[hulahips]

am looking for a "financial advisor" not a planner who wants to sell me some product just someone to ADVISE where or what to invest in during these volatile times and perhaps look over our portfolio to see if we're heading in right direction. any advise?

[carm310]

I sent you a PM

[hulahips]

I'm not sure how to reply to private posts?? is your financial advisor here in the villages or near by??

[rjm1cc]

I think advisers are compensated by being paid for the investments they sell or by billing your directly for their services. The latter are called fee only advisor. I think this organization may help you find one Fee-Only Financial Advisors Home - NAPFA - The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors. I listen to an advisor on itunes but have no firsthand experience. He will work with clients not in his area. I think this is the type of person you are looking for. I think he charges about 1% of your portfolio value per year. Brian Preston's "Money Guy" Blog and Podcast

[Braddy2939]

I'm looking for one also. Of the 3 I've interviewed, I like Andy Patrick at Citizens First. Have you any opinions. I think they charge less than the 1% per year but it's a different schedule. Don't know about just an hourly rate advisor

[NotGolfer]

Jeff Grunke with Cebert Wealth. Your consultation with him, just to go over your options etc., will not cost you a cent. He's honest and good at what he does!!

[mrdills]

I have been with Cebert for over 10 years and they are very honest people. They just hooked up with Morgan Stanley. They have over 500 million in accounts on their books, great company.

[NJblue]

I don't think Cebert is what the OP was looking for since they do indeed seel things like annuities ... which was a pretty substantial part of their recommendation when I spoke with them.

[renielarson]

I don't have a local financial advisor because I still rely on the one I had who helped me with planning my teaching retirement when I still lived in Michigan.

With that long run-on sentence said...I will tell you the name of a local financial company that many of my good friends use...here in The Villages. It's Fross and Fross. My friends can't say enough positive things about them. However, they don't work with nickel and dime clients (me)...only with "select".

So, if you have a lot of money at stake...contact them. They are top notch, according to my many friends.

[jmvalcq]

Basically advisors get paid one of three ways, fee for serivce, assets under management, or a commission on what ever they sell you. You can ask upfront how they are compensated for their advise. Alot of people like the assests under management because it ties your advisor to your account. If the assest go up the advisor gets a pay raise it the assets decline he gets a pay cut. The better that you do the better the advisor does. The advisor has a vested interest in your account. You should meet with your advisor at a minimum of once a year, more frrquently at the start. Most assests under management programs allow you to change from fund to fund without additional charges.

[hulababy]

Now I'm not sure if this is true or not, ( I only heard from others) that Cebert doesn't bother with you unless you have 500,000 to start with?? Is that true?? If so, I better move on to other options??

[BobKat1]

Originally Posted by hulababy

Now I'm not sure if this is true or not, ( I only heard from others) that Cebert doesn't bother with you unless you have 500,000 to start with?? Is that true?? If so, I better move on to other options??

Some financial planners/advisors do have minimums while others either don't, or theirs are lower. Best thing to do is to go straight to the source and ask them. They will let you know if they have minimums.

[NJblue]

Originally Posted by BobKat1

Some financial planners/advisors do have minimums while others either don't, or theirs are lower. Best thing to do is to go straight to the source and ask them. They will let you know if they have minimums.

Some, like Fross and Fross, will give you one of their associates to work with if your assets under management do not meet the threshold that the Fross brothers demand for their attention.

We met with F&F as well as Cebert and, while somewhat impressed, came away disillusioned with the heavy amount of variable annuities that both firms recommended. Perhaps they are right for some people or perhaps my evaluation of them is wrong, but I think that VAs are not the best investments. They do generate large commisions for those that sell them, however.

What made me suspicious of Cebert is that when they show you "actual numbers" of how an annuity would have faired in a specific period of time, the numbers looked fantastic. However, when I asked them to run a different time period, they said they would and would get back to me with the results. They never called back.

What made me pull back from F&F was they were proposing that part of my funds be invested with a third party money manager. They showed how investments with this manager would have done over the previous 10 years - which, again, looked fantastic. However, in researching the data that was used by this manager in creating the nice-looking graphs, hidden in the fine print was that the first substantial number of years of this data was "simulated" based on how they "would have invested" had the fund existed during that time period ... which it didn't. Just a bit too much creativity in marketing for my tastes.

[BobKat1]

Originally Posted by NJblue

Some, like Fross and Fross, will give you one of their associates to work with if your assets under management do not meet the threshold the the Fross brothers demand for their attention.

We met with F&F as well as Cebert and, while somewhat impressed, came away disillusioned with the heavy amount of variable annuities that both firms recommended. Perhaps they are right for some people or perhaps my evaluation of them is wrong, but I think that VAs are not the best investments. They do generate large commisions for those that sell them, however.

What made me suspicious of Cebert is that when they show you "actual numbers" of how an annuity would have faired in a specific period of time, the numbers looked fantastic. However, when I asked them to run a different time period, they said they would and would get back to me with the results. They never called back.

Several years ago when we were considering financial advisors one of the most important things for us was that we both felt comfortable with the person and firm before moving forward. We've been with our final decision for 5 years with no major compaints to date.

[AllAmerican]

I've had Advance Capital Management. So far, so good. They are in Spanish Springs.