Breaking up with a financial advisor

[bshnew]

Hello,

My goal for 2023 is to part with my financial advisor, who chargers a whopping 1.7%. I know; please don't scold me! The sticky situation is that he's a good family friend, and I worry that this purely business decision will impact the friendship. After self-study, I feel completely capable of managing my finances on my own. Any thoughts or advice on how to proceed?

Thanks,
Brooke

[retired@50]

Hello,

My goal for 2023 is to part with my financial advisor, who chargers a whopping 1.7%. I know; please don't scold me! The sticky situation is that he's a good family friend, and I worry that this purely business decision will impact the friendship. After self-study, I feel completely capable of managing my finances on my own. Any thoughts or advice on how to proceed?

Thanks,
Brooke

Welcome to the forum.

This can be a challenge when you have any sort of personal relationship with the adviser.

General guidelines are to say something like "the decision has been made" which might help avoid the long conversation where the adviser attempts to change your mind. Getting into a discussion about expenses will only put the adviser in "sales-person" mode where they will pull out all the stops. Avoiding the discussion altogether is preferable.

Pick a new location for your accounts and ask the new custodian to invoke the transfer in-kind. This will minimize (or eliminate) the cooperation you need from the existing custodian. Some people actually do this part first, then tell the adviser after the transfer has been started.

If all else fails, pull the "it's not you, it's me" routine and just say you need to use low-expense index funds and avoid the ridiculous fee of 1.7%

Regards,

[nedsaid]

This is why you try to keep family and friends separate from business. Easy to say, harder to do. Problem is that relationships develop, even in arms-length business dealings, and the lines between friendship and business cross. I won't bring business to someone just because they are a family friend. But yes, these things can get sticky.

[Ependytis]

A true friendship wouldn’t be at the expense one of the friends. I was talking to mother-in-law of a wealth manager. She indicated that her wealth manager son-in-law, recommended she not go through a broker. The reason is he knew that they overcharge. Unless your friend is completely naïve, I don’t think they were doing favors by managing your money and charging you as much as they are. I would contact the brokerage your moving your money to, and have them initiate the transfer. You do not owe your so-called friend anything. It would be going above and beyond, to send your friend a note thanking them for their services and indicating that you figured out how to do it yourself.

[Mando19]

To help leave my longstanding broker, I asked him to compare the performance of my selected allocation to the approach he was using. He would not do the calculations, because his approach was not as good as my index fund approach. If his approach was better, I may have stayed. Brokers need to be nice people, to retain clients. Unfortunately for most, the niceness is transactional and goes away after you leave. If the broker is your friend, then his friendship should not be transactional but be permanent.

[SevenBridgesRoad]

I went through this years ago, before becoming a Bogleist. My advisor was also a close relative and had truly been a help. But it was time to go out on my own.

I got right to the point, no big buildup or mincing words. I thanked him for helping me learn and now I was going out on my own. Simple indexing and I was looking forward to managing on my own. Decision final. Let's stay good friends.

He showed that he was my close relative and friend, and not a salesman trying to hold onto my account. He was fine. He was glad to have been of help over the years. And it didn't affect our relationship a bit.

If your guy goes into salesman mode, keep repeating, "That may be true, however my decision is final." I learned this in my years as a manager, when I had the uncomfortable task of terminating employees. Get right to the point and don't argue. "My decision is final."

[Bikes4life]

In the same boat, I need to as well.
Good suggestions.
I was also planning on just keeping it simple by simply saying I have decided I want to do it in my own.
Still an awkward discussion.

[pkcrafter]

Brooke, just tell your advisor/friend that you have studied up on investing and you are going to do it yourself from now on. Thank him for his his help and move on. Don't get into any further discussion. 1.7% is a very high ongoing fee for any advisor, especially one you have connections with.


Paul

[Kookaburra]

Hello,

My goal for 2023 is to part with my financial advisor, who chargers a whopping 1.7%. I know; please don't scold me! The sticky situation is that he's a good family friend, and I worry that this purely business decision will impact the friendship. After self-study, I feel completely capable of managing my finances on my own. Any thoughts or advice on how to proceed?

Thanks,
Brooke

If he is charging you 1.7%, he is not really your friend. Just masquerading as a friend to keep his 1.7% passive gravy train rolling. Do you like knowing your “friend” is knowingly taking advantage of you?

[goodLife]

Hello,

My goal for 2023 is to part with my financial advisor, who chargers a whopping 1.7%. I know; please don't scold me! The sticky situation is that he's a good family friend, and I worry that this purely business decision will impact the friendship. After self-study, I feel completely capable of managing my finances on my own. Any thoughts or advice on how to proceed?

Thanks,
Brooke

1.7% can be reasonable fees depending on what you are expecting this advisor to do. For example, one could ask their advisor for weekly analysis of securities that the client points to, that requires say 3-4 hours of advisor time per week. So, just the 1.7% number is not enough to hate on, without knowing what services are rendered for it.

Having said that, when you inform the advisor of your decision, the onus will be on this "friend" of yours to not make this purely business decision impact the friendship. Don't assume guilt where none is due. Even EJ does not schmooze even non-acquaintances by the amount (1.7%) that this friend of yours is doing you - assuming you have required any unreasonably time consuming work from them.

If the person was not a friend, I would suggest a call/meet to inform of the decision to not use their service anymore. Since this is a friend, I would add something of the sort "This year onwards I want to manage my money on my own". This way, at least they wont think you are moving money to a competitor - and thus is not because of you think their management was not good enough.

[btq96r]

Just tell them you don't have a need for complex services anymore because you're simplifying your finances. If losing your account ends the friendship, it wasn't a friendship. And if the 1.7% from your account is make or break to them, then salud to you, and bad on them for not having enough clients to spread out the revenue.

[Charles Joseph]

I would start the conversation by asking your “friend” how he could have betrayed you by ripping you off all these years. Then tell him arrangements have been made to move the money.

[Ham And Egger]

If it your goal for 2023 then my advice would be to do it sooner rather than later.

I knew I wanted to leave my advisor for about two years before I did it. The mistake I made was not doing it immediately. Now I have moved to Vanguard where I am in index funds and sleep much better at night. I am using PAS services for the time being because the portfolio I transferred over was complex and I didn't feel comfortable unwinding it myself.

[windaar]

We had a long-time lawn service where we knew the guy pretty well but one year I decided I'd enjoy doing my own lawn mowing and fertilizing. He wasn't happy to lose the job but it had to be pretty understandable. I'd think that this is the same kind of thing. "Thanks for your work over the years but I've decided to simplify and run my own investments." If they start quizzing you about what you're going to do (a common financial salesman trick) just say "not now." You could tell them at lunch where you pick up the tab. If they get upset then they are not a real friend.

[renter]

Brooke, just tell your advisor/friend that you have studied up on investing and you are going to do it yourself from now on. Thank him for his his help and move on. Don't get into any further discussion. 1.7% is a very high ongoing fee for any advisor, especially one you have connections with.


Paul

This. And convey no bitterness or animosity. Basically you have been self-educating, enjoy the subjects, and no longer need to hire a pro. Keep the message short and definite.

[Silverado]

Welcome to the forum. No scolding…unless you don’t start the process in the next two weeks or so to stop the bleeding.

Good luck, as others have stated, it needs to be business during business hours.

[ruralavalon]

Welcome to the forum .

Hello,

My goal for 2023 is to part with my financial advisor, who chargers a whopping 1.7%. I know; please don't scold me! The sticky situation is that he's a good family friend, and I worry that this purely business decision will impact the friendship. After self-study, I feel completely capable of managing my finances on my own. Any thoughts or advice on how to proceed?

Thanks,
Brooke

Just tell him that you want to manage your an finances. This can be just a 2 minute phone conversation. You do not owe him any further explanation. Dont argue with him.

I broke up with an advisor at a major full service (high expense) national brokerage firm with just a phone call. We remained friends. After his wife died he remarried, and we attended the wedding and reception.

[Twinsfan10]

My advisor is renting office space from my family and has been for almost 25 years now, with me as the landlord the past 17 years or so.
We also have a bunch of other family members still with them who probably won't leave them as advisors.
Still an awkward discussion.

EDIT Sorry for the confusion. I copied and pasted this from a previous post ( I thought it was the original poster but I could be wrong) that has been deleted. My answer below was to this deleted post.

This complicates things. What is the rental business like in your area? What are the odds that he could leave? If he did how
hard would it be to get a new tenant? You may need to compare the gain of doing your investments yourself compared to the loss of
potential rental income if he left.

[nedsaid]

My advisor is renting office space from my family and has been for almost 25 years now, with me as the landlord the past 17 years or so.
We also have a bunch of other family members still with them who probably won't leave them as advisors.
Still an awkward discussion.

This complicates things. What is the rental business like in your area? What are the odds that he could leave? If he did how
hard would it be to get a new tenant? You may need to compare the gain of doing your investments yourself compared to the loss of
potential rental income if he left.

A lot depends upon how much of your assets are invested with the Advisor. Pretty common that Advisory clients will have assets held away, or held elsewhere than with the Advisor. You could keep a certain amount of assets with him to keep the peace and invest the rest of your funds elsewhere.

My recommendation is not to mix business with family and friendships but this isn't always possible. For one thing, relationships develop in Advisory relationships. Sometimes friends become clients and sometimes clients become friends.

I broke my rule twice, once with a friend in the insurance business and once with a friend in the brokerage business. The broker friend lasted in the business for a year and the friend in the insurance business lasted 7 1/2 years. In both cases, things worked out okay. Sometimes it is a matter of helping someone get started.

[bltn]

My advisor is renting office space from my family and has been for almost 25 years now, with me as the landlord the past 17 years or so.
We also have a bunch of other family members still with them who probably won't leave them as advisors.
Still an awkward discussion.

This complicates things. What is the rental business like in your area? What are the odds that he could leave? If he did how
hard would it be to get a new tenant? You may need to compare the gain of doing your investments yourself compared to the loss of
potential rental income if he left.

A lot depends upon how much of your assets are invested with the Advisor. Pretty common that Advisory clients will have assets held away, or held elsewhere than with the Advisor. You could keep a certain amount of assets with him to keep the peace and invest the rest of your funds elsewhere.

My recommendation is not to mix business with family and friendships but this isn't always possible. For one thing, relationships develop in Advisory relationships. Sometimes friends become clients and sometimes clients become friends.

I broke my rule twice, once with a friend in the insurance business and once with a friend in the brokerage business. The broker friend lasted in the business for a year and the friend in the insurance business lasted 7 1/2 years. In both cases, things worked out okay. Sometimes it is a matter of helping someone get started.

No. Transfer the whole account. 1.7% is a lot to pay for almost any management service.

[nedsaid]

My advisor is renting office space from my family and has been for almost 25 years now, with me as the landlord the past 17 years or so.
We also have a bunch of other family members still with them who probably won't leave them as advisors.
Still an awkward discussion.

This complicates things. What is the rental business like in your area? What are the odds that he could leave? If he did how
hard would it be to get a new tenant? You may need to compare the gain of doing your investments yourself compared to the loss of
potential rental income if he left.

A lot depends upon how much of your assets are invested with the Advisor. Pretty common that Advisory clients will have assets held away, or held elsewhere than with the Advisor. You could keep a certain amount of assets with him to keep the peace and invest the rest of your funds elsewhere.

My recommendation is not to mix business with family and friendships but this isn't always possible. For one thing, relationships develop in Advisory relationships. Sometimes friends become clients and sometimes clients become friends.

I broke my rule twice, once with a friend in the insurance business and once with a friend in the brokerage business. The broker friend lasted in the business for a year and the friend in the insurance business lasted 7 1/2 years. In both cases, things worked out okay. Sometimes it is a matter of helping someone get started.

No. Transfer the whole account. 1.7% is a lot to pay for almost any management service.

The person I was responding to was not the original poster.

I too think all-in costs of 1.7% are too much. In this case, the client is the Advisor's landlord. If the client had a small part of net worth with the Advisor, it might not be worth losing a renter over what might be smaller amounts of money. We also don't know what the Advisory costs are here, though it is likely they are similar. This is an awkward situation, it is best to keep all of your business relationships arms-length and not to get into interlocking business relationships like this. But unfortunately, you can't always avoid this. Also don't know how easily the client could find a new renter.

When giving advice, it is necessary to take a broad view of someone's situation. I don't think default answers are always the best solution.

[ruralavalon]

In my opinion an advisory fee of a "whopping 1.7%" is far too large in any circumstances, friend or no friend.

[kelway]

Hello,

My goal for 2023 is to part with my financial advisor, who chargers a whopping 1.7%. I know; please don't scold me! The sticky situation is that he's a good family friend, and I worry that this purely business decision will impact the friendship. After self-study, I feel completely capable of managing my finances on my own. Any thoughts or advice on how to proceed?

Thanks,
Brooke

I'm sorry, but he's not your friend.

[exigent]

My goal for 2023 is to part with my financial advisor, who chargers a whopping 1.7%. I know; please don't scold me! The sticky situation is that he's a good family friend, and I worry that this purely business decision will impact the friendship. After self-study, I feel completely capable of managing my finances on my own. Any thoughts or advice on how to proceed?

If it negatively impacts the friendship, then he's not much of a friend. I don't have much advice other than to say be polite about it, but it's important to maintain resolve and not get sucked into a debate. Basically: "We appreciate your efforts over the years, but we've decided to get more involved in our finances and manage our portfolio ourselves." If he comes back with why, just say it's a personal decision. Don't offer up reasons, he's undoubtedly trained in countering anything you might bring up.

[Emptykeg]

I was in the same exact situation a few years ago. A “good friend” managing my money. I first initiated a transfer and then had the talk with him. It was worse than breaking up with a girlfriend. He no longer talks to me but at least I no longer spend exorbitant advisory fees. His friendship was not worth 5 figure fees per year.

[bertilak]

Hello,
I feel completely capable of managing my finances on my own. Any thoughts or advice on how to proceed?

That's the key. Go with something like "I think it's time to spread my wings and leave the nest. Thanks for your guidance."

That's about what I did, in words that seemed appropriate to our relatonship.

Having the receiving brokerage initiate the transfer is the way to get the job done with the least fuss.

[PowderDay9]

No scolding necessary. I hope you get this done in the next few weeks! Pick a new brokerage and put in a request to pull in your investments from your advisor. Then inform your friend that you are moving your investments. Keep it short and to the point. Thank them for all their services. Good luck!

[sleepy06]

Submit the paperwork for transfer to your new brokerage. Tell the broker when they call you appreciate their services and guidance and are moving in a different direction.

[cchrissyy]

i understand if you are nervous but this will be ok! this sort of thing happens all the time in that job.

here's the steps

1. you open new accounts at a new place
2. you instruct the new place to transfer the old accounts in. they do the work.

completely optional step here which you will do because of friendship

3. you email like this
"hello! i just wanted to you let you know i set up a transfer of my accounts to CompanyName. thanks for all your help over the years!"
or
"hi buddy, i'm taking my accounts to OtherCompany, i appreciate my time with YourCompany but i am going to do it myself from here on out. thanks!"

the important thing is you do not have to justify yourself. not even a little bit. and it is better for both of you if you don't talk about your reasons.

also, do not take up his time if he offers to answer questions or to help with the process. if you really consider him a friend, allow him to focus on a sales prospect that can pay off, not on providing free services for your exit.
that part is the new company's job. and the less you talk about this, the better.

[bshnew]

Thanks so much for this incredible support. Do I have to move my accounts? I actually like Schwab. I was hoping to leave them where they are.

Brooke

[Parkinglotracer]

One call to Schwab does it all. If you have an advisor who has third party access to your Schwab account (ie you have agreed to allow them to manage your money and DEDUCT management fees), call Schwab and tell them you would like to TERMINATE the third party / advisor authorization / access immediately. Ask for verification from Schwab this was done. Follow the call up in writing to Schwab.

You don’t have to tell your advisor - as soon as they see the money from you stop they will call you. If you would like to. you can drop the advisor a note and say “you have decided to go in another direction.”

You don’t have to move a thing anywhere.

[Sandtrap]

Brooke, just tell your advisor/friend that you have studied up on investing and you are going to do it yourself from now on. Thank him for his his help and move on. Don't get into any further discussion. 1.7% is a very high ongoing fee for any advisor, especially one you have connections with.


Paul

+1
Well said.
Great points.

To OP:
This is how to go about it. Keep emotions and relationships out of it. Polite and courteous, and gracious (but not obligatory or guilty) for past efforts.

Open your new accounts at a new brokerage, Fidelity, Vanguard, etc. And, talk to cust.serv/reps there to help you as needed to make the transfers from their end. Use Vanguard VPAS (no contracts) as needed to get your initial setup, as needed.

Good luck.
j

ps: there's an old song, "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do". . can't remember who by. 60's?

[FriedOkra]

Hello,

My goal for 2023 is to part with my financial advisor, who chargers a whopping 1.7%. I know; please don't scold me! The sticky situation is that he's a good family friend, and I worry that this purely business decision will impact the friendship. After self-study, I feel completely capable of managing my finances on my own. Any thoughts or advice on how to proceed?

Thanks,
Brooke

Just went through this with a Merrill advisor--also a family "friend." The sense of freedom was overpowering once it was complete, but it can be a slog. I did the transfers first, then notified him (they had to sell some things for transfer to complete--see below). I told him I'd made my decision, that the ongoing churn did not match my investment philosophy, so he didn't fight me, but he did make a snarky remark about "Don't give me the 'It's me, not you' speech; have a little respect for me."

A few cautions:

Talk to the new brokerage about what they will and will not transfer over. Many of the brokerage houses will not take proprietary mutual funds or OTC stocks, so you'll need to be prepared for two to three weeks of the old advisor liquidating those things (along with incurring any taxable gains). Make sure you ask for the advising fee to be turned off effective the day of your transfer requests, since that is the last day they'll be "actively advising."

If you have individual mortgage-backed securities holdings that you know you are going to liquidate no matter what, you may want to arrange for their sale at the current place to avoid fees when you get to the new place. By comparison, the fees on individual stocks and on "regular" bonds (not MBS) that you might want to liquidate are small at the big houses like Vanguard and Fidelity. Alternatively, you might decide that the fees are the price of disentangling swiftly; they'll probably be less than another month of AUM fees.

Be prepared to pay the ACAT fee on EACH account you transfer. Some receiving brokerages will reimburse these (you have to ask), but others will not.

If you follow the usual portfolio advice parameters and tell us a bit about your current holdings, we can give you some tips on how to avoid unnecessary cap gains and fees. Do you know where you are likely to move to?

[Mr.BB]

There is a reason why financial planners/advisors do not send out quarterly statements having you pay them out of your own pocket instead of just taking their cut from your portfolio. Imagine writing out a check for 25% of you annual fee of the 1.7% that your friend charges you every year. You would of left years ago.
As most people stated here, if he stops being your friend after you leave his business, he was never a friend to begin with.

[R7000]

One of my good friends is a CFP. Exactly why I didn't hire her as I could never fire her.

Instead I hired household named firm, for one year, then I fired them. No personal connection.

When I fired them it was a process. In regular phone calls I communicated my concern about performance so there would be no surprises.
At the end I called them and delivered the news over the phone (they are distant from my home town). They took it well and appreciated the personal communication.

[HipCoyote]

I cannot imagine a friend charging that fee.

I just fired my advisor at Merrill. Was charging 0.9%. I sometimes had 18 funds in one account which were tax inefficient. So I moved

Before the dear John talk I figured out exactly what funds I wanted to sell and those I wanted to keep due to significant cap gains. I had accounts opened, ready and waiting at Fidelity to receive the funds. I cashed out our Roths and TIRAs. In taxable account I balanced all that out best I could taking into consideration the cap loss carry over from 2022. Input my specific instructions in an email. I sent the email and called the guy directly. When I explained I was handling my own funds he pulled the, “what happens if you die first card!” My response was that a three fund portfolio would be pretty simple to handle for my wife and heirs. I was with the guy for over a decade and paid him a substantial amount of $$ over the years. Not so much as a thank you for the business. So it was a satisfying move.
I should also say that Fido has a bonus right now for moving funds up to 1000 bucks per million.

[HipCoyote]

Thanks so much for this incredible support. Do I have to move my accounts? I actually like Schwab. I was hoping to leave them where they are.

Brooke

I did t see that. Yep. Keep the accounts there. Easy peezy done.

[K72]

Brooke, just tell your advisor/friend that you have studied up on investing and you are going to do it yourself from now on. Thank him for his his help and move on. Don't get into any further discussion.

+100
This is exactly what I did. After much angst I finally made the phone call (after initiating the transfer with the receiving brokerage). No push back at all. After it was done I starting kicking myself for waiting (years) too long.

[aristotelian]

If your family "friend" relationship is contingent on you giving them 1.7% of your portfolio annually, they really aren't a friend that you want to keep.

[goblue100]

Brooke, just tell your advisor/friend that you have studied up on investing and you are going to do it yourself from now on. Thank him for his his help and move on. Don't get into any further discussion. 1.7% is a very high ongoing fee for any advisor, especially one you have connections with.


Paul

Why is the onus on you to maintain the friendship by paying the advisor? If he is truly your friend he should be your friend whether or not you pay him, yes? Simply say I have become educated in these matters and no longer require an advisor.
Show him this from Vanguard:
https://investor.vanguard.com/investor- ... t-of-costs

"Imagine you have $100,000 invested. If the account earned 6% a year for the next 25 years and had no costs or fees, you'd end up with about $430,000.

If, on the other hand, you paid 2% a year in costs, after 25 years you'd only have about $260,000."
"

[hnd]

Just remember that the advisor business is geared similar to a pyramid scheme. you are trained to basically build a book of business out of your friends and family. So in all likelihood thats all your advisor has as clients. and naturally some of them leave. unless they are CLOSE friends, don't inflate the relationship.

I have a few friends that are CFP's. we've had conversations. the one I spend the most time once asked why I don't use an advisor, and I've said, I haven't found one I liked that wasn't someone that would be hard to fire. He was like...hmm interesting thought and its never been brought up again. over years he basically understands that I know enough to be able to handle this on my own to an extent.

1.7% is just too much. We have very close family ties to a mechanic. We use them. that said if they were 2x the cost of another mechanic across the street, i wouldnt use them.

[Glockenspiel]

Dang. A financial advisor charging a 1.7% fee to their customers might only need a handful of high net worth clients to make a decent living.

They could charge 1.7% and literally spend one hour a week managing the portfolios of their 5-10 clients and spend the rest of the time golfing and be living just fine!

[LongMoney]

A family 'friend' shouldnt be charging nearly double the market price for their 'service'. Ask them to price match another advisor you interviewed or cut ties. 1.7% is greedy. Then ask them if they want to grab a beer after



"Seldom give unguarded advice, for advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill."

[Exchme]

Traditionally, a 3.5-4% withdrawal rate is all you can count on in retirement, the advisor taking 1.7% is the only one that's going to have a nice retirement.

Get all your current statements first, some brokers lock you out once they determine you are leaving.

Next, initiate the transfer at the receiving institution. As others have pointed out, be prepared that you will have to sell things like proprietary mutual funds and take the tax hit. It's worth it in the long run to eliminate the parasite.

Then, write a note to the advisor saying you are leaving, going to the receiving institution and they need to work with the receiving institution to get the money transferred. Expect wailing, gnashing of teeth, urgent calls for you to meet, etc. Ignore that, engage in no discussion, just present the decision - I guarantee your advisor has a script to follow to tell you how much you need them, how great their strategy is and how scary it is out their on your own. Advisors are trained in persuasion on how to keep you on board, trained to use their personal connection and the script is professionally done, you must not allow any opportunity for this - no meeting, no discussion.

Expect delays in getting the money transferred. It took two months before our advisor gave up and transferred the money - by sheer wild coincidence (not), that happened at the end of a quarter, so they didn't give back a dime of fees for that quarter.

One time fee only advisors can be a good idea if you need some professional setting things up or creating a retirement plan; but an AUM advisor that charges like this is just exploiting you.

[bshnew]

Hi everyone,

Thanks again for all your input. I have a new question. Do you think I need to have bonds in my Roth IRA? I’m 46, I will likely work until 70, I have an incredibly stable job with a 403b and 457b, and my income is solid. I’ve read it’s reasonable to have an all-stock portfolio in your Roth to let it get fat as a tick.

Thanks,
Brooke

[coffeeblack]

Hi everyone,

Thanks again for all your input. I have a new question. Do you think I need to have bonds in my Roth IRA? I’m 46, I will likely work until 70, I have an incredibly stable job with a 403b and 457b, and my income is solid. I’ve read it’s reasonable to have an all-stock portfolio in your Roth to let it get fat as a tick.

Thanks,
Brooke

My personal view. Since you stated you want to work till 70, it would make sense to keep a 100% portfolio in a Roth IRA since any money growing in there is tax free as it grows and when you withdraw it. So maxing it out over the next 24 years would be a good idea. Roth IRA's don't have a Required Minimal Distribution issue.

Off course, I would fund it even if you didn't work till 70.

[CookieDough]

You might search the Bogleheads wiki for information about tax-efficient placement of investments. There's some good info there about what types of assets to put in what types of accounts.

It's unfortunate that we as clients have been so conditioned to worry about the feelings or friendship of financial advisors. I wonder how much effort they put into worrying about those same friendships; at 1.7%, I can't imagine they're too concerned about it. That's a hefty annual fee. Doesn't seem particularly friendly to me.

[AlwaysLearningMore]

Imagine all of the money you will save in fees and what that will mean for your future self.

Here is an old article from Bill Bernstein that's worth a look: http://www.efficientfrontier.com/ef/996/broker.htm

[ruralavalon]

Hi everyone,

Thanks again for all your input. I have a new question. Do you think I need to have bonds in my Roth IRA? I’m 46, I will likely work until 70, I have an incredibly stable job with a 403b and 457b, and my income is solid. I’ve read it’s reasonable to have an all-stock portfolio in your Roth to let it get fat as a tick.

Thanks,
Brooke

In general it makes sense in a Roth IRA to use only stock funds with their higher expected returns.

This is provided that you have good low cost bond funds available to use in your employer's plans.

[ClemsonBogle]

I was going to offer one suggestion that i didnt see...(by the way i think it is better to just break up / end it as others have said but)

You could basically tell him that you have done the calculations and that you can only stay with him for a managed fee of sub XX%, justification that as your portfolio has scaled his input is more expensive and less required or some such. I would only do this if i felt confident that his management of my accounts continued and was pleased with his previous service. My point is that if he says i cant go that low...etc well he broke up with you right?

Maybe "this only makes sense for both of us if it is in the .5% range. If thats too low i totally understand but i value what you have done for me and didnt want to exit if this was workable.

Anyway....just .02 and again i dont advocate for it but sometimes its easier to put some anchor out there and let them feel like they are rejecting you.