At what point is using a financial advisor worth it?
Just trying to get a better hold of my finances, just turned 30, married with 2 kids, just started a new job and looking to reconfigure my saving & (essentially nonexistent) investment strategy. Besides index funds and contributing to 401k/IRA, I'm pretty clueless about how to better manage my money. I've only got a few grand in savings which I know is essentially losing out in the long run, so I'm thinking of finding an advisor and at least like getting a consultation or something. Is it really worth it at this stage though? Will they tell me anything I wouldn't already know? Or should I just put most of my extra savings in index funds instead of a money market account and call it good enough for now? TC: $200K
All they ever tell you is to keep dollar cost averaging into index funds that track the S&P500.
Above 500k tc and/or 2-5m nw
Unless you're multi millionaire you won't get access to the good ones. The ones we get for less than a million nw will just tell to DCA snp and charge you for that 😟
They are all trained to repeat the same basic advice that you can find in any AI generated page online. Diversify, 401K, Emergency Savings.. blah blah blah
The advisor I got at Snap didn’t say anything beyond the basics.
Until your portfolio exceeds $5M, it's counterproductive to pay for financial advice. Everything you need to know can be written on a post-it note and is easily found online. Educate yourself - you can't pay someone to be financially responsible for you. You need to do it yourself. Budget. Save. Index ETFs.
this is a very basic financial plan, honestly pretty obvious to do most things listed it gets a lot more interesting with a business or businesses for example did you know you can write of pets as assets to the business? "pet 1 is used for emotional support and pet 2 is used for security which both improves the business" ^ this is tax deductible food, vet appointments, etc above chart is simple sh*t, tax loopholes go deep
There are different levels of FA consulting. It can be worth it if you hire a good FA. If you’re just starting out, you should look into free benefits offered through your work so you can get on a good path and learn. Be cautious about having your brokerage actively manage your assets. They tend to focus on their own investment vehicles also, unless you give them the majority of your financial picture, it won’t be as effective. Definitely learn financial investment basics. If you have the time and desire to dig in, then do that too. Personally, even though my spouse was in the investment side of Schwab before switching to tech, we have an independent fiduciary FA. Why? Because we benefit in so many ways by having an FA. Some examples: balancing our tax burden, positioning us well in both bull and bear markets, bringing us new investment vehicles, and we’ve known for years +/- 2 years when we’ll be able to retire. One of things I really enjoy is having more confidence with big financial moves because at any time we can contact our FA and get a big picture on how it might affect our plans.
voo and chill fam
Just read personal finance reddit and bogleheads. FA is only going to take your money to underperform the market.