Advice
 

In the same way that there are volunteers to help with tax returns, are there organizations or individuals that give advice on general financial planning or legal advice (to look at a simple contract with knowledge of Florida laws)?

I would be very careful about getting free financial planning advice. You don't want to get advice from an insurance salesperson or a stock broker. The insurance guy will sell you an annuity and the stock broker will sell you high risk, high turnover stocks, or initial public stock offerings.

How do you know the person really knows what he is doing?

Stay away from any "advisor" trying to rope you into a reverse mortgage, too!

Sounds like you are trying to save money by having stuff done for free but in the long run it might be very expensive.

OP, I agree with above, you want a LICENSED fiduciary, these people are required to put YOUR interests first. Free advice is worth exactly what you pay for it and many times a lot less. We are still using or advisor (Ameriprise Financial) for back up North, he has done very well for us.

Agree with the above. For a financial advisor most say go with a fee only planner, the commissions planners have a vested interest to sell you what they are currently pushing, whether that meets your needs or not.

You get what you pay for. Free? Who knows what you'd be getting? I'd rather pay for sound advice than roll the dice on "free".

There are Advocacy groups out there.
Google and do some work.
Many retired people willing to help others without payment.
Most are quasi-government groups.
Yes, be careful and check references.

A fiduciary is NO GUARANTEE.
It's just a person who studied.

Did you look to see if TV has a club that would meet your needs? You have to watch out for financial planners, fee paid or commission. What do they want to do? Sell you an annuity, insurance (long term), or investments? Even few paid they can direct you to something they make money on.
For legal questions, find a good lawyer and usually they have a free 30 min meeting to talk about your issue or they charge by the hour or charge flat rate for wills, etc..
For brokerage companies, I know a dozen friends that thought their broker was making them money or giving them the right advice because they were paying them. WRONG, the only person making money was the broker. I’m not saying ALL are like this, but a lot are: big established brokers and small 1’s.

Free financial planning is a bad idea. Reviewing a contract is not as bad, if the point is to explain what it means. But free contract analysis is also a problem if you expect advice.

The “free” tax assistance, at least through VITA, is run by volunteers who have to take a test and be approved by the IRS. My husband runs the program for a university. He spends hours annually in training and testing, as do the students he employs. My husband is a CPA and has an LL.M. in tax. If there is an error, a return may be corrected and refilled.

To my knowledge, there is no similar program for investments. Once you lose the money, it is gone.

Please see a professional who does not sell a product and you can pay by the hour. A good financial planner will look at your entire financial situation.

If you refuse to pay, please talk to many individuals and closely compare all suggestions before entrusting your money.

If you are talking about funds that you do not need to rely upon and are looking to have some fun with, there are plenty of firms - Edward Jones, Charles Schwab, etc. who can give some helpful advice and can help you decide what type of fund might be good for you.

If you rely on these funds, please seek independent, professional advice.

Melanie

I and my wife are in a similar situation.
Our financial adviser and investments are still up north.

We gather our income tax information for them every year and they do our taxes.

It's a hassle because we copy everything, send it all up there through registered snarl mail, and it's getting very expensive.

In the future, I would like to file our taxes here in Florida using the no-cost tax filing service many our neighbor's use.

I would suggest that you scan the documents and put them on a thumb drive, your hard drive, or on the cloud. Or, you could save the scans to a PDF file and email it to your tax preparer.

Also, buy a copy of TurboTax and enter the information from your tax records into the program. It's very easy to do. If you want a double check, you can send the TurboTax program file or the PDF file from TurboTax to your tax preparer, and have them review the return and file it for you. Most tax preparers use TurboTax, or a similar tax software anyway.

Thanks Much, these are great options going forward.......:coolsmiley:

We have been sending our tax docs to our preparer up north by certified mail and so far it has worked. Have to think about your suggestions.

WOW just beware. Financial advice for FREE? No one works for free. You can, you should do some reading. It is your money it is your life. Typically an advisor will ask you what is your risk tolerance. What does than mean? Beats me. People, THINK they have a higher risk tolerance when the market is up than when it is down. There is no shortage of people saying they are financial advisors who are really commissioned SALESMEN. For a few hundred dollars you can hire a for fee only advisor. They will review what you have, what you need, want AND MAKE SUGGESTIONS. No one wants to pay taxes. If you are thinking about a will. Probate in Florida is BRUTAL. A proper WILL can avoid that. A job for an attorney.
There is or were several investment clubs.

If you have an account with Fidelity, you can get a portfolio review at no cost. You do not need to have it all at Fidelity.

DO NOT JUMP INTO ANYTHING. Always ask or know how this person is being PAID.

Who that is a great question. For years I used my brother in law. He was/is a cpa and he sells investments . My view a conflict of interest. Apparently it is legal. Wow family, no need to check. I discovered that every investment he pushed, bonds etc could be easily purchased, the same bond for less-thus a higher yield to me. I never questioned his fees.
When we moved we went to another accountant. Family would be fair? He was charging me about 40% too much. When my mom passed, I discovered he has sold my mother who was 86 a government bond fund with a load on it and a 12b fee money that increases the sellers commission. I mentioned it to several people and they told me there was no such fund. My brother in law found it and due to TRUST he sold it to my mother. I probably could sue him. Likely too late to do so.

Well for us? The question is how much at at what level of risk. The past 15 years, till this year, the stock market has been up. As it is said a rising tide raises all boats.
Buffet is recognized as one of the greatest stock pickers. He has become a noun or is it an adverb-BUFFET LIKE. Buffet has said I lost 45 million on that investment. Buffet like? If, I lost 45 million on any investment there would be a lot of people wondering how they we soooo stupid as to lend me that much money. Buffet has also stated average people will do best simply buying the s&p 500. Truth I rarely beat the s&p.
I've done well but truth a dumb average would have done better. I do have, according to my brokerage statement less risk than the s&p.

Far as investment advice. I have a long time FRIEND and we discuss many things.
We've discussed investments on a regular basis. I've made it clear I do not give investment advice anything I say is I am doing this and why.

He foolishly started managing his relatives account. When he did well his relative said how smart, his relative is. When things turned down suddenly it was my friends fault.
I recall telling my friend that he was waling into a no win situation. Unfortunately, I was right.

Sad that he would do that to his family or for that matter to anyone else

Also ask what are their qualifications for even giving advise.

We go to financial seminars from time to time to listen and sometimes learn and went to one last night.

The guy never did tell us his qualifications but kept giving us advise on end of life matters which are better left to a qualified attorney. He wants people to let him handle their financials thru a third party and kept saying how well this financial institution did this year only being down 4% but never mentioned their long term record.

At least we got a very nice free dinner out of it.

In the process of preparing tax returns I have seen quite a large number of EOY statements from a large number of different financial firms. I am amazed at the disparity in fee structures, and how some folks continue to pay such large fees. The fees are usually disclosed close to the back of the package.

I agree. Transfer your money into a Vanguard money market account. Then, call Vanguard and ask them to diversify the money into several stock and bond index mutual funds. You will pay no fees except the very low expense ratio for the funds. That is the only type of investing I have done for more than 40 years. I never saw a reason to pay any fees to an investment advisor.

Almost anyone can do their own taxes using Turbotax. The program will guide you through the tax return process. If you feel uncomfortable after completing the return, let a tax preparer review the completed return and file it for you electronically. If you pay them a fee, they will sign the return as the tax preparer.

AARP They use well-trained tax preparers. FREE.

Not that I know of. Call the county and see if they have any services.
The larger stock brokers and mutual funds have free programs that take you though some financial planning. These will ask you questions and this might be of some help for you.

How to get investment advice
 

Sound financial advising is not free. Ethical standards involving certifications, licensing, and experience must be met. Here are some criteria for reference: What Designations Should Your Financial Advisor Have?