Financial Planner

vlagrl29 · May 2013

I got something in the mail today from a financial planner trying to get my business. If we go to the initial meeting we get a $100 gift card to use at 2 different restaurants. We currently don't have a financial planner. I usually just check in at our local fidelity office a couple times a year to discuss my portfolio. I'm considering doing this but I'm afraid he will try and hard sell me. We don't really have the money to pay for an advisor and I have part of my retirement managed right now by fidelity. I think I may learn some things from him since I'm not a pro regarding the markets and investments. What would you do? Schedule a meeting or skip it?

brij2006 · May 2013

I would do a little research on the company he is representing, and about him. Then go from there. We meet with a financial planner, and it is worth it to us. But we never feel like he is trying to hard sell us or is pushy. He is just the "3rd party" in our financial decisions and brings another opinion to the table on what we do with our money. We also had him recommended to us by a lot of people. Not sure I would've gone with one we got a postcard from in the mail.

vlagrl29 · May 2013

brij2006:
I would do a little research on the company he is representing, and about him. Then go from there. We meet with a financial planner, and it is worth it to us. But we never feel like he is trying to hard sell us or is pushy. He is just the "3rd party" in our financial decisions and brings another opinion to the table on what we do with our money. We also had him recommended to us by a lot of people. Not sure I would've gone with one we got a postcard from in the mail.

how much of a cut does yours take? Can you still keep your retirement money with who you want to or do you have to let your planner be in charge of it. I had spoke to one before over the phone and she required a minimum of our retirement

brij2006 · May 2013

Ours has no minimum we have to put with him.

I know that he makes a % off of the money we put in. So if we're making 7%, then he may make 1% on that money. It doesn't bother me, because it's not taken off the % we make and I know even if we invest elsewhere, there are fees we may have to pay for their services.

We also have some investments with him, and others elsewhere from before him. He will usually take a look at our statements from the prior investments and let us know if we should do something differently. Then he advises on what to do with our investments for that year.

vlagrl29 · May 2013

brij2006:
Ours has no minimum we have to put with him.
I know that he makes a % off of the money we put in. So if we're making 7%, then he may make 1% on that money. It doesn't bother me, because it's not taken off the % we make and I know even if we invest elsewhere, there are fees we may have to pay for their services.
We also have some investments with him, and others elsewhere from before him. He will usually take a look at our statements from the prior investments and let us know if we should do something differently. Then he advises on what to do with our investments for that year.

I will keep that in mind. Right now I think I will just keep all my retirement where it is for the moment. My priority right now is re-investing most of the money I have in cash right now. I inherited quite a bit of retirement from my first husband when he passed away 5 years ago. Before the crash in 2008 I put it all in bonds so I wouldn't loose as much as others. For a few years I was scared to re-invest it. Last year I started spreading it out to different funds. DH has some knowledge with stocks and that has helped me determine what to do, BUT I still got a lot I need to put out there in the market. The fidelity management fund takes their cut which I think is 1% out of my portfolio which is nice because I don't have to come up with that money.

Financial Planner

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