On the other hand, bitter ex-advisors tend to troll the waters of
amexsux.com. I feel that I am providing a great service to those who need
it. If you are that confidant in that you are willing to invest your current
and future savings without a "game plan" by all means, do it. If you
question your future goals, and the ability to fund them properly, then I
strongly urge you to come in. I will suggest investments that are custom
tailored for you, and we will meet quarterly each year to maintain your
investment, and to see if any of your goals, or financial situation has
changed.
I am the first to admit, I only take on new clients if they match certain
criteria, and it is not $100,000 + net worth. They must be able to listen to
me and my recommendations, and implement some of them. They also must be
able to commit to a long term relationship, not just one year, this takes
time, of course the planning contract is up at the end of each year, and
subject to renewal. Also, remember, there is a money back guarantee, for
ninety days after receiving the final draft of the plan each year, and the
first vista is completely complementary. I also will go to your Tax
attorney, C.P.A., to work with free of charge.
So if you can do all of this on your own, feel free, but if you have some
doubt, then you should be calling me, or the rest of the 12,000 advisors of
American Express.

And yes I own both a Blue, and a Gold card
Andrew
"BMS" <mcfarland[at]yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:jrOdnb90LOgbx-ffRVn-qw[at]comcast.com...
- quote -

Andy <ineverevercheckthismailbox[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

That's going to cost a lot more than $500 if the financial planner is
any good and understands what they are worth. Typical time rates are
$75-$150/hr. and I'd be shocked if a good plan for a completely
uneducated newcomer with upper middle class income would take fewer than
15-20 hours. A lot of that time is making sure said newcomer
*understands* the plan, where a good planner will never skimp. It could
be less time if they have read a few good books and know the basics.

Admittedly, future sessions wouldn't cost nearly as much unless there's
a radical change in goals or income.

That said, I also think paying $500/year for the sort of advice you're
likely to get from a captive advisor is unwise. The problem here is
the amex affiliation, not the $500/year. The OP would end up paying
quite a bit more for their advice than $500 a year because they'll be
selling all loaded products. And their universe will be restricted to
Amex products. Amex is big enough that there will be something for most
needs, but it's unlikely to be the best or lowest-expense possibility
for many (if any) of them. Even if they can sell other products, they're
likely to be pushing the amex option even when it isn't the best choice.

If you're willing to buy loaded products, you can generally find an
independent advisor who works solely on commission and can recommend
products from many different companies. Good independent folks will
tend to present you with investments where the non-load expenses are
well below average (the loads go to pay the advisor, other expenses go
to the fund managers, and have been empirically demonstrated to be
strongly inversely correlated with net results).

Alternately, the advisor who doesn't get any commission, will charge a
fair bit upfront for time (since that is their only compensation), but
will recommend investments with a minimum of expenses, and may in the
long run be the best deal. The advantage of a fee-only advisor is that
you know *exactly* how much their advice is going to cost you without
doing a lot of extra record-keeping and projection.


Michael

--
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired,
signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not
fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. -- Dwight Eisenhower
"In Christ there is no killing" -- St. Patrick

SCUBADEVINE wrote:
- quote -

I think paying $500 a year for a financial planner would be a big waste
of money in your situation. Financial planners provide the most bang
for the buck when you have a lot of assets and a complex financial
situation. You don't meet that criteria. For someone like you I would
recommend paying a financial planner one time (by the hour) to help you
develop a financial plan, and then implement it yourself.

Andy

I'll bet you have an American Express Card.

Most Amex advisors aren't worth the time and trouble. Visit
www.amexsucks.com for examples.

Interview a couple of more, try and find one that is not connected with any
particular company or is at least willing to talk about product choices.


"SCUBADEVINE" <SCUBAdevine[at]comcast.net> wrote in message
news:1115257491.224011.98400[at]f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
- quote -

On the contrary, I think it is a good analogy. You can learn medical
diagnosis from books and you can buy the necessary equipment if you
have the money. You don't need a license to buy medical equipment, just
to use it on others. However, if you want an analogy that eliminates
the equipment issue, if you owned your own business would you do your
own accounting or hire a prefessional. Accounting is all knowledge and
skill, the equipment is trivial and readily available to all.

Yes you can learn a lot about financial management on your own and
everyone should. Without significant knowledge picking a financial
planner is a matter of luck. Unfortunately, the financial planning
profession is essentially unregulated and, in my experience, the
profession has a large number of practitioners who range from
incompetent to swindlers.

However, the key question you need to ask yourself is, can you learn
enough to do as good a job as a skilled full time professional? A
second question is, what is the opportunity cost of devoting your time
to managing your money as opposed to spending that time making more
money?

--
_Bill_

John A. Weeks III wrote:
- quote -

I don't think this is a fair analogy. While it is possible
to read books and become quite an effective financial planner,
one can't do the same for teeth or illness. You need tools
and training for diagnosis that aren't available to everyone.

- quote -

However, I agree that everyone pretty much has to choose
one of these.

Anoop

SCUBADEVINE wrote:
- quote -

If you have the time, I'd recommend learning about money. This
education is useful even if you use a financial planner.

I have been to the American Express folks and came away very
unimpressed with what they had to offer. I don't think I'll
go back and see them. They might be able to do better than
if you did nothing at all, but in all likelihood you can do
much better by educating yourself. There are several
"no brainer" rules that you can put to work for yourself.

The first book that I read on personal finance was Beth
Kobliner's "Get a Financial Life". Just reading that one
book (or one of the several introductory books) will
teach you a lot.

Anoop

"SCUBADEVINE" <SCUBAdevine[at]comcast.net> wrote in message
news:1115257491.224011.98400[at]f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
- quote -

You have enough resources that you should be learning a lot more about money
and financial planning. However, I wouldn't think it's an emergency. Start
doing some reading. Others here have recommended Andrew Tobias' "Everything
you need to know about Investing" or another one, "Personal Finance for
Dummies". Start picking up Money Magazine, or something similar, looking at
Barron's even the Wall Street Journal. Finally, start asking others who they
use for a financial planner, if they have one. I don't know how you found
the person from American Express, or if s/he found you. But I would be
willing to sit on this for perhaps 6 months before I did anything more than
you've already done (which is a good start, by the way).

Elizabeth Richardson

In article <1115257491.224011.98400[at]f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com> ,
"SCUBADEVINE" <SCUBAdevine[at]comcast.net> wrote:

- quote -

So, when you get a tooth ache, to you go to a dentist, or
do you simply stay home and tell people that you don't know
much about teeth? How about when you get sick? Do you see
a doctor? Money is the same way. It is a profession. Like
all professions, there are good money managers, and there
are people with no clue. You have three choices, find a good
money manager, read and study to become a money manager on
your own, or continue to muddle along as you are now.

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708 john[at]johnweeks.com
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================

I'm wondering if I should get a financial planner or not. My reasons
for getting one and NOT getting one are the same -- I don't know much
about money. I was figuring I could get my money to work more for me,
but I don't want to get taken advantage of either. I make about
$84,000 and my wife makes $50,000. My wife has $25,000 in a 401k, I
have $41,000 in an annuity, and I also have a pension through work. We
have about $10,000 in the bank, I guess as our emergency fund. We just
bought a house and we owe about $300,000 with a [at]4.85% adjustable rate
mortgage. The rate will change in five years. We also have a car
payment. We met with someone from American Express and they will
charge us $500 a year. What do you REALLY think I'll get for this?