Financial planners

rasbury

I tried to find the thread on stocks and such and probably gave up to quickly...

Several of you on that thread do your own stock buys and manage your portfolio- I'm not betting my financial future on what I know about the stock market.

My investment/ira accounts are with Morgan Stanley- which I had mentioned before to a couple of groans...the gentleman that has handled the account for the last 40 years is moving to another company, Raymond and James.  The guick Google search shows them in the top 5- but they are a private company and mogan is a public company correct? Are there  guard rail differences in their governance I should be concerned with? Opinions either way are appreciated and taken as that and not financial advice.

YYZRC

@Willhound

Willhound

Congratulations @rasbury you're heading in the right direction by realizing you are better off with professional help. Choosing a financial "advisor" is an important decision and many factors need to be considered. "How much advice do I need?" Are there other services you need including tax or succession planning? Here is a link to an article that has some good points I think. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/how-to-choose-a-financial-advisor/
The rules in the U.S. are different than the Canadian rules that I operated under in my time with Edward Jones. Be careful in that there really isn't a law against just about anyone calling themselves an "adviser". I am partial to Edward Jones of course, when I left the company I arranged for my portfolio to be managed by someone with the company that I knew and trusted and I don't regret it. My personal rate of return over the last 20 years has been 8.79%. Not a huge number but respectable considering the huge downturn in 2008/2009 and to put it into perspective $10,000 invested at 8.79% over 20 years and with no additional contributions compounds to $53,923.68...
Raymond James has a solid reputation and operates very much like Jones. Don't get caught up in private versus publicly traded companies. You might think a publicly traded company is more transparent, but don't forget they also have a responsibility to their shareholders to maximize profit and return on their investment, not necessarily yours..
Choosing a new financial adviser is like hiring a new employee. They should be working for you. Arrange some initial meetings. See if they ask you the right questions about your situation and can offer solutions to help. If all they do is boast about what a great company they are and how successful they are, get up and walk away. It should be all about you and your interests, not theirs.
Finally, don't get caught up in the hype about fees and management rates. Yes, they affect rate of return and obviously you don't want to get bled dry, but a decent, knowledgeable advisor will earn what they're worth and deserve to fairly compensated if they can deliver on your behalf.

mattie

@rasbury Curious why your advisor is switching companies that late in his career. Seems a bit odd.
Should be easy to keep the existing accts with Morgan.

Why not google search some local M/S advisors & go meet with them. Find someone you like & they would be more than glad to take over the existing accts with a letter of direction.

Liberty44140

I use Raymond James and have for many years. My advisor opened his own office, under the Raymond James umbrella, several years ago. Been very happy with him and Raymond James. 

rasbury

Thanks all for the replies- my aunt trusted this advisor and he did really well for her over the years, except for that Enron thing- but anyone here old enough to have stock then probably experienced the same burn. He also kept me from making a 400K mistake so he has earned my trust for sure. The accounts have really done very well. I will roll with him, his son came into the business with him and he seems to have the same values. These are not city slicker folks- if anyone knows highland county here in fl, it's like going back to the 1950's...great people.

Lake_Bum

Great advice here.  Stick with the professionals at this point in your life.  No need to do anything super risky.   The Stock Market thread on here, isn't really a good place to look for financial advice.  It is mostly just a few of us, discussing personal triumph's and failures, and just sort of sharing personal experiences with Stocks and Crypto.  
Sounds like you're already on the right track

Cableguy Greg

@rasbury I just moved all of my investments to a guy in Daytona Beach. He did a great job working with my uncle, cousins and my late mother. I am in Illinois and he calls me a few times a month to keep me updated on my investments. My last guy never called. Heck, I live 5 blocks away from him and haven’t talked to him in 4 years. My new guy is a welcome change. He was with Morgan Stanley but moved to Ameriprise a while back. If you want his name and number, I will gladly give it to you. Might be something to consider since he is local to you. 

rasbury

Thanks @Cableguy Greg- I'm going to hang with my guy as I've had similar experience with him over 40 years. Other than that little Enron snafu he has done our family right..