Have you ever retained the services of a financial advisor?

Are you a financial advisor?

What advice, if any, do you have for someone vetting potential financial advisors?

Try and learn as much as you can about financial matters before you talk to them.
An important consideration is how they're compensated (either by the hour or on commissions).

Yes, I have no interest in retaining someone who is paid commission.

I have set up a preliminary appointment with someone (fee-only) and would like to know what I should be asking him.

What kind of investments does he use.
If mutual funds load or no-load.
Credentials (and then check up if they are worth anything).

What does that mean?

(Thanks for your responses.)

No load funds do not have a built in sales charge.
load funds have a sales charge.
I only use no-load funds.

BTW on Sunday mornings in NYC, I listem to the Rick Edelman show on WABC radio.
He gives financial planning advice and answers many common questions listeners have.

Hm. I don't usually spend my Sunday mornings near a radio but I'll keep it in mind.

Anyone else?

What would you think of a ~$1000 retainer for 4 hours of service?

I like watching Suze Orman. It's a good way to go from zero knowledge about personal finance to getting your bearings. I also have a book called "The Idiot's Guide to financial planning in your 20s and 30s".

I once asked my parents if they thought I should get a financial advisor, and the basically laughed and said I don't have any money to advise on.

That's a bad attitude. $50 a month for the next thirty years at a low interest rate of 5% compounded monthly would be over $40,000. At 8% it would be over $75,000. Sitting in the bank at a rate of 3%, you'd have less than $30,000.

I grant you that people can make their own decisions and earn a reasonable rate of return on investments without retaining the services of a financial advisor.

The earlier one starts to save/invest, the more time for compound interest to do its thing, which is very powerful.
The rule of 72 is helpful for estimating how investments will grow over time.

horrible.

Is that an actual fee?

What would you say is a reasonable fee or hourly rate?



It is.

It would depend on how much money a person is investing, their age, and how complicated their situation is.

You seem like a smart person who can get all their information from the internet. I don't know why you want to go to a financial adviser.
If you insist on paying someone who probably doesn't know much. I guess $50 for a couple hours. But really you can just join up with a brokerage like Fidelity and you will be able to speak to someone similar to a financial adviser without the fee.

Hmm. Thanks for your advice. I value it.