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Who are you using for managed investments?

louisjames

louisjames

The Real Louis James
Subscriber
When I was working I had my employee 401K managed by Fidelity and have stayed with them. I'm no longer that satisfied with how they are managing my "wealth" so wanted to see what other folks might be doing. A neighbor has recommended Fisher Investments (heavy radio ads) while others I've spoken with have said to say the course. Thoughts?
 
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All the fund management companies are experiencing the same thing in the current world economy. I’m staying the course with Fidelity that also carried me through 2008. My adjustable risk level is very low for now and my managed account has dropped about 6% this year. Could have and may get worse but I’m holding the course. My sister has and you might consider what I think is an “index fund. Supposedly they are not at the same risk because they don’t follow the stock market. I’m sure there is also some risk but I don’t know exactly what it is.
Your going to get a lot of opinions and advice on your question. Be careful in what you believe and do your homework.
 
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Do not pay an "advisor" to manage your money! Most charge 1%. And, that's whether they make you money or LOSE you money. On a $1 million portfolio, that's 10 THOUSAND DOLLARS per year for something that is really pretty simple to learn. In my opinion, financial advice is just a scam. Annuities with insurance companies are even worse.
 
peerson said:
In my opinion, financial advice is just a scam. Annuities with insurance companies are even worse.
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Interesting statement, at least for me, peerson !

One, my FA has managed my stock portfolio since late 2007 after my father passed on leaving my 2 sisters and myself with 460 k ea. after my father`s stock had to be cashed out and the Fed taxes where paid, so to evenly divide it`s value between us.
My sisters took their 1/3rd portion cash money and ran..
I decided, because I was already doing financially very well with a income tax free Medical Malpractice lawsuit "annuity award that the defendants purchased from a very conservative hundreds of yrs. in business insurance co".

So I decided to honor my father`s carefully built up stock portfolio over his life, by being a steward for my inherited 460 k portion, by having his previous FA take my portion and conservatively invest it for me, and run it..

The ML FA that my very intelligent GA. Tech. educated engineer father had been happy and satisfied using for over 10 yrs. that greatly increased his built up to 2.6 mil. stock portfolio, I deemed good enough for me to use, especially since I had no intention of ever with drawing one penny.
Even through the market trying times of the next nearly 10 yrs. with its ups & downs, my FA, who became successfully good enough to have his own financial Group within Merrill Lynch, before he became my FA. managed to increase my portfolio to well over a mil. which I knew without being informed by my sisters, who took their 1/3rds and put it in MM/CD bank accounts never achieved that level of return..
Now # 2, my one and only experience with insurance co.`s annuity..
The MMP lawsuit deal provided me with a lifetime income tax free annuity with a 6% annual compounded increase, starting with a 30 k payment to be paid every yr. starting right after Christmas in 1985.

If you wish to entertain yourself, do the computation to determine what this yrs. court mandated insurance co.`s annuity payment will be to me, by all means, have at it.

I must be lucky, or have guardian angels working overtime, while looking out for me, because both of my only yrs. of experiences with the two situations that you warned about above have been pleasant and problem free, at least in my case, while making me a very, very financially comfortable several times over person, enough to easily cash buy out my sisters market valued 1/3rd interest in my parents very desirable, and valuable river front property and house, without touching my stock portfolio, or borrowing money.

I think I will keep on using my FA of 15 yrs., who and his group left Merrill Lynch to be part of Stanly Morgan in 2021, because the owner of Merrill Lynch, "Bank of America", were pressuring ML, my FA ,and his group`s employees, to be more acting like bankers with their clients instead of stock market brokers.
Yes, my "stewarded" stock market portfolio has been slowly dropping since Covid, but I can`t control the market, and nether can my FA; but I know that he will conservatively adjust my portfolio as needed, as he did starting in 2008 when the economy took a crap to minimize my losses..

It won`t affect my separate annuity income, even if my stock portfolio withers away completely.
 
I use a Fiduciary in a small private firm. They are tied into my tax accountant. The tax savings I achieve are worth what I'm paying them and then some. Small, intimate firm with regular meetings with their clients. They also help my 2 young adult kids, gratis. I have a mix of taxable and non taxable funds in the traditional 60/40 split but it varies with the ecomony. I also hold a smaller % of private equities. We recently started converting some IRAs to Roths, performed NVA with some long held company stock and have moved things around to position us in a low tax bracket for the next 7 years until RMDs kick in. Good help costs but it's worth it in the end.
 
I have been with Vanguard since 1981 and have self advised. I have been well served by Vanguard. There is good literature there and a great selection of financial products that have returned very well for me. I am retired now and take a small monthly amount to add to my Social Security.
 
Might try your bank where you have your checking account. Mine has advisors for that. All my investments have lost a bunch. On the other hand my house has appreciated lots.
 
louisjames said:
When I was working I had my employee 401K managed by Fidelity and have stayed with them. I'm no longer that satisfied with how they are managing my "wealth" so wanted to see what other folks might be doing. A neighbor has recommended Fisher Investments (heavy radio ads) while others I've spoken with have said to say the course. Thoughts?
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Any fund that is tied to stocks has taken a beating as of late, so I doubt defecting from Fidelity would do much good. Fisher Investments is fine, but what exactly would they do differently? A Bear Market is just that.
 
Thank you all for the suggestions and sharing your experiences. I have a follow-up call with Fidelity tomorrow. So we'll see how it goes. And yah, I'm used to things going up and down. I think it's more am I, with my more modest managed account getting the attention it needs?
 
louisjames said:
Thank you all for the suggestions and sharing your experiences. I have a follow-up call with Fidelity tomorrow. So we'll see how it goes. And yah, I'm used to things going up and down. I think it's more am I, with my more modest managed account getting the attention it needs?
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Are you a client of Fidelity in that you have an adviser there who manages your accounts? Or is Fidelity where your 401K is or was and you keep it there?
 
Fidelity, American Century, self directed 401k and IRAs. Most of it is in broad market index ETFs or MFs. Got out of the individual stocks game a dozen years ago. I sleep at night, for the most part.
 
Fidelity & vanguard self directed Roth ira’s

Most of my assets are with a FA at Merrill lynch. Mostly stocks, primary with good paying dividends.

another basket of cash is with Absher wealth management who used to be under the Wells Fargo umbrella.

I have some older friends that have significant wealth and I asked them who they used. They turned me onto this Absher guy. He normally has a 1mil minimum to have him as FA, however he put me as a client under my friends relationship.

it does pay to know people! Across the board I’m down approx 20% but so is the market in general. I’m still stocking money away into the market.

it’s called cost averaging
 
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Generally risk and return are directly related; safer investments produce smaller returns and ballsier ones greater, so invest to your level of comfort. Excellent returns should have been enjoyed by many the last few years until 2022, which has pretty much erased 20-25% of many equity portfolios. I self manage my small retirement funds using Charles Schwab IRAs and have lately been buying on dips and selling on bumps, as I don't see some of these stocks attaining late 2021 valuations anytime soon. FWIW, no taxes are due on IRAs until withdrawals are made so there's no long or short term cap gains to worry about there.

All that being said, I cannot stress enough folks getting more knowledgeable about investing and taxes. Now that I have retired it's all about tax avoidance and withdrawing your funds and RMDs to pay the least amount of taxes possible. I would encourage everyone to develop fundamental understandings so you can challenge your professionals advice from a point of strength, rather than hope that they are really looking out for you.
 
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