Right but in many cases, they are building a portfolio that is appropriate for the client's risk tolerance, age and goals, not only to try to beat the market indexes. I am not an advisor but I do use one for a portion of my IRA's. I do this to remove the emotion from those investments. We sit down together every 3 months to discuss where we are vs the goals we set based on the retirement plan he and I put in place at the beginning of our business relationship and what adjustments he might suggest. I am the one who makes the final decision to go with his suggestion or not based on his explanation to me. There is no pressure to adopt any of his suggestions. If during the 3 months, I see something that catches my eye, I just make a phone call and setup an appointment to discuss it with him. He doesn't get paid selling me products, he gets a flat percentage fee every year based on how much I have him manage. It works good for me but I know it is not for everybody. I do also manage some of my investments myself and do OK. He also advised me on what option to take when taking my pension, what life insurance I need, income tax reduction, SS timing, etc etc. All of that isincluded in his one fee I pay him. Who knows, maybe someday I will just go back to doing it all myself but in the meantime he is teaching me a lot and provides me some peace of mind.
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