Posted: 7/9/2009 5:55:47 AM EDT
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Here is a little back ground. I have done minor investing in the market with individual trading, funds, and I have a Roth. My wife has no sort of retirement due to her occupation and I'm in the military. We are both relatively young (25), and we found out last week that we should be expecting our first child next February. We keep about a 10,000 balance in our savings that I think we could be doing so much more with.
I am wondering if it is a worthwhile venture to look into a financial advisor to steer my funds in the correct direction. One that preferably worked on a percentage of the balance of an account rather than commission. Any advice from the ARFCOM financial gurus? |
Personally I prefer a financial advisor who works through or with an accounting firm on a fee basis. They have no agenda –– like a broker does selling THEIR funds –– and their goal is your satisfaction. If you're on the east coast I have a guy ....javascript:insertText(' '); PM me and I can give you name and number
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| There isn't a whole lot you can do with that amount that would be safe. You could need it when the child comes. That's about the amount I would want in savings before taking any risk with additional funds. Once you have 20k, then take half and think about trying to get some additional interest in CDs. The main thing is to stay out of debt and resist the temptation to buy an expensive car or toy. Eventually, when you have money to truly risk, you can open a brokerage account and trade stocks. |
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Get an independent guy, the worst thing a lot of people do is go to their bank or go to edward jones or merrill lynch and the advisor sticks them in mutual funds with the highest payout. If you go to Merrill, they're probably going to try and stick it all in Merrill funds so they get paid more. Get someone independent that goes after talent. You don't want mutual funds that are up 20% this year or necessarily done good in the past, you want mutual funds that have TALENTED fund managers. Anyone can knock out 30% in an int'l fund when markets around the world are up that year, it takes talent to give a fund positive returns in a down year and consistently beat the market.
As an advisor myself, the biggest thing you can do to help yourself is go with an independent, they can put you where you need to be and offer a lot more options than going with Ameriprise, Edward Jones or Schwab wo are limited as to what they can sell and typically only sell what they get paid the most on.... As an independent, I don't work for a mutual fund company and I have selling agreements with just about everyone out there and they all pretty much pay the same across the board so I really could care less the name of the fund, I'm just looking for a fund manager that will outperform the rest. |