# Need Financial or Retirement Advisor



## AtlasShrugged (Dec 28, 2021)

Does anyone know of a reputable financial/retirement advisor in the Minneapolis, MN area?  I've been scouring the internet, but haven't found anyone I think I can trust.

Thank in advance,
Jeff


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## Packerjohn (Dec 28, 2021)

I have been retired over 21 years.  Only advice I can give is:
1. Don't believe those that tell you that you need at least 1.3 Million Dollars to retire.  That is pure BULL!
2. Your health is a lot more important than money in the bank.  A pile of money wouldn't mean much when you are dying.
3. Keep chasing your wife if married.  If single keep chasing all those lovely, lonely women.  It will keep you young thinking and it will certainly surprise those widows.


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## palides2021 (Dec 28, 2021)

Good luck in your search! It's not easy finding someone to trust with your money. If you do, start with a small amount to test the waters, then increase the amount. Always have some set aside for a rainy day.


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## Don M. (Dec 28, 2021)

"Self Education" is the BEST financial/retirement Advisor, IMO.  The bulk of the "advisors" are in business to fatten their wallets, and Your needs come secondary.  Read, Study, any and all financial news...research various mutual funds, etc., and become your own Advisor.


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## HarryHawk (Dec 28, 2021)

You can do it yourself, if you are willing to spend the time required to manage your account.  Just my opinion but I think it is a mistake to take a buy and hold philosophy with your investments.  What the market gives, the market can quickly take away (and then some).  Many of us cannot afford to take a 30 or 40% haircut being older.  We do not necessarily have the time to wait for the market to recover like younger folks who continue to make contributions to their savings.

I managed my finances for a long time and did ok, I found a good INDEPENDENT advisor and have had much better success than I ever had when I managed on my own.


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## dseag2 (Dec 28, 2021)

My father was a financial advisor.  I had no interest in what he did, but when he passed away 21 years ago and left his estate in the stock market I did all the research possible to learn about it.  I was referred to a financial advisor that was highly respected within my particular industry.  He was with Wells Fargo.  Unfortunately, he passed away a couple of years ago but the guy who took over his accounts is very knowledgable and calls me frequently to discuss our investment strategy.  I don't really care that there may be more costs involved.  I am happy with the growth of my portfolio, not just during 2021 but overt the past few years.  I know just enough about what is happening in the markets to understand his recommendations.

So, my advice is that you learn a bit about the market so you can make your own intelligent decisions but hire a capable financial advisor so the two of you can strategize about what makes sense for your future.


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## Liberty (Dec 29, 2021)

HarryHawk said:


> You can do it yourself, if you are willing to spend the time required to manage your account.  Just my opinion but I think it is a mistake to take a buy and hold philosophy with your investments.  What the market gives, the market can quickly take away (and then some).  Many of us cannot afford to take a 30 or 40% haircut being older.  We do not necessarily have the time to wait for the market to recover like younger folks who continue to make contributions to their savings.
> 
> I managed my finances for a long time and did ok, I found a good INDEPENDENT advisor and have had much better success than I ever had when I managed on my own.


What specifically did you do wrong that your "good INDEPENDENT advisor" did right?  
Markets go up and down, but fees are forever.


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## Aunt Bea (Dec 29, 2021)

What is different about your investments the day after you retire compared to the day before you retire?

IMO the average person can manage their retirement portfolio using the basic conventional wisdom and tools offered by any of the major financial firms.

I would feel an obligation to do more homework if I handed my financial future over to a ‘trusted’ financial advisor.


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## HarryHawk (Dec 29, 2021)

Liberty said:


> What specifically did you do wrong that your "good INDEPENDENT advisor" did right?
> Markets go up and down, but fees are forever.


The advisor consistently provides much higher returns than when I managed my own money.  I make at least an order of magnitude more than the fees I pay.  I don't have the time, tools, expertise nor interest to manage my funds at the same level as my advisor.  I view my advisor the same way I view any other professional that I pay a fee to when I need a specialize service - doctors, lawyers, car mechanics, house roofers, etc.   It certainly is possible to try to do alot of things yourself.

Of course, what is right for me may not be right for you.


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## Liberty (Dec 29, 2021)

AtlasShrugged said:


> Does anyone know of a reputable financial/retirement advisor in the Minneapolis, MN area?  I've been scouring the internet, but haven't found anyone I think I can trust.
> 
> Thank in advance,
> Jeff


Suggest you try Charles Schwab locally - they are wonderful with 24/7 personal service, brick & mortar locations and you can access a free financial advisor if you have at least a  $250,000 portfolio to invest.
They can move and rollover your retirement accounts, have dirt cheap fund management fees  and help with tax planning.  We have  them as our brokerage firm and have often recommended them to others.

https://client.schwab.com/public/br...ccc330b1d6796cdc401:G:s&keywordid=20796601778


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## fmdog44 (Dec 31, 2021)

It's never what you know about investing rather what you don't know.


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## Lethe200 (Dec 31, 2021)

Be aware that "in house" financial advisors, may be recommending funds to investors that the brokerage WANTS them to push. Schwab, like all the big brokerages, has numerous funds that sound very similar to each other in concept and strategy, but return very different results based on who manages that fund.

And yes, brokerages have internal contests for their reps to sign up clients for funds the company thinks aren't popular enough.

I have said it before and I'll say it yet again - you don't go with an independent CFP for the biggest returns or the "hottest stock/sector" of the month. You go to a CFP for what we call "holistic aka comprehensive, financial planning."

This includes going over all your legal docs - no financial advisor should ever take you as a client if you HAVE NOT completed your financial docs (we would take clients only on contingency if they had not done their legal papers, referring them to a list of estate attorneys they could choose from - they had 6 mos. to complete the docs or they were told to go elsewhere). It includes going over all your insurance policies to make sure you are adequately insured and that your risk level matches your long term goals.

Any time there is a change in your circumstances - which we defined as marriage, divorce, death, children, or change of job/career - it's time to check in with your advisor to make sure s/he is aware of your changed circumstances, because your financial goals could have changed.

I handled our investing while I worked because I enjoyed doing it. I did it pretty well, too. But when we retired I didn't want to do it any longer. Our financial circumstances were now different and there were tax considerations to manage, which is an area I'm not expert in.

Our independent CFP firm does an excellent job of tax planning on our distributions - we pay taxes only on 24% of the amount what we withdraw from our taxable account. Our CPA verifies they are doing an extremely good job of managing the taxes on our portfolio.

For the OP, you should do some reading on the financial websites. Schwab, Vanguard, Fidelity have some very good retirement and financial planning papers on their websites. fmdog44 is absolutely correct; it's what you DON'T know that hurts you. You can't ask intelligent questions to find the right advisor unless you learn some of the basics first.

Depending on where you live it can be hard to find an RIA nearby who is fee-only. There are some new websites that have sprung up in the years I've been out of the F/S industry, but the two "standbys" we used to refer people to were:

NAPFA, the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, is the nation’s leading organization dedicated to the advancement of Fee-Only comprehensive financial planning. Website is http://www.napfa.org/
Garrett Planning Network is an international network of fee-only financial advisors and planners. Website is http://www.garrettplanningnetwork.com/
You want to find an advisor who has some other clients in similar situations/goals as yours. That first free visit isn't going to tell you much except whether you find the person likable. You still need to check references and collect redacted client reports, because each advisor differs on how they report results to their clients.

If the advisor is independent, I wouldn't work with anyone who hasn't been in business for at least 15-20 yrs. You want someone who holds your hand in the bad times and can help you come up with solutions when life-changing problems occur - because they inevitably WILL happen.

HTH, and good luck to you going forward.


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## mathjak107 (Jan 1, 2022)

Excellent advice Lethe .

one thing I will add is that despite the standard advice to see a fee only advisor , they can be the least knowledgeable  of the lot .

most are fee only because they  lack the training ,certification and  knowledge to get involved with other products or they wouldn’t be fee only .

i found most fee only we looked at were well behind the times in comprehensive planning .

the best guy we found was a commissioned guy …we bought our New York State partnership plan for long term care from him .

it turned out to be a fabulous opportunity as all insurers pulled out of the Plan now and you can’t get one anymore


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## IFortuna (Jan 1, 2022)

Here is some sound financial advice. "Stop spending money!"


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## mathjak107 (Jan 1, 2022)

*gee what a novel idea .

however many of us didn’t scrimp ,save and invest over a life time to live like a pauper either *


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## Liza1948 (Jan 2, 2022)

Totally honest advice: Only trust someone that is a CFA charterholder, and demand that you work on an IPS upfront that is tailoer to your specific risk/return requirements, time frame, inital liquidity requirements and income distribution.


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## mathjak107 (Jan 2, 2022)

fmdog44 said:


> It's never what you know about investing rather what you don't know.


In our case it wasn’t so much what we didn’t know about investing , but what we didn’t know about estate , tax planning and all the other things that go with investing …

we could have had a better plan going in to retirement… I could have gotten an aca subsidy from 62 to 65 with better planning ….

we also had a huge tax cliff in our New York estate taxes we didn’t know about when we saw a professional years ago …

if you exceeded our state tax exemption for passing to heirs by 10% you lost the entire million dollar exclusion and the estate was taxed from dollar one ..so they corrected all of that for us with special trusts


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## Meanderer (Jan 2, 2022)

@AtlasShrugged   Welcome to Senior Forums!  When you get a chance, stop and click on the Introductions Section and tell us more about yourself.  Hope you stay around and find other topics that interest you.


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