Financial Advisors

Yeah, no idea where I got that $10k number from. I looked, and it looks like my minimum is $2k.

This, plus a 529 as applicable. I’d generally agree that you start here, if you have any more money throw it in brokerage and buy ETFs, and then once you get to $1M maybe hire someone.

Also agree with your other comment, I was 100% equities until I was about 40, I would have pushed further but I’m not planning on working for two more decades. Vanguard funds are great, as you pointed out, or Fidelity offers zero fee funds like FZROX and FZILX.

I researched this and concluded that a Roth IRA is better in prepping for children’s college expenses if you are not completely sure that they will go to college. The specifics elude me and I leave it to the reader. But definitely, a 529 is a good plan in any case if you’re maxing 401k+HSA+IRA (and expect to have children).

Who manages your 401k?

Is it actively managed? Or do you just pick one of a handful of “tracks” and your company manages?

I have my 401k with one manager and I meet with him regularly. Then I have other retirement/investment accounts with another manager. Then I have a small investment account with Schwab for fun (my brother researches stocks as a hobby and will text me: Buy this! It’s about to take off! :joy: he’s right enough of the time that it’s a fun thing to do.)

But my point is: All three companies offer free financial planning - as a courtesy. If you take a bit of savings and open a Schwab account online, you’ll get a call from them.

Local credit unions also sometimes offer free financial planning.

I’d be mindful that free financial planning that results in recommended securities from an active manager are likely in business to make commission off of you choosing to invest in precisely the things they are recommending. Roughly all people (who don’t have a team of security analysts) are better off simply owning low fee mutual/index funds where the only interesting question is how much risk to take, which is determined by your investment horizon and tolerance.

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I more or less subscribe to the 3-4 fund allocation:

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Vanguard_four_fund_portfolio

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I have never paid directly for financial planning. It seems that it is all a matter of making use of relevant tax-advantage accounts like 401Ks, 403Bs, 529 plans, IRAs, etc and then managing an overall asset allocation using mutual funds and/or ETFs. {I also assuming I am insured properly for all relevant coverage needs}

What else is there?

E.T.A.: Now, estate planning is a whole different operation. The need for wills, trusts, etc for orderly transfer of wealth is a real need, but not within my scope of “financial planning” which I guess I am defining as using your lifetime earnings to properly pay for your lifetime needs.

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If you’re not going to use all your money prior to death, life policies will often outperform fixed income. And there’s some other shenanigans around life policies that are tax advantaged.

I dunno the us, but incanada an insured retirement plan does well once other tax deferred vehicles are maxed.

Now, for people who intend to spend their every last dime just before death, what’s your plan?

Gonna spend my last couple hundred bucks on some high quality euthanizing morphine. How do I time this correctly though, inquiring minds want to know!

This is me without kids of course.

So, I plan on retiring early, say age 50. I’m maxing the HSA and 401k, not IRA eligible. I have a trad IRA that I could convert. At some point, I think I may pay someone to help me sort out how best to work this to be as tax-efficient as possible. It feels like something I could navigate myself, but I might pay a grand to have someone with a deeper understanding of the tax codes bless things.

What say you, GoA? Should I just suck it up and figure this out myself?

Do you have kids? 50 seems so young to retire.

One kiddo, currently 13. And when I say ‘retire,’ I don’t plan on playing golf or video games all day. Current working theories include volunteering, building furniture, trying to find a good Actuaries Without Borders assignment, and possibly teaching college. And a lot of travel.

My dream of opening a bar still stands

You should buy a Cayman and open that bar. You can be my life coach.

that’ll be $75/hr thanks!

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Agreed. To me “retirement” means I’ll stop doing the stuff that causes me any stress and only do projects I feel like doing - whether paid or volunteer. :+1:

I’m pretty close to that point. (“Fuck you money” as John Goodman called it. :joy:)

NSFW

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I believe this came from you
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At that point, I might pay a fiduciary a one-time fee to give some advice. I haven’t hit that level quite yet, so hard to say what they’d add to your knowledge. I’d honestly even record the discussion to play it back in case you missed anything.

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The discussion forums at Mr. Money Mustache (i.e. more stash) are a good resource if you want to retire early. And the #1 best way to do that is to stash more away than you are currently. It’s often framed as a tradeoff between how much do want to spend now and how long do you want to stay working.

Cross north of $1M in assets and an advisor could be helpful. Or you may be incentivized to learn more about it yourself - not that I am a pro, just interested.

Read stories about other peoples F U money which gave them the ability to quit or change jobs and not have to deal with a lousy workplace situation:

https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/epic-fu-money-stories/

The forums are good, I find MMM to be a bit… I don’t know… I’ll say off-putting. I also like the r/financialindependence sub-Reddit.

I will say there is one post from MMM that really resonated with me, one of those moments when you realize the answer is simple but you never quite asked the question:

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