Financial Advisor????

Something I don't remember ever seeing discussed on here. I have been approached by them through a seminar I went to on Oil and Gas Pipelines.
Anybody use one and are they worth the 1.5% annual fee?
I kinda rate them up there with attorney's...good and bad.
I never thought I might get wealthy enough to ever need one, but it seems that could happen in my case, setting on 103 acres of deep well mineral rights in SE Ohio.
If I were younger I'd invest in more and newer farm machinery, but I am ready to slow down a little and "smell the roses".

The best financial advisor should be right there in your head; just do a lot of thinking, research and make your own decisions.

My cousins married a financial advisor/stock broker - he was a total loser!

When I was younger an older farmer told me that if you need someone to help manage your investments you wont have any.
My sister and bil have a friend that went to college with him that is a financial advisor/broker. They trust him.

We are surviving. No investments.So take that for what it's worth. Best of luck. Always enjoy your posts.

I have heard that a lot of the Ohio and WV ,PA new found oil/gas wells many have the wells in and nothing is being pumped out so no money coming in. The low barrel price no doubt has some effect on it.

where is your ground at in se ohio I was born there and have ground

Noble County

There are good ones and bad ones. Its just like anything else.

I can tell you 1.5% is TOO much to pay. Most reputable ones will do it for about 1% if you go the fee route. Commissions are the other way to go. If you aren't an active trader that might be more cost effective.

Word to the WISE . Don't sign anything till you do all the research talked to a attorney that knows OIL AND GAS leases and have everything put in the lease so that it is in your favour If they want to go into one of the MANY formations then only GIVE them that and only that with NO water wrights or other mineral rights . and never take there first offer . Talk to your neighbors and see what they have been offered . Always keep in mind that they are out for them selfs and NOT you. I worked in the oil patch years back and i was one of the people that had to deal with the land owners AFTER the drilling was done to reclaim the mess and believe me i ran into some really mad land owners . just like around here now there are a ton of lawsuit and really ticked off land owners just because they jumped to fast and grabbed the carrot hanging from the string . This all started over one greedy land owner with a bunch of acres and he signed for X amount only to find out that his little neighbor go more then he did on one quarter the acres . One got 800 and the little guy got 5200 one got 18% the other got 23 % and the fight was on . And there are more battles coming .

I never have liked people getting a percent of my money no matter what they do with it.

1-1.5% skimmed off the top, that would bother me.

Mix up your investments, get some safe and some following the trends, and hook up with people that work for you, not taking a percent off the top?

Paul

Check with your personal bank. Many of them provide financial advisers at a very reasonable cost, and the one at US Bank that is handling my retirement funds has made me very happy.

"The best financial adviser should be right there in your head; just do a lot of thinking, research and make your own decisions".

This is what I have learned too.
The last "financial adviser" I trusted cost me a lot in lost earnings, thanks to her advice. Wish I had never heard of her. I would be better off financially.

Advisors get their fee whether you gain or loose. Who cares most about YOUR money? If they trick you in to telling them what you are looking for in your portfolio return and they are successful enough to beat that, just where do you suppose the excess goes.

With that said, whom do you suppose advises me on what to do with mine?

I'll tell you what I see and add in what little I know. I'm a CPA and routinely get asked to advise on investments. I refuse because I feel there are folks who devote their full time to studying such things and it would be unethical to advise on something when I am not truly qualified. BUT, I do get to peek into the lives of hundreds of people during the first few months of each year. First, I would be careful about going to the bank. You get what you pay for and those folks in the cubicles at the banks were likely tellers a year or two back. You want to check qualifications and not be too eager to jump at the cheapest option. Second, there is more than one level of investment advisor. The folks at the bank and also a lot of insurance salesmen are generally (but not always) only licensed to deal in mutual funds. Beyond that you have stock brokers who can assist you in buying in selling mutual funds and pretty much anything else. All kinds of financial planners and advisors in the mix until you get to the high end firms. These companies may or may not be brokers. Some are just investment counselors that place orders for you thru a brokerage. These guys are supposed to be carefully watching your account AND the market and they generally charge 1-2% of your balance to handle the account. They get that in the years where you lose money as well as the years where you earn money. I deal directly with a lot of these guys on behalf of my clients. Personable and knowledgeable, but I am not sure they do all that much better in a good year than I do investing on my own. If you think you have some savvy, then go thru the S&P or the Dow and pick 2-3 dozen stocks that you think are interesting. Track them without buying them and see if your reasoning for picking them is sound. Then when one goes down for no good reason, buy a little of it and see if it comes back. Balance that out with some good mutual funds you buy from someone you trust...bank or insurance or broker guy. These are good for balancing your investments because some are in bonds and some in stocks, etc. Keep some ready cash around at the highest rate you can find. One thing I can tell you for certain...don't buy on impulse (news articles, rumors) and don't panic and sell when things go down (buy, buy, buy).

Dave H

Well I always figured its a Catch 22 with financial advisers if they know what they are doing they'd be really rich and don't need a job, but if they don't have a clue they try to make their $$$ off suckers that get them to give them advice.

You can go to a low cost brokerage House and buy and" indexed fund" for much less. Its indexed to the s&p or other. It will do the same and not cost you the overhead fee from your advisor.

I'm too poor to need one, or else I'm poor because I don't use one. . .

What I've noticed is some like to "churn". There's no money for them if the money isn't moved around. With each "Churn", they stir up some commission for themselves, but not necessarily any gain for you. There is no quantitative measure for churning.
Be aware of churning

If you can find one, a good Financial advivisor is the way to go. I went through this whole thing two years ago just before I retired. The first think I did is to get educated. You need to learn what all the investment mumbo jumbo is all about. Initially I started looking at managing my own investments. I opened an account with one of the major public investment services. After I started there I figured out what "Up Front" fees were. If I managed my own mutual funds, the up front yearly fee was between 1-1.75% plus trade fees. That was with me doing all of my own work. My next step was to "shop" for a financial advisor. I made a list of questions to ask and off I went. I interviewed four different advisors and it was an eye opener. The first impressions are always the best right? The first guy I went to see had this big fancy office with a secretary. He was dressed in a fancy suit and tie. That kinda set me off from the begining. The first thing he wanted to do in take all of my 401k money and dump it in annuities. The only trouble with those is the, here we go, UP FRONT fees. They wanted like 10% off the top just to set them up and I would not have access to my money for several years. This explained where the fancy office came from. This guy also wanted 1.5% yearly. Two of the other potential advisors wanted to do the same thing, annuities and charge between 1.5 and 1.75%. Anyway, I finally tracked down a younger guy that realy knows his stuff and he charges 1%. All of my investments are diversified in the market, one annuity, several investment trusts and some cash. So far I have seen a 5 to 7% ROI since I started. We sit down every three months and go over my account to see if there is anything we should change. The bottom line is shop around and keep on them, don't just hand over your money and never go in for an account review. My two cents.

yes...just send all of your money to me I will take good care of it

That's what I learned. If it's a market problem, and not a problem with your selection of great stocks (which really bothered me when I first started marketing), when it looks like dooms day, increase your holdings. I think the recent financial fiasco and the response of the market speaks volumes about "It shall return"....the market.

So you say.....the current market is the result of the big loans and the Fed's Quantitative Easing, aka dumping Billions on the market which usually causes inflation. Well yes they did (and bet will do it again) and no it didn't because it depends what the recipients do with that money that determines inflation or not.

As far as repayment of the loans it depends on to whom you are speaking. Reliable information I read says that the government made a ton of money on the loans and most of the principal has been repaid.......HA! The government made money on something.....whatta deal!

Staying on track, so we had a market crash and so we had a successful recovery....not talking about everything here, just the market....we are talking about investments.

That's my take of it.

Now am I a current investor? No! I am retired and live within my means living a very happy life. My money is in secure assets that don't pay much right now, but that's ok. I am fully aware of the time line on longevity and if you loose 50% of your holdings due to plain old greed or for whatever reason, you have to make 100% on what's left just to get back to where you were.....where you going to fined a legitimate investment like that and are you going to live long enough to get your money back.........the money you may need for current and future living?

Besides I can sleep soundly and enjoy my retirement because INVESTMENTS DON'T RULE ME!!!!!!!!

HTH someone.
Mark

The really big boys that assist in "churning" will tell you that a stable market is useless. Gotta have the ups and downs. So if .....isn't hitting the fan somewhere, get some and turn on the fan, then when you have made your money, turn it off.....to do the cycle again over and over.

Mark

Finical adviser's sell you what ever they can make the most money on, you come last. Do not get sucked into annuity's, They are not a growth product. The salesman gets 7% or better for the sale and your annuity is capped at 2.5% or 3% or else they charge huge management fees. An annuity does not even keep up with inflation. The salesman will lie to you and tell you how you are going to make 10% or better. The only thing is, you will not lose your principal. And your money is tied up for a long time, if you want it out early you pay huge surrender charges. That has been my experience.

A bank as suggested and other firms charge 1% of portfolio value. Others charge a little more.

Good luck

sotxbill gave the best advice. Use an online discount broker and buy an indexed mutual fund. It won't be the best or the worst in any one year, but in the long run they outperform everything except Warren Buffet.

I agree with sotxbill. I will add to find a financial advisor that charges a fee to sit down and talk to you and tell you what to do with your money. If they are selling ANYTHING stay away from them and do not get locked into any yearly fees. We (my wife and I) use Vanguard funds and are satisfied with their cost and performance.

I have dealt with financial advisors for over thirty years, hear are a few observations. There are good ones and not so good ones. All will make you money, if they don't they won't be in business long. None are perfect, not every investment they make will be a winner. Investing is like farming, the return is proportional to the risk level you are will to take with no guarantees. As long as I make more than I would in a bank deposit it's a plus. The last few years we have had double digit returns. Are you familiar with Dave Ramsey? You can contact him and get a ELP for your area. This will be an advisor that follows Dave's philosophy of investing. He will sign a fudiciary agreement with you, then he has a legal obligation to work for your best interest. Good luck.

"Anybody use one and are they worth the 1.5% annual fee? "
Yes, No ,Maybe??
Become informed. Ask question and more questions.
Don't commit to first one. Go slow .
Technical college near you might have classes
on investing.
Use an online broker with a physical presence near you. You should be able to buy/sell for under $10.00 a trade. Don't buy problems!
have fun.