In article <1119053661.679226.4640[at]g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> ,
"Les_Duck" <lesliedexduck[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

Borrow it back from the Home Equity Line Of Credit (you keep it
open just incase). If the worst happens, you now have your
money back, but you are in a much better financial position
since you didn't have to make payments or pay interest on
this when it was paid off.

I advocate that a person who is not super-rich cannot afford
to have money sitting around not earning anything. You need
your money working as hard as it can for you. As a result,
I'd skip the emergency fund, but (a) try to minimize emergencies,
and (b) have some short term borrowing device just incase you
do have an emergency.

-john-

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

Thanks for your replies.

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This is very interesting advice. What happens if I lose my job? How do
I pay my mortgage if I have no "6 months" of savings.


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Ok.

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Do you have some book suggestions?

"Les_Duck" <lesliedexduck[at]yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1119029443.309619.159910[at]g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
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You've already paid the sales charge. I'd leave it where it is.

If you want to start another IRA on your own, by all means.

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http://www.anrdoezrs.net/rt67efolfn2493757A243643358

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Cost should not be the driving concern, since you've already paid the major
toll. The more important question is are you getting what you want, and are
you gettnig what you need?

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You can try to find one. There really aren't that many (less than 1% of the
total number of financial advisors), and the numbers seem to have flatlined
(plenty of new entrants, with ZERO experience and LITTLE to NO
qualifications, but the veteran professionals have begun moving money back
from fee-only and fee-based platforms into the tranditional channels, which
is an interesting and recent change.

Fees won't save you money, it just moves your toll from one channel to
another. In your case, it may actually cost you money. ($700 for a one time
reveiw is cheap).

Brent D. Gardner, ChFC
Chartered Financial Consultant
http://www.brentdgardner.com/

Email is not answered from this account, nor it is monitored.


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In article <1119029443.309619.159910[at]g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> ,
"Les_Duck" <lesliedexduck[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

Pull the money out of the "6 months" account and your money
market account. Pay off the HELOC and car. Become debt free
other than your main mortgage.

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I'd stop putting stuff in, but maybe keep what you already have.
You can invest in funds that behave the same or better with
less overall expenses. Look at index funds if you are in the
taxable zone due to them being very tax efficient.

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Money market funds lose value each month since the rate of return
is less than inflation. Don't do that. What you use a money
market for is you paycheck. Have your paycheck put into the
money fund. Write all your checks and pay bills out of your
normal checking account. Transfer money from the money market
to cover your checking account. Then, when you get a reasonable
amount of money accumulated in the money market, invest it in
stocks, bonds, or funds. Do that anytime you hit $1000 or
$1500 accumulated in your money market account.

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No problem moving them. They have a lot of experience in doing
this over the past few years. They have some very old money,
and folks locked in via company 401K's. The rest of their
customers are less mature investors that they fleece for a few
years until the customer gives up or leaves, or more commonly,
their planner leaves and the customer follows.

- quote -

No--I wouldn't pay that when you can pick up a book or two
on the subject and read through it in a few days. Once you
max out your IRA's and 401K, the choices are fairly limited
until you become a seasoned or even an accredited investor.

-john-

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

Hi All,
I have been neglecting my finances and could use some advice.

My Background:
About 4 years ago I signed on with American Express Financial planners.
I was 28 and did not really know about managing money. For the first 2
years I was happy with my advisor. He has since left and I have not
really changed what he initially set up. I'm not too impressed with
my "new" advisor and after learning a bit more about investing;
I'm starting to question if I should even stay with Ameriprise
Financial. Plus, the new advisor wants another $700 to review my plan.

Currently I :
-Funding 401k to maximum
-Funding my IRA to the maximum
-Have 6 months of living expenses saved (In AXP Market strategy
certificates).
-Own a home (but have 2nd mortgage financed with a HELOC about $25K)
-Have no credit card debt/or student loan
-Owe about 5K on CAR. (but will have it paid off by the end of the
year).
-Have a significant other, but no children

My Questions:
1.) I have everything set up with Ameriprise including my IRA. I
noticed the IRA holds the American express loaded funds. Should I keep
it there or try to get lower cost index funds?
2.) I have an automatic $100 per month that is just going to a Money
Market fund in AMEX. There is about $2500 already in the fund. What
should I do with that money?
3.) Does anyone have experience moving accounts from Ameriprise? It is
easier to leave things in place, so how do I determine if I should move
to lower cost institutions.
4.) Should I just try to find a fee based planner to help me figure
this out?


Thanks in advance for any replies.
-Les