[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by rsmurano

Who makes money 100% of the time, you or your broker when using a broker to handle your investments? When the market goes down, do you get a break from your broker commissions? Worse, if you lose money because your broker isn't very good and the market is going gangbusters, do you get a rebate from the broker?
You know the answer to all of these questions.

1 brokerage firm that has tried many times to hook me into coming over to them, that also has the commercials with "we do better when our clients do better", I just laugh when I hear this. Why??
Say I have millions of dollars in my portfolio, if I would go over to this broker, or any broker, they will charge me a fee up front based on my portfolio value. Say I have $2M portfolio, any broker would want me to pay .5% to 1% ($10,000 to $20,000 depending on fee) up front. WHY? the broker didn't get me this money, I did. Plus, every year after this, I will be paying at least this much (give or take) depending on your portfolio gains and losses. Again, they didn't do anything for me on the initial $2M, but I will be paying on that amount forever. At the same time, no broker can guarantee me that they will make more money with their investing picks than what I can do. There is no way to know how a broker has done for their clients that I have found either, so you are relying on a salesman (never) or by a friend who has used them. Before listening to my friend, I would need to see proof of his gains/losses over the past 5-10 years, not just that they are a nice broker.

As for skin in the game, I would recommend (would never use 1) a broker that would charge a 1% fee on the gains they made me, not based on my initial portfolio value. The more money they have to work with, the easier it would be for an experienced broker to make me money so they can make money. If they don't make money, they don't make money.
For example: say I gave them a $2M to invest, and they did well and made me $100,000, I would pay them 1% of that $100,000 gain, not the $10,000-$20,000 fee that they would charge me for the $2M I gave them. Also, if they lost me money, then they would make no money, or better yet, they would give me 1% of my losses.

You know no broker will do this methodology, they want to make money whether they do good or not and on money they never did work for.

Than you have the investment sales rep who preaches safety safety and safety showing misleading charts of the S & P over selected 20 year periods and trying to sell the poor soul into annuities.

I do like to know what has qualified to handle other peoples money so I ask. Answers have been an on line class, a computer program that only they have access too or just some on the job training. Remarkable have few people will even ask this question.