I need "high net worth" investing advice please

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fishnskiguy
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by fishnskiguy »

livesoft wrote:
fishnskiguy wrote:The OP comes here, asks a good question, gets lots of good answers AND NOT A SINGLE BAD ONE. In the end, he wants to go with a broker at a major wire house who will surely make him broker.
You misread his post. He did not say he wanted to go with a broker at a major wire house. To make this clear, I would not consider Bernstein to be a major wire house.
You may be correrct. I don't know Bernstien from Adam. The rest are.

Chris
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phenom34
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by phenom34 »

Read the bogleheads book, theres a chapter on "windfalls" which means obtaining a rather large sum of money all of a sudden.
You can slam the book in two or three days if you want and be in a much better position to decide what to do with it.

Great advice has been given so I dont want to add more options to confuse you as my advice would be similar to others.

Take out a lil bit and treat yourself also, you did great work. (up to 10k, i think someone mentioned a vacation), just don't make it a huge habit. You need to use it to generate some capital.

At all costs, don't be the one that blows it all in the next five years.

BTW, is this 6mill pretax or after tax? Either way, you need to worry about tax efficiency otherwise a lot of it is gonna go to govt that can go to you.
Outer Marker
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by Outer Marker »

nosher1 wrote: I think what I am looking for is an investing solution that (1) is truly low-cost (around 0.20%/year total cost range for $6 million invested), (2) is fully managed/automated, (3) has solid performance with historical after-tax performance numbers to prove it and (4) is from an extremely trusted, large company.
Why not turn it over to Vanguard?

Vanguard Asset Management Services fees

First $1 million 0.70%
Next $1 million 0.35%
Subsequent amounts 0.20%

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/whatwe ... management
hq38sq43
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by hq38sq43 »

fishnskiguy wrote:The OP comes here, asks a good question, gets lots of good answers AND NOT A SINGLE BAD ONE. In the end, he wants to go with a broker at a major wire house who will surely make him broker.

We have done our best. I recommend we move on.

Chris
I agree. Unless the OP has a reading disability, he/she seems to wasting everyone's time. It is hard to believe that a person without a disability would refuse to read a book or two to protect an earned $6 million.
Harry at Bradenton
alsato

Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by alsato »

I do not think that I can offer a better set of investment perspective than provided by others. This is the beauty of this forum- people willing to help and share their experiences.. One thought that has helped me. In the past, when provided with many choices, the amount of choices can be overwhelming. And perhaps slow down a decision. My thoughts were an ‘all or nothing approach’ and pick one of the many words of wisdom.. More likely, you can pick a few approaches. Just as diversifying your investment has benefits, applying a few different approaches has benefits. Overall, passive investment is a valuable theme as is suggested by many,.. Another view-Portfolio Solution will provide you with an investment plan as a trial. And with the other advisers, the same is true- a type of try it before you pay option.. As well, I had the good fortune in that one of my advisors I eventually picked was a Garrett affiliate... I picked him as he earned a small amount of wealth and decided to learn investment and became an investment adviser.. Later after a few years of experience, he became an independent fee only Garrett adviser.. I would often ask him the types of investment he would make. I am a bit naive on investing and feel better when the adviser also practices his advice
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blacktupelo
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by blacktupelo »

In reply to nosher about Investor Solutions:
The primary reason I would not consider a firm like that is, above all else, especially in the wake of the Bernie Madoff scandal, is, how safe is my money from being literally stolen? I think if I use a large, extremely established firm like Bernstein, Bessemer Trust, etc., I probably don't have to worry about the firm stealing my money. With a small, privately owned firm, I think anything is possible. While 99+% of the small, privately owned firms are not Ponzi schemes, this fear would probably preclude me from ever hiring a small, privately owned firm to manage my investments. I think the concept of Portfolio Solutions make some sense, but I don't see how I can trust them in that regard.
Disclosure: I am a non-high net worth client of Investor Solutions.
EDIT: noticed after I posted that nosher specifically mentioned "Portfolio" Solutions, not "Investor" Solutions; they are different firms. I am not familiar with the details of Portfolio Solutions.

Besides Investor Solutions accepting fiduciary responsibility for your account, they do not hold custody or trade your funds directly. Your funds are held by Schwab or another custodian of your choice and you see what you own and get reports from the custodian on all trades at all times. Investor Solutions has limited powers over your account.

You can see their fee schedule (0.4% for your case, not including individual funds' expense % which varies) and asset liability management information here. Investor Solutions uses DFA, Schwab, Vanguard funds in portfolios.

Good to be cautious and investigate before using any firm as an advisor, and to educate yourself even when employing financial advice.

Larry
Last edited by blacktupelo on Sun Feb 26, 2012 9:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Cosmo
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by Cosmo »

fishnskiguy wrote:The smaller firms like Portfolio Solutions will put in writing that they have a fiduciary responsibility with you. The larger firms (Merrill Lunch, Prudential, Smith Barney, etc) will NEVER sign such a statement, because they can't. They are sales people posing as "advisors". Their sole job is to make as much money as possible for themselves and their firms.

Chris
Sorry this just smells fishy to me IMO. Regardless of the OPs intentions, I think there is some great, well-thought out advise here...

Cosmo
tibbitts
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by tibbitts »

Cosmo wrote:
fishnskiguy wrote:The smaller firms like Portfolio Solutions will put in writing that they have a fiduciary responsibility with you. The larger firms (Merrill Lunch, Prudential, Smith Barney, etc) will NEVER sign such a statement, because they can't. They are sales people posing as "advisors". Their sole job is to make as much money as possible for themselves and their firms.

Chris
Sorry this just smells fishy to me IMO. Regardless of the OPs intentions, I think there is some great, well-thought out advise here...

Cosmo
What are you saying smells fishy? Chris' reply or the OP?

Paul
tibbitts
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by tibbitts »

Outer Marker wrote:
nosher1 wrote: I think what I am looking for is an investing solution that (1) is truly low-cost (around 0.20%/year total cost range for $6 million invested), (2) is fully managed/automated, (3) has solid performance with historical after-tax performance numbers to prove it and (4) is from an extremely trusted, large company.
Why not turn it over to Vanguard?

Vanguard Asset Management Services fees

First $1 million 0.70%
Next $1 million 0.35%
Subsequent amounts 0.20%

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/whatwe ... management
The OP requires .20% including both account management and underlying fund/investment expenses, so VG is too expensive. I won't bother do the math but VG would charge asset management fees somewhere in the .30% range on $6 million, plus they'd push funds with probably .10-.20% expenses on top of that, so that's double what the OP requires.

Good luck to the OP finding what he's looking for.

Paul
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by Outer Marker »

I think some of the recent comments are unduly harsh. Not everyone is going to have the interest, aptitude or confidence to develop and maintain a plan. Suddenly coming into a large sum representing your entire human capital to date could be more than a bit daunting.

If the OP goes with Vanguard Wealth management, vs. a high cost brokerage that is also going to push inferior high cost managed funds, he had benefitted greatly from the forum. Perhaps I misunderstood the OP's cost requirements, but at the end of the day, I don't think you can get any cheaper than this with fully managed service at a big firm. A big traditional brokerage is going to charge 1% portfoilo management fees, plus very likely more costly funds with underlying expenses greater than 1%.

I do agree that an afternoon spent reading Bernstein's "Investor's Manifesto" would be time well spent for someone in this situation.
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Cosmo
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by Cosmo »

tibbitts wrote:
Cosmo wrote:
fishnskiguy wrote:The smaller firms like Portfolio Solutions will put in writing that they have a fiduciary responsibility with you. The larger firms (Merrill Lunch, Prudential, Smith Barney, etc) will NEVER sign such a statement, because they can't. They are sales people posing as "advisors". Their sole job is to make as much money as possible for themselves and their firms.

Chris
Sorry this just smells fishy to me IMO. Regardless of the OPs intentions, I think there is some great, well-thought out advise here...

Cosmo
What are you saying smells fishy? Chris' reply or the OP?

Paul
The OP
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6miths
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by 6miths »

tuckeverlasting wrote:
TimDex wrote:This was in contrast to a story I read years ago on how google educated its employees on index investing before going public. (The article was entitled "The best investment advice you'll never get" but the link I had to it has expired with linkrot and I can't find it on the web -- it was in a san francisco magazine). The gist was that financial advisers with the big brokerage firms do not have your interests at heart -- they have their own bottom line and your account is the way to it. tim
Here is the article: http://www.tradersnarrative.com/the-bes ... -1550.html

From the article:
“Saint Jack” [Bogle] is the living scourge of Wall Street.
Thanks for the post to the original article. I had only heard of the story regarding the education of the Google employees third hand up to this point. I thought the original comments were interesting and reflect the feeling among the financial industry that Index investing is very threatening to Wall Street, its egos and its source of money.
'It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so!' Mark Twain
milestogo
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by milestogo »

It would be interesting if the OP responded to the posts. He has been given some good advice! :)
rr2
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by rr2 »

nosher1 wrote: I think what I am looking for is an investing solution that (1) is truly low-cost (around 0.20%/year total cost range for $6 million invested), (2) is fully managed/automated, (3) has solid performance with historical after-tax performance numbers to prove it and (4) is from an extremely trusted, large company.

Does this exist? If it does not exist, is this not a huge void in the marketplace that would attract billions and billions of dollars from high net worth investors?
Good luck. It would be great if you let us know which firm/adviser you do end up going with. Other than a DIY with low cost index funds, I'd be surprised how you could end up lower using a full service adviser that you require.
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Jerilynn
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by Jerilynn »

Here's another option. I've read Less Antman's snippets over the last decade. I am very impressed with his stuff. His fees are about 1/2 of what you have been quoted. He is a personal friend and contributor to Andrew Tobias' website. And Tobias recommends him. Of all the financial talking heads out there, I find Tobias the best overall.

http://www.simplyrich.com/whatwedo.aspx ... 20Services

"Our fee for the initial comprehensive financial planning engagement is a flat fee of $3,000. Our fee for ongoing asset management and comprehensive advice is 0.125% of assets under management per quarter (0.5% annually). The minimum quarterly fee is $1,000."
Cordially, Jeri . . . 100% all natural asset allocation. (no supernatural methods used)
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Jerilynn
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by Jerilynn »

In any event, I would suggest checking out your potential broker-type person at FINRA to see if there are any red flags.

http://www.finra.org/Investors/ToolsCal ... okerCheck/
Cordially, Jeri . . . 100% all natural asset allocation. (no supernatural methods used)
hq38sq43
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by hq38sq43 »

Jerilynn wrote:Here's another option. I've read Less Antman's snippets over the last decade. I am very impressed with his stuff. His fees are about 1/2 of what you have been quoted. He is a personal friend and contributor to Andrew Tobias' website. And Tobias recommends him. Of all the financial talking heads out there, I find Tobias the best overall.

http://www.simplyrich.com/whatwedo.aspx ... 20Services

"Our fee for the initial comprehensive financial planning engagement is a flat fee of $3,000. Our fee for ongoing asset management and comprehensive advice is 0.125% of assets under management per quarter (0.5% annually). The minimum quarterly fee is $1,000."
Certainly one of the best. Others are Jane Bryant Quinn, Burt Malkiel, Warren Buffett, Scott Burns and, of course, Jack Bogle.
Harry at Bradenton
lazyday
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by lazyday »

nosher1 wrote:Picking a firm is not much different than picking a book to follow, I suppose,
Picking a firm is harder than picking a book. Do you trust your gut, your friends, people here?
nosher1 wrote:, I suppose, but at least I can just make the decision, and not have to think about investing on a day-to-day basis.
You do not have to manage or think about investments daily. It can be as infrequent as once every other year, to "rebalance", or less.
Some time up front to make initial decisions.

Investing can be simple. The most important choice is probably the % split between stocks and Fixed Income+cash. Benjamin Graham, one of the best regarded investment advice writers and practicioners, wrote in The Intelligent Investor that stocks and FI should be between 25% and 75% each, with a default position of 50%, depending on the person and perhaps other factors. (This was using more aggressive Fixed Income than many Bogleheads prefer today. With safe FI, the default might be higher.)

You could put 50% of the money into Vanguard's Total World Stock Index. The expense ratio is a bit high, but after it grows to 5 Million, you can own the institutional shares! Every other year, on the anniversary date or whatever date you choose, you would buy or sell enough to bring it back to 50%.

The other 50% is a bit more of a challange. You might split it by %, according to a book or advice, and rebalance at the same time as above. (Such as 15% TIPS, 15% Tbills, 10%...) You could give it to an advisor, and insist it all be FI+cash, no equity. Instead of set % and rebalancing, you could be opportunistic with it, chasing the best safe yields, whereever they happen to be, such as FDIC/NCUA CDs or accounts 1/4 Million each or more if married, AAA Muni bonds, Treasury bills, Treasury Notes/Bonds, TIPS, AAA short term corporate, etc. In the "opportunistic" case, you would need to look for the best place to put money whenever a CD or bond comes due. Otherwise, every year or two, you could evaluate rates, in case anything should be sold.

If none of the 6M is tax advantaged, it might make sense to use a large % of muni bonds which could simplify the FI half.
carly1452
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by carly1452 »

I was in your position several years ago and rushed into a relationship with Goldman Sachs. Huge mistake. First, they were too costly. I spent >$30,000 a year in fees. Second, they put me in GS proprietary funds which meant that when I left GS everything had to be liquidated. Part of this was my fault because I DIDN"T KNOW. Now I know better than to use hi fee, commissioned, non-fiduciary investment advisors who use actively managed funds. I've taken the time to read, starting with John Bogles' book, the Bogleheads investing book, books by Larry Swedroe, Bernstein, Ferri, etc. I am now confident of the investment approach I want to take. Take your time to do the same. Read about active vs passive management. Even if you decide to turn your money over to a manager, having the knowledge to ask questions about the advisor's investment philosophy is so important. You'll also be able to question his recommendations. This knowledge base will make you feel a lot less stressed.

seattlecarlie
Mortgasm
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by Mortgasm »

nosher1 wrote:
I think what I am looking for is an investing solution that (1) is truly low-cost (around 0.20%/year total cost range for $6 million invested), (2) is fully managed/automated, (3) has solid performance with historical after-tax performance numbers to prove it and (4) is from an extremely trusted, large company.

Does this exist? If it does not exist, is this not a huge void in the marketplace that would attract billions and billions of dollars from high net worth investors?

Thanks!
Norman

Absolutely. Call Vanguard. For the kind of money you have, they will work with you to create exactly what you describe. You'll be 80% in Muni bonds and 20% total US stock market. They will show you the after tax data. They will charge you about .15 or .20. Once a year you'll call them and they will rebalance it.
TimDex
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by TimDex »

LifeStrategy Conservative Growth Fund.

40-60 stock bond ratio, automatically rebalances daily between Total Stock, Total International, Total Bond.

Expense ratio is .16%.

Quit agonizing, keep a large emergency stash local, put the rest in a simple fund, get on with your life.

tim
"All man's miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone. " -- Pascal
lazyday
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by lazyday »

I think what I am looking for is an investing solution that (1) is truly low-cost (around 0.20%/year total cost range for $6 million invested), (2) is fully managed/automated, (3) has solid performance with historical after-tax performance numbers to prove it and (4) is from an extremely trusted, large company.
For $100 a year, the turbotax of financial advisers can do asset allocation for you. If you don't need other services like spending advice.
http://www.marketriders.com/faq
http://www.marketriders.com/methodology

On (2)--trading isn't automated, but you do get an alert and instructions what to do. A few times a year.
MarketRiders provides automated rebalancing alerts, showing you exactly what to buy and sell to realign with your target asset allocation percentages. You can also add or subtract money from your portfolio at any time and we'll show you the specific trades to make.
(4) not as important since you can lock your accounts to only your access, and use generally well regarded vehicles from Vanguard and to a lesser extent ishares. (I prefer SSGA for second choice where Vanguard doesn't offer a fund, but ishares is probably fine. Not sure if system allows you to tweak to use just VG funds, to better meet your "extremely trusted, large company" desire.)

EDIT last bit (4) clarification, thanks Mort
Last edited by lazyday on Tue Feb 28, 2012 5:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
Mortgasm
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by Mortgasm »

nosher1 wrote: above all else, especially in the wake of the Bernie Madoff scandal, is, how safe is my money from being literally stolen?

I've seen this a few times around the boards lately and it's worth clarifying.

Madoff was a hedge fund, not an investment manager.

Investment managers have the right to do trades on your account (usually) with a Limited Power of Attorney, but do not have the right to take money out. It remains your money. And you are protected by their Erors and Omissions insurance if they make a big mistake and fail to follow the investment plan.

With a hedge fund, you actually give your money over to someone.
gerntz
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by gerntz »

nosher1 wrote:Thank you so much for all of the feedback (I started this thread)! I am more interested in hiring a firm than reading books and doing it myself. Just the thought of getting investment advice from books makes me dizzy and nervous (did I mention that thinking about investing my money makes me both dizzy and nervous) because if I read 10 good books, while they are likely going to give similar, good advice, they are all going to give me 10 different sets of advice. So, which book do I ultimately follow? Do I use a dart board to pick the book I follow for my investments? Do I go with my "gut"? I don't trust my gut when it comes to investing, so why would I trust my gut when choosing an investing book to follow? What I really want to do, for my peace of mind, is pick a management firm, tell them my risk tolerance (which is "moderate"), and let them do the rest. Picking a firm is not much different than picking a book to follow, I suppose, but at least I can just make the decision, and not have to think about investing on a day-to-day basis.

A few people recommended Portfolio Solutions, but I do not think I would choose them. First, their fee is not as low as it originally appears. It is 0.25% PLUS expenses. Their website says the funds typically cost around 0.15%, so that brings the cost up to 0.40%, plus a few hundred dollars per year in trading fees. The big, full service firms all charge around 1%, but that includes all costs. So, Portfolio Solutions is cheaper, but not 75% cheaper. The primary reason I would not consider a firm like that is, above all else, especially in the wake of the Bernie Madoff scandal, is, how safe is my money from being literally stolen? I think if I use a large, extremely established firm like Bernstein, Bessemer Trust, etc., I probably don't have to worry about the firm stealing my money. With a small, privately owned firm, I think anything is possible. While 99+% of the small, privately owned firms are not Ponzi schemes, this fear would probably preclude me from ever hiring a small, privately owned firm to manage my investments. I think the concept of Portfolio Solutions make some sense, but I don't see how I can trust them in that regard. Plus, when using a mix of index funds, the most important things are selecting the right asset classes (large cap, small cap, foreign, emerging markets, bonds, etc.) to invest in, choosing the exact asset allocation amongst the funds, and re-balancing at the right time. Who is making those decisions? Rick Ferri, by himself? What if he uses bad judgement? Are there checks and balances at his firm? Does he publish his historical performance figures (before and after taxes)? Vanguard and Fidelity also offer full service, fully managed index fund investing in the 0.40% fee range. That's cheaper than 1%, but is it that much cheaper? Maybe, sort of.

I think what I am looking for is an investing solution that (1) is truly low-cost (around 0.20%/year total cost range for $6 million invested), (2) is fully managed/automated, (3) has solid performance with historical after-tax performance numbers to prove it and (4) is from an extremely trusted, large company.

Does this exist? If it does not exist, is this not a huge void in the marketplace that would attract billions and billions of dollars from high net worth investors?

Thanks!
Norman
"Plus, when using a mix of index funds, the most important things are selecting the right asset classes (large cap, small cap, foreign, emerging markets, bonds, etc.) to invest in, choosing the exact asset allocation amongst the funds, and re-balancing at the right time."

There is no EXACTLY right portfolio - asset classes, allocation to each, re-balance timing (Unless you know the future.). There are many very good ones for each investing situation that will produce similar results due to each's diversity. So that if one advisor tells you one thing & another something else, doesn't mean one isn't close to right. Plus, you say you don't want to study investing to DIY but yet seem to know the most important things - at least to you. I'm confused by that.
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nosher1
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by nosher1 »

Thank you very much for all the feedback and great advice. First, just to correct some other posts made, the large, full service management firms such as Bernstein, BNY Mellon, etc. charge around 1%/year, all-inclusive. The firms I am referring to use their own mutual funds or have you own the actual bonds/equities. The 1%/year fee includes all fund and management expenses. It includes everything. There are no "load" fees or anything like that with these firms. These firms are totally different than hiring a broker at Smith Barney or Merrill Lynch, for example. I used to have a broker with Merrill Lynch and that was an insane proposition. He picked some mutual funds for me and charged me 1%/year on top of the high mutual fund fees of over 1%, so my overall costs were over 2%/year, which is just an incredible rip-off. The whole stock broker concept really is a scam.

The reason why I don't want to manage my own money and make my own investment decisions is that I did that when I was younger, and I lost a lot of money. Since then, I have feared and "hated"' investing and I want to separate myself from it for my own peace of mind. I have been traumatized, you can say. The Vanguard Target Retirement funds look kind of similar to what I have been looking for (very low cost, hands-off approach). I forgot to mention that my wife is a business executive and makes around $300,000/year, so we are still in the top income tax bracket. So, any bonds I own will generally need to be municipal bonds. It looks like the Vanguard Target Retirement funds only invest in taxable bonds, which are typically not good for high net worth/high income individuals. Is there anything out there like Vanguard Target Retirement funds but with muni bonds instead of taxable bonds?

Thanks!
Norman
Default User BR
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by Default User BR »

Sounds like you tried stock or fund picking in the past. That's why we suggest you go through the reading, then you will see what the whole approach is here. It's setting up an allocation and staying with it.

Using a manager of some sort is not going to keep you from losing money. Even if you use one, read the books first so you know how to interview a manager. I really can't see the reluctance to spend some hours to protect this amount of money.


Brian
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dmcmahon
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by dmcmahon »

You sound like someone who would benefit from having an adviser to manage your wealth. But read carly's post re. getting "trapped" in Goldman Sachs proprietary and expensive products. Plus, at your level of assets, 1% seems excessive. Here's a thought: why not send a PM to one of the advisers who post here, such as Rick Ferri or Larry Swedroe?
gerntz
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by gerntz »

dmcmahon wrote:You sound like someone who would benefit from having an adviser to manage your wealth. But read carly's post re. getting "trapped" in Goldman Sachs proprietary and expensive products. Plus, at your level of assets, 1% seems excessive. Here's a thought: why not send a PM to one of the advisers who post here, such as Rick Ferri or Larry Swedroe?
Agree.

OR, some of these folks though dated:

http://www.retireearlyhomepage.com/dfaadv.html
Ducky911
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by Ducky911 »

lots to pick from in his thread...but...but

I think the most important thing is when not where.

I have no idea as to when but I would say that I would not dump it all in today...that for sure.


I have notice as to where you might consider that Vanguard has retirement funds that are already balanced like 2020 and 2025. You do not have to pick the year that you need the money only know that the higher years are more risky. Very low fees and they do the balancing. Fees are like .18 %. But this timing thing man thats a hard one ...maybe 500k a month???? for a year
brybogle
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by brybogle »

First, if you are seriously considering a wealth management company, ask them what your asset allocation would look like. Then consider what it would take for you to replicate it.

I would recommend a base investment into a Vanguard Target Retirement fund appropriate for you. Let's say, 80% of the total. It has low fees (the expense ratio includes the expenses for the underlying funds), rebalances automatically, broad total market exposure. Your fancy wealth manager is basically going to do exactly this with the bulk of your money, so just do it yourself and stop worrying.

For the remaining 20%, this is basically your play money. Your wealth manager would probably buy a mix of things like REITs, gold, oil, commodities, and other alternatives which are less correlated with the stock market. Note that this actually lowers your total return, but it makes them sound smart. And when the stock market tanks, they say yes but look how well you did on gold or oil or whatever it is, and make you feel smart too. You can do this yourself via ETFs, or just buy something safe like bonds or just hold it in laddered CDs for now. If you want to tilt into muni bonds, so be it, put it into a muni bond fund.

Keep in mind, a muni bond fund (e.g. VWIUX) currently pays a dividend of about 2%. If you use a wealth manager, the first 1% of that is essentially their fee. So, you saved your tax rate of 39% in order to put 50% in a wealth manager's pocket. Great idea.
PVW
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by PVW »

In 2012, my advice would have been to use all your money to bet that the Chicago Cubs would win the world series in 2016.
MittensMoney
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by MittensMoney »

If you're looking for someone to handle it for you, two best options: Vanguard Personal Advisor, and Personal Capital. Both will get you a dedicated FA, I'm not positive if VPAS qualifies as a fiduciary but as close as a broker can come to it, and PCAP is a fiduciary. They will invest for you and guide you every step of the way, you'll have a specific person you're assigned to so you can actually talk through the fundamentals. Last but not least, cheaper and no longer need to worry about things given you have a trusted professional taking care of it.
brybogle
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by brybogle »

Sorry for reviving a dead thread ;-P but I'd also be interested in what the OP actually did, if he's still around.
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David Jay
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by David Jay »

brybogle wrote:Sorry for reviving a dead thread ;-P but I'd also be interested in what the OP actually did, if he's still around.
If you look under the OP's name, you will see the number (3). That is his total number of posts. If you click on the "3", you will see that all 3 posts are on this thread and all are from 2012. No posts since. That means that there is a pretty low likelihood that the OP is checking in at BH on any regular basis.
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by pkcrafter »

David Jay wrote:
That means that there is a pretty low likelihood that the OP is checking in at BH on any regular basis.
WHAT?? You're kidding of course. :happy

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When times are good, investors tend to forget about risk and focus on opportunity. When times are bad, investors tend to forget about opportunity and focus on risk.
Quark
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Re: I need "high net worth" investing advice please

Post by Quark »

David Jay wrote:
brybogle wrote:Sorry for reviving a dead thread ;-P but I'd also be interested in what the OP actually did, if he's still around.
If you look under the OP's name, you will see the number (3). That is his total number of posts. If you click on the "3", you will see that all 3 posts are on this thread and all are from 2012. No posts since. That means that there is a pretty low likelihood that the OP is checking in at BH on any regular basis.
You'll also see: Last active:Wed Feb 29, 2012 10:01 pm, which means an even lower likelihood.
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