Technically, AUM can be considered fee-only.I'm about five years our from retiring and I'm considering getting a financial advisor. Some bullet points:
1. As I understand it, AUM is not a good idea and I can see why because even the 0.75% they'd charge me is a lot of money. Thus, fee-only is preferred.
2. If you get one, you should make sure you are a fiduciary.
3. Should the person be a CFP too? I don't know.
4. There are big firms, like Chase or Schwab or whatever. There are smaller local ones, like your bank. And there are local guys that put up their shingle and take whoever comes. Is any preferable to the others?
5.I perhaps could do without one completely. Math-wise I'm fine on this stuff. But the legal stuff scares me, such as doing rollovers correctly (I currently have my money in several different places and would like to consolidate), and taking out the right amount of money for tax purposes correctly when the time comes, etc. I'm great at math but I chafe at doing my taxes each year, which involves only simple math, but the legal, technical language on the tax forms drives me crazy.
So there you go. That's where I am. I'm thinking of just getting a fee-only person, but then again, with five-ish years to go before retirement, maybe if I start hacking away at learning the legal stuff I'll get good enough and feel confident enough about it that I can do it completely alone.
That's it. What sayeth you? Any thoughts are appreciated.
Fee-only means they don't get commissions or other pay from companies, e.g. 12b-1 fees.
Good flat-fee people are going to cost $250-$400/hr. They simply can't make a living otherwise.
As a first step, I'd recommend that you lost your specific questions and concerns.
Statistics: Posted by exodusNH — Sun Sep 15, 2024 1:42 am — Replies 3 — Views 299