How to Fire your Financial Advisor

 If you want to switch advisors, here is detailed advice from

Elliott Appel, CFP®, CLU®, RLP®

https://kindnessfp.com/fire-your-financial-advisor/

How much should you pay for financial advice?

 How much are you paying for financial advice and investment management? How much should you pay?

Mike Piper, author of the oblivious Investor blog https://obliviousinvestor.com/ recently posted:

Professional Financial Advice: How Much Should You Pay?

Why pay 1% of assets under management (AUM) if you haven't changed anything in your portfolio for the last 10 years? (I've seen clients like that who are unaware that their "advisor" has been siphoning off 1% of their portfolio each year while doing virtually NOTHING). Even if you are getting a yearly "check up" with your advisor, is it really worth paying 1% of your portfolio? One-percent might not seem like much when the financial markets are returning 20-25%/year like the past few years but what about when markets are losing money? That 1% fee compounds the losses. Do you really want active management of your portfolio

 

Mike Piper wrote a through discussion of how financial advisors are paid and what your options are for hiring paid advice, as well as DIY options. The average hourly rate for financial advice is $250. If your portfolio total was $25,000, a 1% fee would equal $250. 

 

Piper's Oblivious Investor blog is loaded with consumer-oriented financial and investment advice. You can sign up to receive a weekly email which is a great way to gain information and motivation to help improve your financial situation.

Thinking about hiring a financial advisor? Considering switching advisors?

 Here are some links to articles to help you find such assistance. Thanks to Michelle Singletary, personal finance writer for The Washington Post.

What You Need to Know About Fee-Only Financial Advisors

Fee-Only Financial Planner vs. Fee-Based: What’s the Difference?

Financial adviser, financial planner or robo-advisor? Here’s how to find the right help to manage your money

Can you trust the Certified Financial Planner designation?

An investigation by The Wall Street Journal revealed that "thousands of advisers with the coveted Certified Financial Planner designation listed in the group’s public directory as having clean records had histories of customer complaints, bankruptcies, regulatory problems or criminal records."

"The CFP Board had been relying solely on planners to self-report red flags in their records when they renewed their certification annually. The Journal’s investigation found that many such red flags were publicly disclosed on a website run by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a watchdog organization funded by the brokerage industry—but not in the CFP Board’s directory":     LetsMakeAPlan.org

Source: CFP Board to Tighten Oversight of Financial Advisers

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cfp-board-to-tighten-oversight-of-financial-advisers-11576626090

How much are you paying your financial advisor? How much are they earning in commissions?

Now that the Trump administration has nixed the fiduciary standard which would have required financial advisors to hold the best interests of their retirement clients above their own pocketbooks. The Obama administration's Labor Department had proposed a rule that financial sales people/brokers/advisors who deal with retirement accounts and clients would have to follow a fiduciary standard whereby they would have to act in their client's best interests rather than selling the client a financial product that produced the highest commission.  Well forget that! Unless you work with a certified financial planner (CFP) or other professional who follows a fiduciary standard don't trust your "advisor" to do what is in your best interest.
Currently the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair is proposing a new ruling to protect consumers that would require brokers to disclose their sales incentives, sales contests and commissions.

"Most brokerage firms pay their employees more for selling certain products over others, depending on how lucrative they are. This can result in customers paying more for products and services than they need to, though brokers defend the practice as the only way to reasonably offer a range of investment options." ("Brokers fight to keep pay perks, by Gabriel T. Rubin. The Wall Street Journal, 12/26/18 p. B1.

Finding a financial adviser you can trust

is a real challenge! Successful advisers (those who makes lots of money for themselves) are
charismatic and convincing. But before you start interviewing prospects, you better do your homework. Check out these resources (besides searching for "fiduciary, financial advice, financial adviser, financial advisers, and financial advisor on this blog):

A safe haven for investors http://jasonzweig.com/, the website of Jason Zweig, personal finance writer for The Wall Street Journal.

Lots to explore but start with

http://jasonzweig.com/page/3/?s=advisers

"The special trick to find the right financial adviser" posted 9/11/17.

http://jasonzweig.com/page/4/?s=advisers :

"The 19 questions to ask your financial adviser" posted 8/31/17

http://jasonzweig.com/page/5/?s=advisers

​"Why your financial adviser can't be conflict free" 4/10/17.