In this day and age and back in 2000 $500K is not a lot of $$-- it depends on the size of your portfolio/assets--I'm fortunate enough to have been successful and have invested to make growth when it was need-- the Solomon Smith Barney advisor i had was more interested in her commissions from pushing Citi bank investments that looking out for me--I wanted her to get me a large position in Goldman Sachs--she said "we don't cover that" should have been a red flag--cost me close to $2 million Goldman Sachs went public @$50.00 back then

I have a broker, was with Shearson and it's mergers over the years. He decided to go independent with Raymond James and I stayed with him. It has worked out great for my portfolio. My second broker ended up as an executive with Wells and is now going to go independent. I would have left Wells awhile back but his expertise and willingness to work with my Raymond James guy (I know, a unique arrangement) has also been successful. Will see where he goes next and will make a decision on going with him at that time. Short answer, I felt I had more of a partnership with the guy in a smaller environment then the guy with the big company.

My experience
 

An old story. I was buying Tax free bonds from RBC Dain.
Many people are not aware but depending on where you buy bonds the yield is different. The difference is mostly the commission that is hidden in the price of the bond.
The guy I was dealing with, like what you have posted, sent me a letter that he was moving to another firm.

IMPORTANT-if your FORMER SALESPERSON was able to contact you, he STOLE the files from the firm he left. I WOULD NOT DO BUSINESS WITH HIM OR THE FIRM HE HAS LEFT. Clearly your PERSONAL INFORMATION has not been properly protected.

Aside-RBC would regularly try to charge fees for holding my bonds. If, you have bonds, they are no longer bearer bonds. They are just dots and dashes on a computer so you have to hold them with a brokerage firm. My guy used to waive the fees. RBC refused to do it unless I bought ----. I moved my bonds to Fidelity NO FEES, NO SERVICE CHARGE.

Years ago I was hounded by a small firm. I'm talking they would call about every month. A story on the radio-it was a fraud and they were marched off to jail. There was a similar story in the villages.

MY VIEW-I would go with a large firm.

Before you sign on with anyone, Ask to see their personal portfolio. 9 times out of 10 they will not even discuss it with you.:spoken:

Yep.


It's analogous to what Lee Trevino said... "I'll take lessons, when I find someone who can beat me." :ho:

as a retired independent IA for 27 years, he will have the full support of his broker dealer. Hard to find a good honest IA, so if he has done a good job for you stay with him. He will probably work even harder now that he is working for himself. you can always use broker check at About BrokerCheck | FINRA.org to check out any broker.

If it is hard to find an honest investment advisor, why would anyone ever hire one?

Maybe O.K.
 

If the agreement you sign with the brokerage house (and that should be a mainline firm) gives him no access to the funds, then your only worry should be his judgment. I think most brokerage firms have standard agreements giving someone buy/sell control over your account, but no authority to move money.

I would find a new advisor right away. He can not move your money without your signature. There are a lot of financial advisors around the Villages but not a lot of good ones.

So, there are not a lot of good financial advisors, and an honest one is hard to find, says a 27 year IA veteran. Why would you want to trust one of these guys with your money? It is not difficult to manage your money by yourself.

I had been a financial advisor with a large company for 21 years. I enjoyed having the company take care of certain things like compliance training, insurances, and access to information and experienced go-to people. There is nothing wrong with an independent advisor as long as he/she doesn't make up their own investor statements. When an advisor invests your money with a large mutual fund company or insurance company for instance, you should get a statement from that company, not one made up by the advisor. That's how Madoff ...well.. made off.

Personally I don't trust any of them, watch everything they do, question everything they do, check on them constantly....I have had numerous friends and relatives who have lost a lot or all of their money by these people, your just another number on there list to make a profit for them

I do my own investing but have used a newsletter for guidance for over 25 years. Fidelity Monitor and Insight (fmandi.com) is independent of Fidelity Investments. They do not sell any investments but simply offer advice about which Fidelity funds they recommend. The cost is about $125/year (if you sign up for 3 years). You get a monthly newsletter and access to their web site where they post more frequent updates. You get a 3 month trial period and after that you can cancel any time and get a prorated refund.

They have several "model" portfolios such as Income, Growth and Income, Growth, Select, and Unique Opportunities. Each recommends about 6 Fidelity Funds. They report each month on how the various portfolios have done. Again, they don't sell ANYTHING so there are no commissions. Your only cost is the newsletter subscription fee. You do not buy into their model portfolios as they are only representative of what they are recommending at the time. You set up your own account with Fidelity over which you have complete control. They have no access to, or control over your money. You do not submit anything about your portfolio to them. They simply provide you with their newsletter. You make your own decisions regarding acting on all, some or none of their recommendations and you do not report what you do or don't do. They also have a "Wealth Management" service but they don't push it. They tell you it's available and that's the end of it.

No "get rich quick" schemes just solid, well thought out (and explained) investing advice. While they do recommend changes to their models from time to time, they do not recommend jumping in and out of funds on a monthly basis. As with any investing advice, no matter where it comes from, as they say in the business, I'm sure, "past performance is no guarantee of future results," but at least you're making your own informed decisions and don't have to worry about an "advisor" who may or may not have your best interests in mind. I suggest you visit their web site, take a look and maybe give them a try if you think this might be something for you.

Investment Advisor going Independent
 

I used to work for two NYSE firms and went independent after 12 years. The size of the firm does not matter. If you buy stocks, bonds, mutual funds, annuties, etc., they are all going through large companies --- you're not getting them from the actual company that your broker works for.
So, if you trust him, go with him.

do not confuse Wells Fargo banking with Wells Fargo advisors, totally different