My first investment, at the ripe old age of 28, was $1500 into the Vanguard Wellington fund. Their reputation and rock-bottom fees made Vanguard an easy choice. I have never owned an individual stock. I’m not suggesting that owning individual stocks is not a valid approach to long term success. It’s just that I am a follower of the KISS principal (Keep It Simple, Stupid). By choosing very low-cost mutual funds or ETF’s, diversified over various asset classes, I was able to avoid the average 1.5% (all in) annual fees of an actively managed account. The average fee in my Vanguard accounts is less than 0.2%. If you need help, Vanguard offers access to a CFP for a really low 0.3% AUM fee.
The main reason that the managers of actively managed accounts have great difficulty in outperforming their benchmark is that they are unable to overcome their AUM fees. Numerous studies have confirmed that around 90% of actively managed accounts fall short of their benchmarks. There are plenty of low-cost advisors, including robo advisors, that can be successfully utilized.
Over 3 decades of investing and several more decades of retirement will result in hundreds of thousands of dollars that will remain in your account and not in the advisors account.
My advice is to contact a fee-only (not fee-based) fiduciary planner and pay for a comprehensive plan that you can personally set up with a low-cost brokerage and never pay AUM fees.
I also agree with several posts that calling Parady or any other insurance/annuity salesman is a huge mistake.
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