Anybody use fee-based financial planners?
 

I did a search in this forum, but most of the old threads only contained harsh words for commission-based financial advisers who work for financial institutions.

I know the basics of personal finance, but many of the blogs, books, and people I've spoken to seem to recommend getting a financial planner to help with long-term financial planning. I'm now at the point in my life where this is probably a good idea. Does anyone here use fee-based financial planners (i.e. those with CFP designations)? If so, what have been your experiences generally? If you can make some recommendations, feel free to PM me.

TIA.

for most part, do it urself.

open a low fee investment account, invest in an index fund (worldwide or whatever you want, or do the cdn couch potato), and drip that money in.

simple.

unless you're super complex, but unlikely

^What he said.

Also note that the difficulty of CFP designation is such a joke that even a highschool dropout will be able to pass.

Index funds like TD e-funds eh, fairly low mer's

and a couple of blue chip divs stocks?

if that's what you want. i can't tell you what to do as your life is yours. for me, i want 90% developed market exposure (which itself is exposed to emerging markets), 10% emerging markets (larger cap).

just consider currency effect. you really want to be in the US and be able to play the S&P500, that's all you really need in life (that or the total US market fund through vanguard)

Fee for service is probably your best bet rather than a commission environment.

By the way, don't kid yourself that banks do not work on commission. While the staff may not get a 'direct' commission from placing investments, they usually have a bonus tied to production at year end or something similar.

A lot of people say they want a 'planner' but what they want is just to invest money and make money. If that's the goal, do it yourself and learn.

While I agree a CFP is not a difficult designation compared with a CFA, the CFP with practical experience is going to be more relevant.

That's like saying a Harvard Law Degree is more impressive than someone that has their ticket for plumbing. While the Harvard Grad impresses me, I'm not hiring him to fix my toilet when my shits clog the bowl up.

As a rule of thumb in many cases, any really good planner that's experienced with fee based practices aren't looking at clients under $250,000. Simply put, there is not enough money it for them otherwise.

Thread bump.

Marco.911's insight was sort of what I was looking for. I'm not looking for investment advice per se. I think it would be helpful if someone could provide me with advice on some of the following issues:

- Life insurance needs based on family income
- Savings for children's educations
- What we can really afford in terms of a future home
- Retirement planning
- Tax implications of holding onto a rental property

If anyone has experience with professionals who are able to look at finances in a comprehensive way, I would appreciate your input. Thanks.

^^ it seems to me you are looking to sign up for private banking rather than a FP. Private banking is a one stop shop for all banking services (lending, investing, planning, estate, wills etc). Qualifications are high in terms of net worth and every bank has different standards for their "private clients".

IMO, if you are looking for a more laid back investment style, go with either a good REIT or any good stock with decent dividend and stick with it.

My uncle is relatively clueless when it comes to investing... so he buys two stocks: TSM and CHT (we are Taiwanese, so he invests mainly in Taiwanese companies). He has done so for the last 15 years or so... it gives a decent dividend and the business they are in don't have any problem in the near horizon.

TSM is THE largest pureplay foundry in the world and nothing really comes close. To put it into perspective, its revenue is larger than the no2~no5 combined.

CHT is the largest cellphone/ISP/Telco in Taiwan with a quasi-monopoly ownership in infrastructure.

As long as you can find business like that for investment, there is really no need to hire a financial planner.

In my uncle's case, he now pretty much lives off the dividend alone (he gets about U$150k/year in dividend between the 2). And he just continues to put money (about 70k ) into those 2 companies.

Full disclosure: I recently bought TSM during its dip. But it's for short term holding.

Pretty damn nice to have $5 million worth in stocks!

Just checked those two companies. Pay out of 2.5 ish dividend yield. or TSM is 40 cents / CHT 70 cents. Solid companies to look for to buy on a dip.

Yeah... he basically has his entire networth on those two stocks. He bought a shitload during the 2008 crash (he used to have TSM/CHT and a rental property, during the 2008 crash, he sold the property and put everything into those 2 stocks as he figured given the price/dividend ratio, he would get a better cap rate than his property).

But he never sold any of those stocks even when they reached record highs. Which I feel bad for him sometimes, but that's just his preference as he's mainly after the dividend. He just continues to buy into them with the leftover money that he has after his expenses.

That's smart of him buying during the crash.

Not only he doubled his money probably and getting dividends.

Should maybe let him know to save up some dividends and wait for the next crash to cash in more...