Financial Planner

[Legacy777]

Just curious if anyone has talked with a financial planner, and/or has any recommendations.

I got one of those free lunch things by an Ameriprise/American Express financial planners. He gave his piece and left, but continues to call. I haven't totally written him off, because I know it's something I need to do....but just haven't researched what's out there.

[subawhatsubawho]

My finacial planner is under my pillow. When the funds get low I just ....ughhhh nevermind.

My mom was an investment banker for many years, I know people that work at A.G Edwards. They all say one thing...."Ask a lot of questions. If you don't like the answer then get it from someone else."

[Subtle]

Generally, stocks, bonds, and commodities completed a severe bear market in October, 2002, and have been going up since.

Quite likely these are close to setting a cyclical peak now, or within a month.

Make sure you find some one with enough experience to recognize the exceptional risks out there.

[MrSarcastic13]

I actually did finance advising for about six months at the end of last year for a company called First Investors. Great company buy hard to get a foot in the door with them because the newbies don't earn any base salary at first. Let me know what I can help you with. I dealt entirely with mutual funds and life insurance.

Damien

[sammydafish]

whatever you do, do something. a few bucks a week in an IRA will become a BIG payoff in a few decades.... unless you're looking to retire in the next 15-20 years or have enough money where you can benefit from making it work for you (most areas of the country, this number is nearly 200k/year for a family), I wouldn't worry about getting caught up in the mumbo jumbo sales pitch of one of these fools. I have a few friends that are financial planners. All of them speak more bullshit than a used car salesman. Just see what your current bank offers as far as investment tools and put some cash away for the long term. If you can afford to do more than that, .. well, God bless you and I’m jealous.

[free5ty1e]

Just put whatever you can into a savings account each paycheck. Do your best to not ever touch that account except to add to it. Get it at the same bank so you can do the transfers from home, online. Don't pay someone money to tell you how to save and manage your money

The first thing a financial planner should say when consulted is, "stop spending money on financial planners."

[MrSarcastic13]

Hell if you aren't gonna pay someone to do it, they do it yourself through a bunch of places. Savings account interest rates barely top the national inflation rate. You can average anywhere from 8%-12% annually from many mutual funds. You don't have to pay others to handle it, but why screw yourself in the long run with a simple savings account.

[professor]

Never go to a financial planner who sells securities - that is a basic conflict of interest, since they have incentive to steer you toward high-fee securities, thus lining their own pockets with your money.

if you don't have any plan at work, probably the best thing to do is open a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA and put in as much as you can each year. The IRA can be comprised of whatever blend of stock, funds, bonds you wish.

generally if you are in a low tax bracket the Roth is better (you put in after-tax money, but don't pay tax when you take it out), and if you are in a high tax bracket, the traditional is better (its pre-tax money now but you have to pay taxes later when you take it out)

[Legacy777]

I talked with my uncle a little yesterday. He runs his own business and has some good experience with investing.

He brought up a good point, unless you have a reasonable amount of liquid cash, on top of the amount you should have on hand in case you get laid off, etc.....there's really no point.

I've got 401k through work, and have a roth IRA, as well as ING savings account. I'll probably look at things a little more closely after my PE exam. I may put a grand or two in a 12-13 month CD, so it's still relatively accessable, but probably earning better interest then the ING account.

Damien,

I may bug ya a little later this year after my PE exam in April.

Thanks guys.

[free5ty1e]

See, I understand there's lots of ways to make higher returns with the money I intend to save than a savings account...

But the best part about the savings account is, when the rainy day comes, you can get right at it. You know it'll be there. IRAs are only for long-term saving, right? True, you can borrow against them. But I'd rather use my own money than borrow... just gets too nonsensical and involved. Savings accounts also are always guaranteed to increase in value. Aren't mutual funds still a form of investing, which carries some inherent risk of losing money? F that.

All these other account types benefit the bank far more than the individual.

[MrSarcastic13]

All mutual funds account are by law to be released to the owner, minus the fees within five days of written requests. Not as easy as a savings account, but nowhere near as difficult to get to as money tied up in real estate.

[free5ty1e]

Real estate's also a great place to put money; land is a good asset, as they aren't making any more of it. Just don't buy here in Orlando right now. Complete bullshit in this market; overinflated like a mofuggah.

But of course, its not wise to put ALL your money in real estate. You'd still want some accessable in savings. It's cool to put all of your money in a savings account though.

I knows not everyone will be agreein', but that's the way me logic works, meng.

[Legacy777]

Chris,

You just can't get any real returns in a savings account, unless you can get a money market account where the interest rate is decent. Usually you have to have at least 5-10 grand to open one of those accounts.

For those of us without that much free cash, ING is probably your best bet.

The key to any future financial planning is diversification. Having all your money for retirement in mutual funds isn't good, having all your money in a savings account for retirement isn't good either.....nor is it good sticking under your matress.

Once you've defined what you're saving for, house, car, retirement, etc......that should help define where you should stick your money.

If you are younger, and have extra money on top of "liquid" money you can access if something happens, you can invest in mutual funds with a higher risk. Over one year they may go up and down, but over a 10 or 20 year period, they're going to go up.

Or if you don't want something as risky, bonds are guaranteed....but don't yield as high of returns.

[MrSarcastic13]

Josh,

Weren't you the one asking for help before? Just read your post and one thought came to mind: word.

[free5ty1e]

Sorry, I just don't trust banks and other account types. I'm not storing my money in a savings account because of the interest, that's insignificant. I'm storing my money in a savings account because I can easily get at it when its needed, because everything I put in there stays in there until I take it out (unless you get a bank that charges minimum balance fees and such), and its way simpler. I'm not looking for more complications.

It's just a matter of willpower, being able to save the excess funds after the bills are paid each month. The money builds at the rate I'm able to save it, and so I'm directly rewarded for my efforts. I do not like being at the bank's mercy, or under the thumb of their rules.

I also don't like spending the time looking through all the account types, or investment types. Any time spent with a banker is a waste of time in my book. I've got better things to be doing. Like making the money I want to save. I'm not going to depend on the banks to grow my wealth...

And just to be clear, if this world were one safe enough where I could actually just keep all my savings under my mattress or something, I would. I hate banks.

[Legacy777]

Josh,

Weren't you the one asking for help before? Just read your post and one thought came to mind: word.

I've talked to some people that gave me some good advice

[Legacy777]

Sorry, I just don't trust banks and other account types. I'm not storing my money in a savings account because of the interest, that's insignificant. I'm storing my money in a savings account because I can easily get at it when its needed, because everything I put in there stays in there until I take it out (unless you get a bank that charges minimum balance fees and such), and its way simpler. I'm not looking for more complications.

It's just a matter of willpower, being able to save the excess funds after the bills are paid each month. The money builds at the rate I'm able to save it, and so I'm directly rewarded for my efforts. I do not like being at the bank's mercy, or under the thumb of their rules.

I also don't like spending the time looking through all the account types, or investment types. Any time spent with a banker is a waste of time in my book. I've got better things to be doing. Like making the money I want to save. I'm not going to depend on the banks to grow my wealth...

And just to be clear, if this world were one safe enough where I could actually just keep all my savings under my mattress or something, I would. I hate banks.

Chris,

Tell us how you really feel about banks

[free5ty1e]

<--- paranoid mofuggah

[sammydafish]

The money builds at the rate I'm able to save it, and so I'm directly rewarded for my efforts. I do not like being at the bank's mercy, or under the thumb of their rules.

I also don't like spending the time looking through all the account types, or investment types. Any time spent with a banker is a waste of time in my book. I've got better things to be doing. Like making the money I want to save. I'm not going to depend on the banks to grow my wealth...

And just to be clear, if this world were one safe enough where I could actually just keep all my savings under my mattress or something, I would. I hate banks.

that's the whole concept of investment and financial markets right there. An invenstment or any kind is a risk. The question is, how much risk are you willing to take. As is the natural law with such things, the greater the risk, the greater the potential return. Some people, like Chris here, are simply not comfortable with financial risk. Those people will only be able to achieve the financial sucess that thier labor can earn them. Now this is a very humble and possibly satisfyling way to live and even a fruitful way if you earn enough for a comfortable living. There though are many of us that, well basicaly, want more. We're greedy (to an extent) and are willing to take the risk in the hope of future payoffs. I'm willing to take that risk. The amount of risk I expose myself to is dirrectly related to the amount of effort I put into choosing my investments. Right now, I'm putting my cash into real estate. I belive the payoff is great and with well calculated and placed investments it can really pay off. Granted, there is considerably more effort that needs to go into such an investment, both mentaly and physicaly, but I'm young (26) and willing to do the work. Plus, if something happens to go wrong, I've got plenty of time to deal with it.

In the end, it really is an individual decision. We all work hard for our money and don't want to loose it.

[free5ty1e]

Word. I've got my reasons. I'd even go so far as to say mine is a pretty unique situation, as I can work from anywhere at my current pay level. I don't need to be near or in a city in order to support my working ability. So the basic plan is to live on land that I own outright, develop on it as finances permit, and just save up.
Then I can pursue one of any number of product development routes, which is the kind of risk I'm more accustomed to and am willing to take, without any loans or any outside financing.