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Did you end up hiring any advisors / consultants / wealth managers etc? If so how did you choose? Did you go by a personal referral or did you go with one who

Did you end up hiring any advisors / consultants / wealth managers etc? If so how did you choose? Did you go by a personal referral or did you go with one who cold called you?

mrandish 7y ago
Since finance isn't my strong suit, I evaluated some of them at length as well as reading some books and a lot online. In the end, I decided the fees such 'active managers' charge wouldn't be worth it for me. Instead, I got a good accountant to handle the tax side and set myself up at a large, well-known discount brokerage with low fees and put it all in a very typical diversified portfolio based on industry standards. My judgment was that you can either play for a special edge and pay the fees for that active management (while hoping you've chosen a Buffet vs a Madoff), or you can just bet on the overall market based on the risk profile and time horizon you're comfortable, save all the fees you can by letting it ride and not trading. My gut was that the best strategy was likely to be one of those two extremes and anything in-between would be less optimal. Since I acknowledge I don't have the experience or skill to tell a Buffett from a Madoff, I decided not the play that game and go the other way. It's been over 12 years now and the 'fire and forget' approach has worked out super well. By only rebalancing once a year I also saved a lot of time, mental bandwidth and stress. Admittedly, my market presence has coincided with a ten year bull market, however the long-term market backcasting data shows that buying a diversified portfolio of ultra-low fee funds and just holding has historically worked out best. Of course, it's somewhat sensitive to when you enter the market but IIRC if you hold for ten years, regardless of entry year, it outperformed active management in something like 96% of scenarios.
- rdp36 7y ago
  You are a boglehead... https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Getting_started https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Getting_started

Did you end up hiring any advisors / consultants / wealth managers etc? If so how did you choose? Did you go by a personal referral or did you go with one who cold called you?

mrandish 7y ago

Since finance isn't my strong suit, I evaluated some of them at length as well as reading some books and a lot online. In the end, I decided the fees such 'active managers' charge wouldn't be worth it for me. Instead, I got a good accountant to handle the tax side and set myself up at a large, well-known discount brokerage with low fees and put it all in a very typical diversified portfolio based on industry standards. My judgment was that you can either play for a special edge and pay the fees for that active management (while hoping you've chosen a Buffet vs a Madoff), or you can just bet on the overall market based on the risk profile and time horizon you're comfortable, save all the fees you can by letting it ride and not trading. My gut was that the best strategy was likely to be one of those two extremes and anything in-between would be less optimal. Since I acknowledge I don't have the experience or skill to tell a Buffett from a Madoff, I decided not the play that game and go the other way. It's been over 12 years now and the 'fire and forget' approach has worked out super well. By only rebalancing once a year I also saved a lot of time, mental bandwidth and stress. Admittedly, my market presence has coincided with a ten year bull market, however the long-term market backcasting data shows that buying a diversified portfolio of ultra-low fee funds and just holding has historically worked out best. Of course, it's somewhat sensitive to when you enter the market but IIRC if you hold for ten years, regardless of entry year, it outperformed active management in something like 96% of scenarios.

rdp36 7y ago
You are a boglehead... https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Getting_started https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Getting_started