[SusanStCatherine]

Independent for sure!

Do not trust financial advice from a bank.

A certified fee-only fiduciary is the best person to hire for financial advice.

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by Debfrommaine

Any thoughts on using your bank investment firm or would you use an independent firm i.e. Fidelity, etc. for your financial advisor?

Thanks for your feedback.

Actually, an impossible to answer question. We do not know you. Your finances. Your personality.

My view, I self manage my investments. Personality, I would not trust anyone else to do it. Were I to, and do it properly, it would be as much work as it is now. Hum, why did you do that? Was your goal to earn more commissions or to benefit me. Reality, no one works for free. Perhaps, that is not true. I do not pay myself anything for managing my money.

You can if, you wish find people to manage your money and for some it can be a good idea. People often do not understand. If you hire a manager you will pay them. They will put you into funds, ETFs etc. You will also pay the fund,ETF fees so you are paying twice.

Places like Fidelity and many others offer retirement date funds. You can easily compare results to the others-return, risk, fees etc. Perhaps, not true for many of us but, if you are willing to accept more risk for more return, it is you who puts in your retirement date. You do not need to put everything into the fund that says you will retire in 2025. You can put some in a fund that says you will retire in 2050 and except more risk in the hope of getting a higher return.

There is no shortage of brokerages. The biggest are Vanguard, Fidelity and T Rowe Price. Perhaps, I've missed some. Vanguard far as I know has no offices. If, you need advice it is mon to fri 9-5. T. Rowe has closed most if not all of their offices. Phone is also normal business hours. Fidelity has an office in Lake Sumter Landing. You can call
24 hours a day seven days a week and find someone qualified to help you. Sometimes
the person will tell you you need to call back, normal business hours and speak to.........
I do not go there often, but, complicated matters forms etc it is great to know you can get face to face help. I like their reports, perhaps because I am just used to them.
I regularly laugh that their reports keep me honest with myself. You made xx% this year
as opposed to as many of us do. I made 25% on xyz. OOPs I forgot that I lost 50% on zyx

[Jean G]

I’ve been very unhappy with my Fidelity representative. All I get are recommendations for assistance that is the highest commission for them. I have now hired a private individual that I am extremely happy with. He also does a first consultation for no fee. In the villages there are many people who are retired from the same profession who offer a great service for less money.

[Villagesgal]

The Villages has investment clubs where you can learn how to handle your own investments, join one or two. Stay away from banks, or if you have to make sure you speak with a licensed person, some have no securities or investment licenses. A local bank here trained a young teller to sell investment advice, no schooling or licenses. Why would you take advice from someone who is only trained to sell investments that make the bank money? I taught myself and am doing amazingly well, join a club, read every book you can about investing, watch videos on Vanguard.com, Fidelity.com and Transamerica.com. Financial advisors for the most part make their money from commissions they get by selling you products, not by following their own investment advice. You can do this yourself, just take the time to learn how. Good luck.

[WindyCityzen]

FEE FOR SERVICE ONLY. Look
At the website of the National Assn of Independent Personal Financial Planners.

[stevesliders]

Originally Posted by Debfrommaine

Any thoughts on using your bank investment firm or would you use an independent firm i.e. Fidelity, etc. for your financial advisor?

Thanks for your feedback.

Royal fund management, Kelley Pyles, CFP

352 750-1637

[retiredguy123]

The problem is that anyone can call themselves a financial advisor. And, the people who need advice the most are the least able to tell the difference between a good advisor and one who only cares about making commissions. Learn as much as you can and buyer beware.

[cfhelz45]

Originally Posted by MickeyStevens

Interesting, we put money into 3 annuities quite a few years ago, we now enjoy a steady stream of income each month from them.

I would use a firm like Wells Fargo Advisors. I would not use a bank.

[bp243]

Originally Posted by Debfrommaine

Any thoughts on using your bank investment firm or would you use an independent firm i.e. Fidelity, etc. for your financial advisor?

Thanks for your feedback.

Whomever you choose, check their certification. A Certified Financial Planner (CFP) has the most rigorous certification to do your entire financial planning.

[Carla B]

Originally Posted by Jean G

I’ve been very unhappy with my Fidelity representative. All I get are recommendations for assistance that is the highest commission for them. I have now hired a private individual that I am extremely happy with. He also does a first consultation for no fee. In the villages there are many people who are retired from the same profession who offer a great service for less money.

Fidelity likes to promote their actively-managed funds.

[Debfrommaine]

Originally Posted by Carla B

Fidelity likes to promote their actively-managed funds.

What are these?

[Boomer]

. . .

[davem4616]

For decades my "financial advisor" was the investment option that I chose in the company's 401K plan, and I never gave it another thought....although I did belong to a stock club.

After seeing many folks in variety careers reinvent themselves and become an 'Investment Advisor' after they were laid off by taking a 30 day brokerage house training program I have become very cautious about people peddling stocks and bonds...doesn't matter which firm they represent. I only go with folks that have taken the time to become certified either as a CFA or a CFP....at least that gives me the sense that they are truly committed to investing in themselves vs. being a '30 day wonder' being told what positions the firm feels it's overweight in and should suggest to clients as an attractive buy opportunity

We have accounts with Fidelity and with Schwab (I left three others)...they provide decent advice, but you need to do your own homework....we've had them manage huge parts of our portfolio and we've self-directed it. I've always sensed that they where good on knowing when to sell (because their program algorithms knew when the market was tanking across the board) but just average on what to buy...their statement 'past performance is no indication of future results' has always felt like a CYA statement that held them blameless....like the weather forecast people explaining why they didn't get it right

I have a handful of stocks that I've really liked over the years, solid companies, with strong leadership and significant players in the market that they are in

I'm pretty much self-directed now

I can't overstate the joy comes from having an UTMA account with young grandson that is anxious to learn about investing....and he's come up with some selections that have yielded 20+% gains

Years ago I attended many 'free lunches' put on by 'investment people' that really were only interested in increasing the size of the money they managed, not the individual people....(well that was my sense anyway)....what was sad was the amount of old folks in those rooms hoping the guy had some kind of magic wand.

IMHO, I don't believe that annuities should be something that everyone immediately dismisses....yes there's a nice frontend payment for the seller. We got into a couple of deferred annuities after the 2008 crash because the wife wanted guarantees....earned 7% while the money was sitting there waiting for us to start taking it. no matter how flat the pancake is, there's always two sides to it

nothing beats the power of time and money....so educate your grandkids and reinforce that Bulls and Bears make money, but pigs generally lose

[rmd2]

I used to be in the stock market. Nothing exotic - just mutual fund stocks. Lost a LOT of money about 10 years ago. Now I just have CDs. I just had one 6% CD last year mature and a 5% CD this that matured. I still have 3% and 4% CDs. Two years ago the rates for CDs were 3.8%. Now they at .5% so there is nothing out there now but I still like CDs. When there is a good rate I lock them in for 5 to10 years. You can always take the dividends out at ANY time with no penalty. Anyone else involved in your money will have their hands in the till and you still won't be protected from loss. Absolutely don't get an annuity.

[rjm1cc]

My gut feeling is do not use a bank. My assumption is that the costs will be higher and the advice more aimed at the banks benefit than yours. I have talked to a few advisors. The one recommended by the bank teller, and had an office in the bank, was a very nice individual but had no professional certifications and did not seem to have a good grasp of the planning process. Don't even know if he knew the projected return on the investments he would recommend or the tax costs of his plan. I think he was basically a salesman. Had several meeting and his advice was the poorest of all the advisors I meet with. I think I have a good idea of what a planner should be able to do and it was not the banks planner. I also looked at the organization he was employed by and did not see any benefit to using the organization.