Most folks posting here on these threads have figured it out imo....just differently :)

If you hire someone (I think you shouldn't*) be sure they have a fiduciary responsibility to YOU.

* Educate yourself and roll your own. This is not rocket surgery. That is a good book and you'll do just fine with it. esp. the part about expenses (which is how parasites maintain a comfy living on the body of the host).

A Certified Financial Planner may be what you want.

Be sure to ask how they are compensated.

Never buy advice on products and the products from the same person (!!)

The more bucks you have the more aggressive you can afford to be (esp. if you have one account set up for shock proofing - i.e. a fair amount of cash & bonds, conservative stocks). The rest can go into aggressive (greater risk) assets.

Most importantly, you can do very well by shorting everything you see posted by tabs.

that last bit had me LOL

yeh! I added some emphasis. Sooner should like it too

Sage advice

I'm in the "sky is rising" fund..duz that count :)? We give Tabby lots of flak....but he duz know $tuff tho'....and he deserves it ;)...

My gut told me to transfer my 401K balence from equities (up 24.77% YTD) to income securities today. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks. This helps ease my uneasy feeling about a sudden drop that has haunted me for a month or so.

Know your risk tolerance.

I was almost 100% equities for over 3 decades (liquid investments, not RE holdings, etc.)...left some bucks in the forrest when I moved to preserving what I have mode over the past couple of years...oh deer ;)

Matters not to me at this point....

We've all seen the huge drops...25%, tech bust, 40-50%, sometimes overnight. I don't need the gains, just don't want another drop....YMMV.

Never second guess locking in gains (profits)...jmho.

If I was 25....I'd be in 100%....but I'm not :)

As you age you should probably lower risk.

Know your risk tolerance
Set your allocation
Rebalance on set dates several times a year.
Adjust allocation as needs change.

Attempting to time the market can end badly.

Got The Bogleheads guide to retirement planning last night, only had time to get to chapter three but I really like it so far. Just technical enough without going into lawyer-ese.
the more I learn from it the more questions I have, but that's normal.

I've been studying hard this past week.
I've also been running different scenarios with fidelity's free planning tools, and it's coming up roses.


But the wife is still nervous. All I hear is what if.
I tell her we got it covered, but she still says what if.
She says maybe we should work another year or two just in case.
I told her that she can work as long as she wants ;)
Doesn't matter, I have a contract to complete and that's at least another year, maybe one and a half.

One thing I haven't nailed down yet and I hope the book will help with:
I have three different pension funds that can either be lump summed or rolled into annuities.
My gut says move the lump sums directly into rollover IRAs to avoid the tax hit and that will outperform the annuities big time, but still gotta crunch numbers.
Any BTDT out there?

Regarding money, women have a "fear gland" that men do not. It causes fear that men rarely grasp. A healthy Emergency Fund will ease her concerns.

Good on you for planning with her. ;)

annuities suck - avoid*

so, maybe the wife needs a financial advisor?


* unless YOU are selling them or managing the annuity

I've tried a number of the free on line financial planners. This one is fee based but quite interesting and detailed;

https://maxifiplanner.com/smarter-personal-financial-and-retirement-planning-software

Thanks, I bookmarked that page and may give it a shot after I finish reading the book and studying some more tax implications.

Keep in mind a financial advisor/planner should do more than just Investments. They should put together a plan that best meets each individuals needs. They will look at Investments, health and life insurance, tax planning, etc and put together a plan that ensure all the various areas work to reinforce each other.

both Fidelity & Vanguard offer 'robo-advisors' - they are more generic than a human (but you may need to watch out for humans...)

with a human planner or advisor, be sure to watch out for them selling high fee funds - I tried out a free session with one and got some pamphlets for their funds - flipped to the back and looked at the expenses - 7% for a bond fund; the woman flipped out and sputtered when I mentioned it to her and that I had immediately recycled her brochures

I've seen other people actually use financial advisors and it seems to be mostly hand-holding

so, I look at it like the WAF in stereo systems or sports cars - how much would you pay to have an advisor do some hand-holding with a wife?

.. assuming you don't take DonDavis's advice, above

I don't usually do this...but...

I know the guy that is partners in this financial planning company. Kenny D is a fine guy and will look after your money and life planning like it is his own. I am pretty sure he is still fee only. His thoughts have always been in line with mine. He is in Norman. If you do give him a call tell him that Phil (the guy that split OU basketball tickets with him) sent you. Always good to look at various options.

Company | Diversified Wealth Management, LLC