Re: Process I am going through to find a new finan... - Page 2

KathyPet · ‎03-09-2010

I don't think you can compare this to seeing a Doctor for a diagnosis because there is no ongoing income to,the Doctor once he cures you. These investment firms charge a quarterly fee to manage your investments. That is how they recoup their upfront costs and make a profit. I need to understand what recommendations they are making and why. Otherwise I am giving them a lot of money on pure faith that they will invest it to my satisfaction. What if I turn the funds over to them and don't like what they do with it?

KALLIE · ‎02-17-2016

@KathyPet wrote:
No, they want me to,sign to transfer all the fidelity money to them. I understand that they are incurring a expenditure of their time to analyze my requirements and provide me with their recommendations but that is the cost of doing business. Not much different then having a home improvement contractor give a estimate to do a project in your home. Whichever firm I choose will make money from managing my money and I am sure will recoup their upfront expense. I am not giving them my money without a full rundown of what their recommendations are.

NO financial advisor is going to provide detailed information about investing unless you are his/her CLIENT.

tansy · ‎01-02-2011

Get recommendations for a no-fee financial advisor. All of those management fees will add up quickly and eat into any gains your monies might make. Personally, I'd keep investments as simple as possible.

JustJazzmom · ‎03-09-2010

Call Vanguard, they don't charge fees for investing your money.

☼The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there. GBShaw☼

tansy · ‎01-02-2011

@JustJazzmom wrote:
Call Vanguard, they don't charge fees for investing your money.

I was thinking of recommending Vanguard, too.

OR, if you and your husband were always pleased with Fidelity before these snafus, I'd stay put since, hopefully, you understand your investments.

Mom2Dogs · ‎03-09-2010

@KathyPet...I am sorry for your loss....

When we were searching for a new financial advisor, we went with our gut. The first place we went to just gave me an uneasy feeling but when we went for the initial interview with the 2nd firm I just knew that we had found the right place to invest out money. We had an hour long meeting, he reviewed our current investments and told us what he liked and did not like about where we were currently investing our money.

If we were going to work with that firm we had to pay the fee up front. They put together a plan for us, it was quite detailed. We have stayed with this firm for years. The money they invest is run thru Ameriprise Financial but this is a stand alone firm, they are not 'owned' by Ameriprise.

We have two meetings a year...more if we request if...one of the meetings is to look at and change any investments that need changed the other meeting goes over our current budget, any long/short terms plans and our retirement. We know exactly where we stand when we are ready to retire.

I say go with your gut....I can only imagine how scary this is to do on our own, at least it would be for me! I try to understand as much as I can as my DH is quite a bit older than I am and I am afraid that some day I will be facing these issues on my own. Good luck!

Edited to add....we pay a yearly fee for their service...so every time we make a change there is no charge.

KathyPet · ‎03-09-2010

No way is Fidelity keeping my money. When I sent them DH's death certificate I sent them a letter and instructed them to remove his name from our regular, non retirement investments which were joint. I also instructed them to change the ownership registration on his SEP accounts to me. I gave them my E mail and home and cell phone numbers in case of any questions. I checked the accounts after a week and discovered that instead of keeping the SEP accounts separate and changing them to my name they withdrew the funds from the SEP's and put all the money into a rollover IRA account that was in my name. That is not what I instructed them to do and they took,that action without even bothering to check with me even though they had all my contact information. I was so,furious that I made them reverse the entire transaction and put everything back the way it was into separate accounts. It took them three weeks to,fix it. Did they even apologize for their screw up? No they did not.

Meowingkitty · ‎06-19-2010

Get a fiduciary. They are bound by law to work for your benefit and not the company and they don't sell. They get there money from fees that the investments charge but you don't pay upfront. Check out what a fiduciary does.

Diamonds22 · ‎03-09-2010

Kathy, sorry to hear about your husband. Also sorry to hear you had a bad situation with Fidelity. I have been with Fidelity for 22 years & had only 1 problem with them & they fixed it & apologized.

I have a Financial Advisor who also does my taxes. She owns her own company & she was the one that advised me to use Fidelity. She advised me with the names of the stocks, mutual funds, etc. to buy or sell & to be diversified & I have been very, very pleased with her info & Fidelity & have made some money with them despite the economy. I meet with her twice a year, one to do my taxes & the other to go over the Fidelity statements. She charges one fee for everything & if I need her advice I can e-mail her as many times as I need or call her & there is no charge.

Vanguard was mentioned & that was mentioned to me by my financial advisor as well that it was a good investment company.

I hope you find the right one & I feel like you until you get your answers ahead of time i wouldn't transfer all my money.

Diamonds22

Still Raining · ‎03-30-2014

@KathyPet wrote:
I don't think you can compare this to seeing a Doctor for a diagnosis because there is no ongoing income to,the Doctor once he cures you. These investment firms charge a quarterly fee to manage your investments. That is how they recoup their upfront costs and make a profit. I need to understand what recommendations they are making and why. Otherwise I am giving them a lot of money on pure faith that they will invest it to my satisfaction. What if I turn the funds over to them and don't like what they do with it?

If you already know how you want your money invested, why on earth are you wasting time and money going through a service. Just do it yourself. I do.