[Barbinga]

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)?

[retiredguy123]

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.

[Stu from NYC]

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

[manaboutown]

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

[Stu from NYC]

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

[villagetinker]

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.

[Dusty_Star]

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.

[ThirdOfFive]

Originally Posted by Barbinga

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)?

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".

[dewilson58]

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.

[rsmurano]

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.

[MartinSE]

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.

[macawlaw]

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

[Michael G.]

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.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Michael G.

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.

[Michael G.]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

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.......