Zero. I use Vanguard and manage my money myself. Financial advisors very rarely have your best known mind long term.

A good wealth manager will be using tax lost harvesting throughout the year to offset taxes. depending on your situation that might justify fees and always ask if they are a fiduciary.

Don't just ask. They should give you a signed letter stating that they are a fiduciary and which assets it covers.

Which is what the OP is doing now.
His question was, who to use when he cannot manage assets because of age or infirmity.
It's a big problem for many as we age.

I agree that AUM is not a good way to charge and so does my advisor who is flat fee and a true fiduciary. He also specializes in retirement withdrawal strategies and taxes. I very well could do it myself but my wife wants no part of it and since statistically I will pass first we have our advisor for her when that day comes.

Right. You are confirming my post.

I never heard of an investor look at the tax part of the AUM fee. For example, if you have $1 million and the fee is 1%. Your fee is $10,000. However one would expect your return on your account to exceed 1%. 5 to 7 % would be a reasonable return. At 5%, your gains would be $50,000. 50,000-10,000 = 40,000. Your net gain after fees is $40,000.

The problem is that research has shown that most financial advisors cannot outperform the total return of the S&P 500 index. You can buy an S&P 500 index mutual fund or ETF for almost nothing and avoid the 1 percent AUM fee altogether.

You can get 5 to 7% by tossing a dart at a list of broad based ETFs taped to a wall.

About 55 years ago took a little over 100 grand out of Dean Witter because of their expense charges, put it in Vanguard Mutual funds, where now some of their Admiral expense charge are under .2 %. Never used an adviser, been living on around 70K withdrawals for the last 10 years and still have a little over 3 mill. Vanguard is the best.

I hate when people make broad based assumptions that pick any etf and you will do well. There are just as many ETFs that make little money as there are that make very good returns. When getting into any ETF or index fund (my 2 preferences), do your homework/research before picking anything.

I will never let somebody tell me how to handle finances/investments. My wife knows who to call that is a vp of a brokerage firm when I can’t do it for any reason.

I’ve helped many friends over the past 15 years that had advisors/brokerage houses manage their portfolios and they all did a terrible job. Just like a poster here mentioned maybe you will make 6 or 7% on your investments with an advisor. If I only made 7%, I’d move everything to a money market where there are no fees and no risk.

Some of my friends were making 3-5% in loaded managed funds that their advisor/broker got them into and managed funds have higher expenses and much more turnover which you have to pay at tax time.
I was an etf/index fund guy but since the 1st week in April when everything took a dive and people were talking about recession coming up, I got into a dozen stocks and they all shot up, 1 over 100%, a couple 50% gains, and others in the 20-30% gains, all in less than 3 months. I sold all the big hitters and got into very well known stocks that had big dips in the last 6 weeks, which have done very very well, some with 5-7% gains a day.
No advisor except hedge fund guys will do this kind of investing for you.
When you’re retired, take some time to learn this stuff. What else are you doing? I spend 1 hour a day reading investment type books and have for decades. Read the John Bogle Boglehead books to become an indexed fund investor, and yes, not all index funds are alike nor do they make the same amount of money.

Do yourself a favor. Contact Travis Bender at Blackston Financial for an interview. He is a Fiduciary as well as an advisor. Blackston Financial is on Rt. 466 in Sumter County. You will do well. I promise.

I think it might be more of a challenge to find a bookkeeper to handle / pay your expenses than you realize. Hopefully I'm wrong, as I share your concerns.

But I'm confused as to why you feel you now need to retain the services of a wealth management firm--you sound like a fairly educated / experienced investor, and you wrote above that "I like things just as I have set them up" and "I am retaining enough in cash & treasuries" to last you the rest of your life.

If you like the way things are set up & don't need to sell any stock / mutual fund / ETF investments to pay your bills, why the need to pay for an advisor?

One of my favorite money-related quotes:

"Truly poor people necessarily have to think about money all the time, and very rich people are almost always obsessed with acquiring more money. The perfect amount of money is when you don't have to think about it at all"

Is the Vanguard breakdown still working for you in 2025, given market conditions & uncertainty this year?