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Start with Scott Adams' financial checklist: https://www.mattcutts.com/blog/scott-adams-financial-advice/ https://www.mattcutts.com/blog/scott-adams-financial-a

by shimon 9y ago

Start with Scott Adams' financial checklist: https://www.mattcutts.com/blog/scott-adams-financial-advice/ https://www.mattcutts.com/blog/scott-adams-financial-advice/ Note the item about hiring a fee-based financial advisor. I hired one starting a few years ago even though I am pretty good at this stuff, but I think they're especially helpful for newbies to establish good expectations and habits.

zip1234 9y ago
I'm not sure it is clear what fee-based means in the article. There are some that get a commission based on the products that they sell. In other words, the mutual fund that they use they might get a cut of. A fee-only adviser is one who takes a certain percentage each year. This is the kind that you want as it is in their best interest to grow your account and they won't move your money unnecessarily just to generate commission. The ones that get commission based on products are making money in hidden ways, but they are making money. Much better to have it up front and out in the open.
- eru 9y ago
  I thought fee-based means you just pay them a fixed fee you agree on up front? (And their interests are aligned insofar as they want repeat customers and you to tell your friends to use them?)
  - mercutio2 9y ago
    You are thinking of fee-only, which sounds very similar, but is vastly different from fee-based. Fee only is what you want. As it happens, Scott Adams appears to have meant the exact opposite of how he’s been quoted! Scott specifically meant to warn people off financial advisers who charge a percentage of assets. Fee-based as a label appears to exist purely to confuse unsophisticated consumers, by sounding so similar to the (good) fee-only label.
    - shimon 9y ago
      Good point. The intention (in my post and presumably the ones I referenced) is that the financial advisor should be paid only a fixed fee by her client and not be biased like a commissioned salesperson.

by shimon 9y ago

zip1234 9y ago

I'm not sure it is clear what fee-based means in the article. There are some that get a commission based on the products that they sell. In other words, the mutual fund that they use they might get a cut of. A fee-only adviser is one who takes a certain percentage each year. This is the kind that you want as it is in their best interest to grow your account and they won't move your money unnecessarily just to generate commission. The ones that get commission based on products are making money in hidden ways, but they are making money. Much better to have it up front and out in the open.

eru 9y ago
I thought fee-based means you just pay them a fixed fee you agree on up front? (And their interests are aligned insofar as they want repeat customers and you to tell your friends to use them?)
- mercutio2 9y ago
  You are thinking of fee-only, which sounds very similar, but is vastly different from fee-based. Fee only is what you want. As it happens, Scott Adams appears to have meant the exact opposite of how he’s been quoted! Scott specifically meant to warn people off financial advisers who charge a percentage of assets. Fee-based as a label appears to exist purely to confuse unsophisticated consumers, by sounding so similar to the (good) fee-only label.
  - shimon 9y ago
    Good point. The intention (in my post and presumably the ones I referenced) is that the financial advisor should be paid only a fixed fee by her client and not be biased like a commissioned salesperson.