FA

hv876

I am not your FA, but I’ve been scaling into Gold and Silver.

AllCapNoBrake

BTCXAU (BTC vs Gold) has broken through all retest levels since 2017. They about to be WAY UP or DOWN once it crosses 16.000 My FA? IBIT PUTS! Thank you for your attention in this matter. https://preview.redd.it/gcamnvjoeifg1.png?width=1016&format=png&auto=webp&s=33bbe9714d095e6f9a587f5847c9e054e0f14a18

GamerGuyAlly

I think its worth discussion. American's will not believe this, but you have to look at the facts. Some big European pension funds are selling, the retail investors have not only started moving funds out of the US but are boycotting the actual products. Trump is strangling the US economy. There's threats of the EU pulling the nuclear finance bomb on the US if they continue to threaten the EU and NATO. That's before you get into the fact that the entire of the US stock is propped up by an AI bubble. If you want any indicator of how strong the anti-US sentiment is right now, just look at the German FA tabling the idea of boycott the World Cup. I can't stress enough that Europeans boycotting a world cup would take a LOT to even discuss. I'm not suggesting people en masse dump US stock tomorrow. But I think we're way past the point of laughing off the idea that its a riskier proposition than its ever been. Just put it all in the S&P and it will definitely go up over X amount of years I think is about to stop being true. If the US follow the trajectory they are on, they will lose all the things that allows the S&P to be so strong. Attacking your allies is a monumentally idiotic idea. If you attack your allies, what do you think your enemies are doing. Then we also have to factor they're a bad day away from a civil war, another ICE shooting today. How many deaths before they fight back? The US is too risky for me, I moved to the EU/UK a while ago. Ethically I also think its the right thing to do, I don't want my money funding the US.

johnnyshots22

I hate Chinese stocks but I think JEM might be one to keep an eye on. Have until April15 to meet the $1 Nasdaq compliance. And we all know how they love to pump their stocks in this scenario. If you buy and it pumps, make sure to take profits as they are famous for rugpulls. Not FA. Due your own DD Good luck to all best of all on all your tickers of choice.

Wireless_Helpplz

There is a solid chance here given the weight of evidence in both TA and FA that ASPI is about to take off on its next leg up

RipperX4

going by your posts you should leave the FA to professionals as well.

JustJustinInTime

I have multiple family members who refuse to see that paying an FA to buy and move around a bunch of stocks that basically end up tracking the SP500 and yield the same is not worth it financially.

Kemilio

If you don’t laugh, you’ll go nuts. Just play the TACO odds and enjoy, it’s FA at this point.

johnnyshots22

No not over. Only the beginning. More PR and good news expected this week. This is just paper hands panic selling. This is a real stock not a pump and dump.Not FA. Due your own DD. Just my honest opinion.

RamBamBooey

I'm buying shorts with a 6 month window. Last year was FA. If FO still exists, it will happen this year

DorianSoundscapes

Super reassuring. I guess we FA and now it’s time FO.

Ok-Thought-9960

I read an article yesterday from some big bank saying they put FA for tsla on the back burner.... like aren't you guys fiduciaries dont you have to care about that shit. To me that was top indicator if I have ever seen one 

Ok-Thought-9960

Yeah I was gonna say. This shit has been horrible to try and navigate any TA or FA is honestly a waste of time. U find any edge and its gone because of a something said during a meeting about milk. Like anything and everything cam fuck with the market because of that asshole. 

DeeDee_Z

As I phased into retirement, my FA and I started "redistributing" (not really rebalancing) my assets from Few to Many, such that I now have **separate** funds for Large Cap Growth, Large Cap Value, Mid Cap G & V, international Developed Markets, international Small/MidCap, still have some Emerging Markets, one EAFE, a few bond/fixed-income funds of different types (corporate, govt, hi-yield), and so forth. So, for my 3- or 6-month allowance, it's pretty easy to sell **ONLY** the sector that has outperformed / is overweight, and NOT sell anything else. It's also a pretty painless way to keep your Asset Allocation balanced, even though that's not the primary goal.

AllCapNoBrake

Too bad you didn't do it back on 10/2 w/ me (and anyone else that took my FA).

Guy_PCS

Not for your benefit except your FA, time to find another fiduciary.

kwest84

Funny you would say that; I've been migrating my Gmail and Google Drive to Proton Mail and Proton Drive. And I already switched to Linux on my laptop. I'm in the process of moving my 2FA from Authy to Aegis as well. It's already happening; we're leaving American tech.

zxc123zxc123

>OpenAI implementing ads in ChatGPT- Finally time for Puts on GOOG/GOOGL >>OpenAI requiring verified email log in and 2FA to use ChatGPT- Finally time for Puts on GOOG/GOOGL >>>OpenAI requiring verified email log in and 2FA to use ChatGPT with ads unless you pay $20/month- Finally time for Puts on GOOG/GOOGL >>>>OpenAI requiring verified email log in and 2FA to use ChatGPT with ads unless you pay $35/month- Finally time for Puts on GOOG/GOOGL >>>>>OpenAI requiring verified email log in and 2FA to use ChatGPT with ads unless you pay $35/month and only works via APP and not web-browser- Finally time for Puts on GOOG/GOOGL >>>>>OpenAI requiring verified email log in and 2FA to use ChatGPT with ads unless you pay $35/month and only works via APP and not web-browser unless you run it on your own processing power but they still keep all your data- Finally time for Puts on GOOG/GOOGL I only wish OP had told me this earlier and I would have personally sold those GOOG $200 puts to them.

johnnyshots22

I also think this one will explode soon just a matter of when not if . Good entry i think. Not FA.

Sharp_Willingness230

i'm a serious doubter that a buyout will come on a blinded trial, based on the very basic results we have been fed over the course of the trial. yes, it has a near can't fail rate at this point but there's still the FDA approvals and actual FA results that companies would want to see to make informed buyout offers.

2016KiaRio

This would have been a mini reversal of Liberation Day. FA uncertainty is only good for defense stocks.

johnnyshots22

Resistance at $1. Once this breaks , it flies imo. Not FA

TheLongestLake

So worst case scenario they lost 180M? How much would a one time cost of 180M even hurt the stock? But still very interesting ha. Seems very easy to prevent with 2FA or just tying points to a particular flyer

Raliga

Why wouldn't them adding 2FA fix that issue and render the whole thesis moot?

Any-Love-6016

But not FA of course

PK-MT

For me, and this gets completely shot down in all sub-Reddits, I have about 80% in securities and I would guess about 80% is in individual companies. I think, if you are going to go this route, then a FA is required unless you are unemployed and able to break down corporate financials. I am not either of those. They have the resources and backroom doing the deep dives. I own a number of companies I would have never, and I mean never picked myself, Cummins Diesel? Not a chance, but it's up 143% since they bought it on my behalf.. That portfolio has 14 separate shares and few ETFs targeting other sectors. There are just so many companies, of course there is the big 7, but after that, it's kind of a crapshoot.

Phortoes

My FB that I had snce 2007 was suspended in Feb-25 due to an Instagram account I don't know being linked to my FB by a hacker in Vietnam and violating community rules or something like that. Their system didn't do 2FA as I should have got a text with authentication codes for a new login. Their AI didn't recognise my phone that I'd always used to access FB or my laptop nor all my credentials that I downloaded from my profile to reset my account. I hope they're not successful with their AI as can't imagine Meta being awarded a contract for important stuff using their rubbish AI. So arrogant they aren't bothered to stop and review complaints.

zrsyyl

This looks super slick man. Automating DD is honestly something I’ve dreamed about since I started trading. It’s just such a time sink digging into balance sheets and 10-Qs every time you find a ticker that looks promising. The last few months I’ve been trying to streamline my own process and noticed once I started using AskEd⁤gar, pulling together the fundamentals and SEC data became way less painful. It kinda made me realize how much of my “analysis time” was just searching for consistent info. I’m curious how Lazy⁤FA handles less common metrics or custom data points like EV/EBITDA or debt ratios over multiple years. Like, does it chart those trends or just dump the raw data? Either way, this could be huge for anyone doing serious value or long-term investing, especially if it integrates cleanly with stuff we already use for tracking positions. Mad props for actually building it out instead of just talking about it.

Rynory79

So you think I should buy some? Sounds good thanks for the FA, I’m buying some now.

derprondo

License plate said `FA DRTR` and it had dice in the mirror.

Revfunky

I do use TradingView for day trading and swing trading which I use the TPS system taught to me by Nate Bear. I use Yahoo Finance, Earnings Whispers, FinViz. I learned FA and now tend to ignore it. I also subscribe to financial newsletters and attend a couple financial conferences ( Vancouver in July is the next one) a year. At a certain point I had more money than time and it was easier to pay someone else to do the research. More important than the picks are having a strategy. I can give out picks for days but when to sell is usually the hardest question for investors to answer. Without a strategy you are left in the lurch.

slow_news_day

That’s assuming this admin is in total control. He already almost lost control when the bond market spiked during tariffs 1.0. Not saying it’ll happen, but if he FA long enough, odds are everyone else will FO.

RatherBeRoadtripn

Hi I'm new to SGOV, and if I understand it correctly then from what you've said above, I want to just buy an outright SGOV, I do not want to buy an ETF SGOV correct? I didn't know government bonds were ETFs... I'll keep learning!! I have bonds incl Muni ETF out of brokerage. I don't understand them at all because I inherited them and per FA who says to do nothing, But let them sit there for now doing their thing, while at the same time urging me to invest in stocks. I do understand about the interest rate increasing has an adverse effect on bonds, and that the decreasing interest rates generally speaking, increases the bond price, Because the lower interest rate on new bonds makes older bonds with higher fixed rates more attractive than newer issued bonds if I understand all of that? Because the newer bonds have the new lower interest rates which is why the older bonds are in more demand and increase their market price. I think I just repeated myself! Of course the value of my bonds seems to be decreasing so...

judge_mercer

Our FA finally put us into PLTR, so we must be nearing a peak. https://preview.redd.it/rl9bo3nqeybg1.jpeg?width=1450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1ef434e578d537d0bb2e45de3608a8e524e1826d

15Sierra

Had a call with my FA today, he wants to add some AMD into my Roth. Currently hold NVDA, RTX, and NOC as well. His 24mo PT for NOC is just shy of $700 FWIW.

Useful-Regular9992

This is a tough situation. The biggest risk with a Custodial Roth IRA is that the Custodian has full legal control until the minor turns 18 or 21. If you don't trust the father, **do not** let him be the custodian. You can absolutely be the custodian yourself as an aunt/uncle/partner’s relative at brokerages like Fidelity or Schwab. The 'Guardian' role in the bank's eyes doesn't always have to be the 'Legal Guardian' in a court of law. Just ensure that the daughter's email and phone are the ones linked for 2FA, so the father can’t reset the password if he gets a hold of her device.

10xwannabe

Investing is as simple as tying your shoe laces. I've read countless books over nearly 20 years, read peer review articles, and been on bogleheads website for 10+ years (best website for finance). Here is what investing comes down to: 1. Save as much as you can so you can invest as you can. 2. Asset allocation is king. 3. Active management is a losers game. 4. Fees, taxes, and inflation eat into long term returns. 5. Stay the course so you don't mess up your long term plan. This thread hits on no. 5. I can't tell you HOW MANY TIMES I see threads talking about how "this time is different". "Oh VZ attacked this time is different" is them most recent. Last couple years it is the political leanings showing through "Trump this or that". The older I get the more I believe Dr. Bernstein (author) saying most folks SHOULD have FA to prevent themselves from messing everything up.

ForeverInTheSun82647

Fidelity brokerage account in SPAXX or FZFXX pays the same 3.7 and you don’t have a FA taking 1 percent of it annually in fee. I’m highly against a CD as the money is locked up for the time duration. If it were me, I’d dump the cash into the broker account. Collect the interest on the money market. While that is happening, learn/read about investing. Maybe put some cash into the market. Your short and long term goals will define your strategy.

LiquidSquids

Typically BO occurs after results. Results were expected in Dec. Company had promised FA was likely in Dec. Company provided update that we are actually a ways away from trial completion. (80 events) 60 events Dec 2024, 72 events Dec 2025, 1/month. Once you understand the trial timeline and typical outlook for CR2 AML patients you start to realize it's probably lasting longer for a reason and that is their drug is working very well. Big Pharma can put this timeline together too. Big Pharma can typically only convince their board of say a 300% premium on stock price for a BO. If they're willing to take a risk on this timeline math (technically anything could happen bc the trial is still blinded but they know it's a likely success) they could extend a BO offer before trial completion (expected in August at earliest.) If the company has a concrete buyout offer that's say way more than 300% premium at current value, the powers that b COULD leak some info to the market makers and walk the stock price up to a buyout offer worthy price at any time.

Maalic

Overnight increases in value and decreasing during the market is a known broad market action. There's a paper found out of SDSU that cited it among others. I researched it enough to try to put live $ into. Buy at close, sell at open. The algo we used to pick the stocks did t work and my firm (yes, I work in the industry as an FA) shut me down for day trading. I still think there is something there, though. I found an old video of a hedge fund guy talking about it on cable TV awhile back. So what you're seeing is not just NVDA. And from that experience I also believe that day trading doesn't work over time. Momentum over previous days and holding till things changes works better, imho.

enigmas59

European Defence Stocks are priced in largely. I have concerns that their prices are largely based on the presumption of future contracts, but thus far the firm contracts placed are nowhere near the commitments by nations. Therefore, I see a risk that on the conclusion of the Russian/Ukraine war some spending commitments are dialled back. You can see this in how European defence stocks drop everytime a ceasefire comes close. I think there may be some value in picking the right stocks after a post-war drop, and some uplift in defence spending will be maintained. Atm I have a couple of US defence stocks. I placed 8% of my port into HII this time last year on the basis of an overblown reaction to earnings and Trump pivoting to China where the USN is the primary combat arm. However I think it's verging on overpriced now. NOC has been slept on a little. I bought last summer when there was speculation over B2 strikes in Iran, which did happen. I like the fact they have a few catalysts coming up (B2 order increase, Sentinel contract restructuring, FA/XX). Some space involvement too. I have LMT and RTX on the watchlist, maybe if another shutdown happens end of the month. I'm sure 10 people will mention ONDS. I like and I've been in and out of the stock, but I expect dilution this year. Will buy in if it dips to $7.

Glam34

clearly we are back in the FA phase

Happy_Discussion_536

>One day we might just run all of the Americas u/ThatChrisGuy7 The goal is not to "run" the western hemisphere. It's to make sure no one here exclusively trades oil and allies with the Russian axis. If Maduro hadn't FA, he wouldn't have FO.

tallerdetecnologia

Hello everyone. I am currently working on the development of a new cryptocurrency project completely independently and with a lot of motivation, but I want to be honest and transparent: I do not have the financial resources needed to cover the initial technical and operational costs required to get this project off the ground. For this reason, I am reaching out to the community with humility to ask for voluntary support. Any contribution, even a very small fraction of ETH, can make a meaningful difference and help me continue moving forward. My goal is to raise the equivalent of $50 USD in ETH, which will be used solely to take the first concrete steps of the project on the network. I sincerely appreciate anyone who can contribute or help by sharing this message. Wallet address: 0xE451Cb1FA187680c3C8a8E122f6FA00b1dEf1172 Network: BASE Thank you for your time, your support, and for believing in decentralized innovation. 🙏

Revfunky

Don’t get me wrong, I cut my teeth on fundamentals. FA answers the “why”to buy a stock. I started with dividends and finding ten-baggers. Spending your days obsessing over fundamentals is not the path to better returns. I say that as someone who understands FA. Balance sheets, income statements, operating leverage. I understand how sausage is made. Barry Ritholz’s new book “How not to invest” explored what value means to investors. Barry writes, “Valuation cycles are driven primarily by psychology.” “Starting out with investor indifference and ending with investor overenthusiasm.” The bottom line is, “Cheap stocks are not always good buys, and pricey stocks don’t always disappoint.” “The major determinant of stock price returns isn’t growth in corporate profits,” Barry writes, “but rather changes in price / earnings multiples.” And he breaks down earnings growth by decade since the middle of the 20th century to prove it. The 1950s, for example, saw earnings per share (EPS) growth of 3.9% per year. But the index of stocks rose 13.6% per year. During the 1960s, EPS rose 5.5%, but stocks rallied only 5% per year. In the ’70s, EPS skyrocketed to 9.9%, but stocks barely gained 1.6%. During the 1980s, EPS rose 4.4% but gains were over 12%. In the ’90s, you saw 7.7% EPS growth while stocks returned 15% annually. During the 2000s, you saw 4% EPS gains per year but a NEGATIVE 3.8% return in the indexes. Stocks actually fell that decade. They focus too much on the denominator of the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. It is the price that pays. I hope that offers some nourishment.

Jolly-Parfait-7696

34% with a 1.5% fee to my FA, as everyone should have instead of trying to prove something to themselves.

Acceptable-Jacket567

Fire the shill FA

Euphoric_Box_3451

I’m looking to add to my SLS position. Going to buy more shares. Personally it looks good. Shorts are drowning trying to keep it down. I think 7-15$ pre buyout. Not FA

Michael_J_Scarn

You have lots of options. You should probably consult your FA (Footwear Advisor).

Expert-Beat-3598

You may be right depending on the year. This year my gains are over $200K and I have only a $4K taxable realized gain. My bonds are in IRA and my entire taxable brokerage account is VT. If I scale this up, it was always be a very small % of my assets to not care about. I hire a FA hourly every now and again for a health check and/or if I have a specific transaction I don’t want to screw up. That is $$ well spent. Simple accumulation though in my eyes is simple whether it’s $10K or $10M.

EnvironmentalEnd7062

I like the thought but probably further away than we think especially in cities. There’s lots of FA guidelines and restrictions that are hard to clear. I think Amazon is a good play and I would look up what companies manufacture drones or even main components for drones.

siamonsez

The terminology around investing is clear as mud, a word will have a very different meaning depending on context. Growth, for example, can refer to the proportion of equities to less volatile asset classes when referring to a portfolio or allocation. Anything over like 70% equities would be considered a growth allocation, so 100% schd would be a growth portfolio and so would 100% nvda or 100% vt. Growth can also refer to the opposite of value when classifying equities, where the grpwth/value scale refers to the current price relative to the current value of the stock. A growth stock is one that's trading above what it's currently worth. Colloquially people might use growth to mean "not dividend focused" but that's technically inaccurate. No dividend focus would be a neutral position, so any broad equities allocation, but a growth fund like schg is focused on the subset of the market that's classified as growth. If you tell a FA you want to focus on growth they'll assume you mean more exposure to equities and since that would be the default anyway after talking about your savings goals and timeline they'd take it to mean you want a greater exposure to equities relative to what's appropriate for your goals. When you see a comment that at your age you should focus on growth it's based on the assumption you're talking about retirement savings and therfore havd a very long timeline, and in that context a dividend focus is pointless since reinvesting dividends is the same as if there was no dividend. Focus on growth doesn't mean a growth fund, it means do what's most likely to lead to a worthwhile return over that timeline. Since a neutral position in the weighting of equities is more predictable it's more likely to lead to a worthwhile return in the long run. Any bias widens the range of outcomes so there potential for a higher return, but also a higher likelihood of a lower return.

Background_Body9058

Smart people cut loses at 30%, real traders like OP cut there’s at 95%.. go big or go home. Certified method from Warren Buffet. FA

Any-Love-6016

Not now ..but could be wrong not FA and do your own DD...

AngusMeatStick

I'm not an accountant or a FA, but I would sell enough to offset the 50k and no more, because I don't think you can refund more than 1500/3000 of regular income based on capital losses. Then you would conceivably owe 0 in capital gains tax.

Better_Passage2581

I'm an FA and we don't do any of this.

johnnyshots22

You're not too late man. This is only the beginning. Not FA but watch if you don't buy.

PTTCollin

I mean I think it's technically like 1.2% or something but it's still ridiculous for what it is. But the direct answer is "a friend who's trying to become an FA with Edward Jones".

PTTCollin

I mean that's one year at 1.5% FA fees. Feels like all of the services people have talked about can be bought at a high quality for less than that

CostCompetitive3597

Diablo is obviously a FA trying to defend their poor advice, even criminal at times. That has been my experience with every one of them. Client be ware!

Remarkable-Grade-108

Let me guess your FA works for JPM

15Sierra

I’m on my 30’s and have had the same FA since I was about 26-27. Could I do a lot of it on my own? Sure. Could I get the same returns without spending a ton of time on it? Not as likely. For me it’s more about the fact that when I’m managing my money, there is more emotion to it and I’m scared to lose, where when he does it, I’m not emotion with it. Just watch it grow. As long as he continues to get me similar returns, it’s worth it to me. Just shy of 12% since inception FWIW.

CloudAnchor2021

are you saying this JP morgan growth SMA is not geared towards tax loss harvesting and so it doesn't make sense why my FA is recommending that?

CloudAnchor2021

Thanks. How do I find this? Ask the FA what are the diverse choices of SMA his office offers? "SMA isnt bad but I would look into how diverse of SMA choices ur advisors firm is offering. If they only offer only a little, I have no confidence they work with high quality portfolio managers."

CloudAnchor2021

I did ask my FA if he's fiduciary and he said Yes. How do I verify it?

theindus

What’s the purpose of a SMA that tracks an index besides generating fees? Just buy the lowest cost index etf. The FA should advise on allocation, tax impact and which etf to buy. Imho this is poor advice for OP.

bigwinw

You should not have a FA for $100k.

austinvvs

At that point isn’t having a tax accountant more important rather than a FA, respectfully?

cazaaa11

Okay FA here and the answer to this here is that it really depends. The fund that you posted doesn’t reflect what you are actually potentially buying into, SMAs do not have fund symbols but rather fact sheets that recount historical performance figures. Here is the one for the strategy they are positioning: https://am.jpmorgan.com/content/dam/jpm-am-aem/americas/us/en/smas/ga-sma-presentation.pdf Historically it has pretty decent returns before fees, after fees not so much. The problem here though is that these products more often than not cannot include returns net of tax impact like through tax loss harvesting or tax costs for making trades and incurring the capital gains. I can see how this strategy could be appealing if it is a direct indexing strategy that accumulates lots of capital losses that can be used to offset capital gains from selling stock in the future from your employer while maybe even funding the strategy using that stock, and selling it gradually over time. Do not hire an FA for just investment management. You hire someone as an FA for retirement planning, tax management, investment management/asset location work, and estate planning wrapped into one.

DocInABox33

Except that most people who claim to be “financial advisors” don’t offer any of the things you correctly stated that go into financial management. Most are just brokers, even the fiduciaries, who only want to focus on the asset management part. They don’t even know about other strategies like the inflection point of doing Roth conversions, tax management (they always punt to the CPA even when things like holding a MLP with Unrelated Business Taxable Income in a retirement fund creates a tax nightmare). I do think a certain type of FA, namely those that pursued the Certified Financial Planner (CFP), is probably what you were saying a financial advisor provides. In other words, all CFPs are financial advisors but not all financial advisors are CFP. CFP gets specific training and have to pass standardized tests for all those activities you mentioned we’re value add.

zilchgoose

That’s not low. It’s $350 annually on $100K not including your FA portion of advisor fees based on your AUM.

herEnron_Addict_CPA

Then educate me cause clearly I’m ignorant. Is it fair to say my first objective should be to max out my 401k and ROTH IRA? Those together would be $32k annually? Even before maxing those out I should have some type of emergency fund. So let’s say that rounds that out to 40k total of investments/savings. This isn’t even considering if someone has any debt they owe. 2/3 of people make less than 60k annually. I’m not saying FA are sharks. I’m asking how a large portion of the population even have something worthy of a FA to look at?

PTTCollin

This is actually a very helpful answer, more than I've gotten in most places. As someone who doesn't have a family, the estate planning part is uninteresting to me. Government can have my money when I die, whatever. But I am very interested in how you get cap table access to private companies. No FA I've spoken to has ever had that access -- where should I be going to have a conversation with those people?

Gotta_Gett

How is an LLM going to call me up to sell some overpriced product like a FA?

DrXaos

The issue the FA addresses is not knowledge, which is free, but emotional distance and stability and the ability to say no to idiotic ideas.

RookieMistake101

Id say it’s pretty tough to forgo a FA at 5m and extremely difficult at 10m. You start to run into a host of problems around this point. Estate planning, family guidance, gifting, private placements, investments in concert with your taxes.

FourthShifter

At that funding level, they should be able to direct index and be tax efficient, especially if this is mostly non-qualified money. If you’re trying to unwind company stock, taxes are the real issue. Either you harvest losses to offset gains over time, or you eat a big tax bill. A properly run SMA/direct index should let you diversify gradually. Beyond that, the value should be diversification across market caps and styles, plus selective active management where it actually makes sense. Reducing volatility matters long term—if you drop 10%, you need more than 10% to get back. Rebalancing in a tax-efficient way also helps reinforce buy low, sell high. All that said, you should raise this directly with your FA. If they can’t clearly explain how they’re using tax efficiency and direct indexing to reduce single-stock risk, they’re probably not adding much value.

CloudAnchor2021

Putting aside all the advices here asking me why I'm asking question here when I've a FA (not going to waste my time answering those)... Sounds like majority here is saying, fire the FA and build that portfolio using low cost ETFs, mix of VTI VXUS QQQ VOO IWV. For those that think I should keep my FA, what do you think are the advantages of the SMA over these low cost ETFs? Appreciate your insight.

Eazy-Eid

And this active investment vastly outperformed your passive suggestion over 5 and 10 years. Passive investing is great as a "set and forget", but asset allocation matters and that's where an FA and active management can shine. And make you way more money.

RookieMistake101

Partly right. FA here. It’s way more about financial complexity than total assets. But there is absolutely a point where asset size matters.

codece

Just FYI, if your FA is not a fiduciary (most of them are not) they have no legal duty to act in your best interest. A non-fiduciary FA just has a duty to make recommendations that are "suitable" for your goals and risk tolerance. As long as it passes the suitability test, it's totally fine for a FA to make recommendations that benefit them more than you.

zilchgoose

What’s the expense ratio for the fund? Any chance the FA is getting a portion of the management fees? Would personally invest in VTI.

LimpSafe5950

My husband and I also retired Do you mind sharing what your bond and Eft mix is! We just had our FA drop binds to 60%. He had 70 and we thought it was too high. There is a 8 year age difference so we have to consider that and inflation.

BVB09_FL

For advisers that focus on founders/early employees, they add value by (1) confirming the shares actually qualify for QSBS, (2) structuring exercises/83(b)/AMT and managing the 5-year clock so you don’t inadvertently blow eligibility, and (3) when the upside is meaningful, coordinating with estate planning counsel on “stacking” via spouse/trust ownership or a 1045 rollover. People assume “FA” means Edward Jones/NWM, but there are plenty doing highly specialized planning and the cost of getting any of the above examples wrong can be enormous so you really can’t DIY.

CostCompetitive3597

On the other hand, DIY investing can be far more profitable than any FA. That has been my experience over 50 years in the market. Talked to an FA over a beer and confirmed my concerns with their modus operandi. The big firm FAs are told by management what to sell clients and that in most cases is not best for the client. Few if any will recommend dividend securities. Never while client is earning and seldom in retirement. I cannot remember hearing or reading about an FA that recommended dividend securities to a client for retirement income. Regarding learning how to do your own securities investments. In my opinion, there are no invest and forget stock market securities due to how dynamic these markets are. In my experience, the more you know, from education and experience, the better the portfolio performance be it growth or income focused. Investment opportunities and income tax rules are constantly changing around investors which necessitates continued education. With the refocus from pensions for retirement and creation of Federal savings accounts for retirement income, DYI investing is now a lifelong project for most Americans. Embrace that or miss the best opportunity for the majority for a prosperous retirement lifestyle.

weasler7

I’m curious. At >5m AUM what actual advice does a FA provide? Alternatives?

UMLBB10

Most people in this conversation have only done it during a bull market like we’ve had for the last 16 years. It’s not as easy when markets are dropping 20% and fear rules the headlines. When your FA rotates your allocations ahead of swings or doesn’t panic sell, that 1% looks like a bargain

1kpointsoflight

My assigned and free FA at Fidelity talks to me about all sorts of investments you don’t have to pay for that.

StephieRee

This. I work for an FA. We do a lot of this.

ChronicusCuch

Vanguard’s studies say they’re worth about 3% per year, assuming they’re actually good at their jobs, of which investing is a part of a bigger whole (tax planning, estate planning, insurance planning). EJ also has their own expanded teams for higher net worth folks your FA can plug you into. I think it’s called “generations,” and it’s similar to what a lot of others do with more custom private stuff.

Reasonable-Word6729

I keep a FA for promotions when moving money into an account. Usually 1m for minor promotions.

damnmobile

I like being able to look at all my investments in one place and also I don’t want to deal with 2FA everytime I want to check my portfolio. You can’t make trades on yahoo finance so having an app you can just open and not have to deal with passwords/security is nice

mchgndr

Yeahhh bud you need to learn about RIAs. You’re not even describing advisers. If your FA is selling you products or any kind, even mutual funds, you knocked on the wrong door. Look for fee-only, tax sensitive, SEC registered.

BroolStoryCompany-

Downvoting this comment is kind of crazy… it’s literally the truth. This is an investing sub, with people who know how to invest. Of course this is a bad comment to you because you don’t think you require the service. Doesn’t render FA’s any less valuable to people who don’t have your knowledge, or the desire to know.

PTTCollin

Only if you're spending a lot of money. I've run the numbers for my spend level and proposed fees of a FA, I'd have to get to get to 20M in assets for it to break even. Not there at the moment.

PTTCollin

I mean it's split between VTI/VOO/VGK with some cash (<1%), but yeah, effectively. But yes, I am also like 30 unmarried with no kids. Don't see what the FA would give me.

LoganSL550

My wife and I are both 68 and not retired, as we each have easy, low-stress jobs. Our combined salary is approximately $400K, so there is little reason to leave. We also have no children. Our brothers and sisters, and their children, are not beneficiaries we wish to support, so we have no heirs and plan to leave 100% of our estate to charity. Over the years, I built our investment portfolios to approximately $20 million. I actively monitor and manage our finances and provide my wife with information on a daily basis. However, my wife is concerned that if I were to die, she would not know what to do. As a result, she asked that we hire a financial advisor (FA). I was initially opposed, but to make her comfortable, I agreed. In October 2023, we transferred my IRA ($3 million) and her IRA ($2 million) to the advisor, for a total of $5 million. I have an aggressive investment style, while my wife is conservative. I closely tracked the advisor’s performance. After two years, the advisor increased our combined portfolio by $1 million, during which we paid a total of $63K in advisory fees for 2 years. Had we not used a financial advisor and made no changes to the portfolios, our assets would have increased by approximately $2 million. This result disappointed my wife. As a compromise, we agreed to keep the advisor managing a $1 million portfolio. In the event of my death, my wife can choose to transfer additional assets to the advisor if she wishes.

PTTCollin

>if you think at high lvl wealth you should be all in on indexes you need an advisor lol Am at this level of wealth, am in indexes. Why do you think an FA can consistently beat the market outperforming their fees? All the literature I've seen disagrees.

fascinated_dog

Nope still here. I wouldn't say Ive been ripped off this whole time as my FA has taught me a lot along the way.

PTTCollin

>Netting a client >1% on their capital is not a high bar for an advisor that knows their stuff I disagree, but am curious why you think so. I don't think a FA can reliably and consistently net above index returns: 1. They don't have any market insight unavailable to others that would allow them to front run trades to create alpha. 2. Tax loss harvesting has never been shown to me to get the alpha people say it does, both due to drift from index performance and the required additional purchases that can result in sequence risk. What mechanism do you think FAs have to create alpha? Like I said, curious why you think so.