we 'spected. Way longer.

It's all about patience and timing.
Or Timing and patience.
One of them.

Wow. just checked and that was 12 years ago, when I posted this:

When it got gobbled up by a bigger fish, they cashed all I had left at around $155.
But it took forever and besides, I said I was sorry!!!! ;)

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Iffn I recall correctly, you sold just a little before that black arrow on the graph?
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Yes, you should seek out a Financial Advisor.

Heard of Dave Ramsey? His methods aren't particularly sexy, but they're damn wise and foolproof.

Stay tuned for the haters. Sure, he sells stuff. But literally everything he teaches is free on his site and his radio show.

https://www.daveramsey.com/

Time flies $ammy ;)....I bought at 39....sold at 13 as I recall...just one of the consolidations after the bottom fell out way back when. Reinvested in some other equities....doing fine.

I still have 1500 shrs of Enron tho'.... I'm more patient now :).

I've lost enough on POT (ACB) in the past year to supply a village of hippies fer a LONG time....bought some more today ;)

Zero or bu$t....whichever comes first :)

But dayum...

I'm on the sidelines other than that....just to keep my interest up in the market...for fun.

I do work with a FA to bounce ideas off of. My stuff is generally in high yield stocks and he only gets a fee on trades which occur rarely. Some of my wife's pre-marriage retirement funds are in mutual funds he gets a bigger fee from but that is maybe 20% of our assets. I'll keep mine in dividend stocks because I continue to work and can into the future as well if the stock market gets particularly bouncy. We also have almost no debt and have real estate we can live off of and in (multifamily) if things got particularly weird or if we want to downsize to an apartment in the future.

He also knows the tax code and estate matters quite well so he is helpful when considering alternatives and discussing how things get passed along if there will be anything left. That isn't my goal though. My kids are both earning good incomes and saving.

Remember that. Did not expect it to go down, and didn't know how long to go back up or how far.
I have to be lucky instead of good.
But yer right about not taking advice from guys on a car forum.
You never know about that enron stock tho;)


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