Background
I hired a financial planner to manage my mother's funds (she has Alzheimer's and we needed help with managing her portfolio as she transitions to high cost memory care). The advisor is part of Ameriprise and also a close friend of my husband's family, specialized in HNW strategy. We decided about a year ago to also bring her on for our own financial planning. Both are on a fee-only basis, although we have purchased term life insurance through her as well (which we genuinely needed since my husband doesn't work and is dependent on my income - we also thoroughly shopped around and got a competitive price).
Up to now, she has been supportive of my strategy of keeping the bulk of my retirement funds in low cost targeted retirement date funds, and recommended that we direct current contributions to S&P index funds and a mix of other Vanguard funds (see below), which we agreed made sense.
She's now pitching to move a bulk of our retirement funds to her with fees of 1%, noting that as I'm getting closer to retirement and the stock market is heated, it would make sense to more actively manage, with the bulk of it invested in their moderate dividend & growth portfolio.
Emergency funds: We have liquid assets, but honestly have let this slide over the last few years.
Debt: Home loan just over $1M at 2.875%
Tax Filing Status: Married Filing Jointly
Tax Rate: 24% Federal, 9% State
State of Residence: CA
Age: 53 (spouse 43)
Desired Asset allocation: 90% stocks / 10% bonds
Desired International allocation: 10% of stocks
Approximate size of your total portfolio: $1.5M
Current retirement assets
Taxable
3% Alphabet C (GOOG)
Former Employer, have been selling this down over time
My 401k at T Rowe Price
54% custom fund benchmarked to BlackRock LifePath Index 2050 (LIPIX) (.07)
Former Employer
My Rollover IRA at Citi
18% Vanguard Target Retirement 2040 Fund (VFORX) (0.14)
My Roth IRA at Citi
6% Vanguard Target Retirement 2040 Fund (VFORX) (0.14)
0.7% Vanguard S&P 500 Growth Index (VOOG) (0.1)
My 401k at Vanguard
7% custom fund benchmarked to Vanguard Target Retirement 2050 (VFIFX) (.04)
Former Employer
My 401k at Empower
2.6% Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares (VFIAX)
2.4% Split between various Vanguard index funds (Small Cap, Mid-Cap, Developed Markets, Explorer Fund)
Current Employer, actively contributing to these funds
My Traditional IRA at Fidelity
0.9% American Century Investments One Choice 2035 (ARYIX) (0.86)
Have been meaning to move this for some time
My Spouse's Roth IRA at Ameriprise
0.4% Ameriprise FT 10632 Global Commodities Companies Buy-Write Portfolio Series 6 (FQVPGX) (1.02)
My HSAs
1.6% Vanguard Target Retirement 2040 Fund (VFORX) (0.14)
2% Vanguard LifeStrategy Moderate Growth Fund (VSMGX) (0.13)
2% Vanguard Target Retirement 2050 (VFIFX) (.04)
Currently contributing to the last one only
A lot here could be consolidated, I know!
_______________________________________________________________
Contributions
New annual Contributions
$30,500 my 401k (+employer match $10k)
$8,300 my HSA
401k currently allocated as follows:
VFIAX51%
VTMGX13%
VIMAX10%
VSMAX10%
VEXRX10%
VSIAX5%
HSA allocated to VFIFX
Questions:
CFP recommendation
33% of retirement funds to Ameriprise Moderate Dividend & Growth Portfolio https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/dp/ ... ust=AMDG11
14% to ETFs for cybersecurity and US infrastructure (7% each)
10% to buffered notes linked to S&P 500
Remainder (43%) would stay in Vanguard retirement accounts (and not subject to any fees)
I've been assured that total fees (AUM and underlying fees) would be 1% for the Ameriprise managed funds. My gut has been not to do this, as I've always been very resistant to paying fees and believing that I will get more value out of active management than the fees. I know that's the prevailing sentiment here too, but my husband is very supportive of her plan, and the argument of safeguarding our retirement as we're getting closer to retirement (10-15 years), and stock market performance volatility likely give where it is today, is not lost on me.
Happy for any advice, as I'm stuck between my gut and the advice/support of my husband!
I hired a financial planner to manage my mother's funds (she has Alzheimer's and we needed help with managing her portfolio as she transitions to high cost memory care). The advisor is part of Ameriprise and also a close friend of my husband's family, specialized in HNW strategy. We decided about a year ago to also bring her on for our own financial planning. Both are on a fee-only basis, although we have purchased term life insurance through her as well (which we genuinely needed since my husband doesn't work and is dependent on my income - we also thoroughly shopped around and got a competitive price).
Up to now, she has been supportive of my strategy of keeping the bulk of my retirement funds in low cost targeted retirement date funds, and recommended that we direct current contributions to S&P index funds and a mix of other Vanguard funds (see below), which we agreed made sense.
She's now pitching to move a bulk of our retirement funds to her with fees of 1%, noting that as I'm getting closer to retirement and the stock market is heated, it would make sense to more actively manage, with the bulk of it invested in their moderate dividend & growth portfolio.
Emergency funds: We have liquid assets, but honestly have let this slide over the last few years.
Debt: Home loan just over $1M at 2.875%
Tax Filing Status: Married Filing Jointly
Tax Rate: 24% Federal, 9% State
State of Residence: CA
Age: 53 (spouse 43)
Desired Asset allocation: 90% stocks / 10% bonds
Desired International allocation: 10% of stocks
Approximate size of your total portfolio: $1.5M
Current retirement assets
Taxable
3% Alphabet C (GOOG)
Former Employer, have been selling this down over time
My 401k at T Rowe Price
54% custom fund benchmarked to BlackRock LifePath Index 2050 (LIPIX) (.07)
Former Employer
My Rollover IRA at Citi
18% Vanguard Target Retirement 2040 Fund (VFORX) (0.14)
My Roth IRA at Citi
6% Vanguard Target Retirement 2040 Fund (VFORX) (0.14)
0.7% Vanguard S&P 500 Growth Index (VOOG) (0.1)
My 401k at Vanguard
7% custom fund benchmarked to Vanguard Target Retirement 2050 (VFIFX) (.04)
Former Employer
My 401k at Empower
2.6% Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares (VFIAX)
2.4% Split between various Vanguard index funds (Small Cap, Mid-Cap, Developed Markets, Explorer Fund)
Current Employer, actively contributing to these funds
My Traditional IRA at Fidelity
0.9% American Century Investments One Choice 2035 (ARYIX) (0.86)
Have been meaning to move this for some time
My Spouse's Roth IRA at Ameriprise
0.4% Ameriprise FT 10632 Global Commodities Companies Buy-Write Portfolio Series 6 (FQVPGX) (1.02)
My HSAs
1.6% Vanguard Target Retirement 2040 Fund (VFORX) (0.14)
2% Vanguard LifeStrategy Moderate Growth Fund (VSMGX) (0.13)
2% Vanguard Target Retirement 2050 (VFIFX) (.04)
Currently contributing to the last one only
A lot here could be consolidated, I know!
_______________________________________________________________
Contributions
New annual Contributions
$30,500 my 401k (+employer match $10k)
$8,300 my HSA
401k currently allocated as follows:
VFIAX51%
VTMGX13%
VIMAX10%
VSMAX10%
VEXRX10%
VSIAX5%
HSA allocated to VFIFX
Questions:
CFP recommendation
33% of retirement funds to Ameriprise Moderate Dividend & Growth Portfolio https://www.ftportfolios.com/Retail/dp/ ... ust=AMDG11
14% to ETFs for cybersecurity and US infrastructure (7% each)
10% to buffered notes linked to S&P 500
Remainder (43%) would stay in Vanguard retirement accounts (and not subject to any fees)
I've been assured that total fees (AUM and underlying fees) would be 1% for the Ameriprise managed funds. My gut has been not to do this, as I've always been very resistant to paying fees and believing that I will get more value out of active management than the fees. I know that's the prevailing sentiment here too, but my husband is very supportive of her plan, and the argument of safeguarding our retirement as we're getting closer to retirement (10-15 years), and stock market performance volatility likely give where it is today, is not lost on me.
Happy for any advice, as I'm stuck between my gut and the advice/support of my husband!
Statistics: Posted by dsollax — Thu Aug 22, 2024 11:08 am — Replies 6 — Views 346