I go next Tuesday to the retirement planner !

[Reddinr]

Aukai - My financial group (me) has ~0.03% stock fund fee and ~0.05% bond fund fee, in a "set and forget" ~60/40 allocation *. Everyone is up this year. I think the S&P 500 is up ~35% from one year ago, 17% YTD. So, if you are at 50/50 stocks/bonds or thereabouts then you are doing about average/good! (but don't forget to subtract the fees from that). Those fees compound just like interest but in the wrong direction! The worst part of it is that there is no proven value in giving up that 1%. It is mostly just arm-waving and salesmanship.

I challenge anyone, do an experiment. Ask "your guy" to money-back guarantee that they will beat an index fund for stocks and bonds in your allocation every year by at least their fees, including any fund fees that are greater than inexpensive index funds. They will say "NO". Because? They can't.

In fact, you won't get a guarantee even if you ignore the fee differences. Because? The emperor has no clothes!

I'm not an expert at investing but at the same time, it is not very hard to "DIY". We DIY steam engines, rebuild lathes, make wood things, metal things, cnc things, do car repair, keep the farm running, etc. With a little reading, I found that DIY investing is easier than any of those. bogleheads.org was invaluable. A person could do worse than watching some youtube interviews with Jack Bogle (RIP), founder of Vanguard.

* Vanguard, Fidelity and Schwab each can provide access to very low-cost stock and bond "total" index funds. You pick how conservative you want to be, buy the funds and leave it alone for the most part. Maybe you sell some stock fund and buy some bond fund once a year to keep your balance right. There are some funds you can buy that even does that for you at a very slightly higher fee.

Sorry to preach so much on this but high fees "for nuthin" ticks me off.

 

[mmcmdl]

Lost my ash an UCO years back , ANR made some real big bucks , lost it on FMAR when it went south . Had 100,000 shares of PLUG at .13 , went up to $72 . I think I sold at .19 . If I held , I could own a HLVH !

 

[Aukai]

I had a Fidelity managed fund at a pretty high rate, and they only did quarterly reviews. I'm now with a Schwab managed fund, and it changes much more frequently than that, and personal communications with the managers. The market scares me to death, along with math, and electrical. Pericardiocentesis, thoracentesis, intraosseous access, traumas, etc. I can do without flinching...

 

[Reddinr]

Lost my ash an UCO years back , ANR made some real big bucks , lost it on FMAR when it went south . Had 100,000 shares of PLUG at .13 , went up to $72 . I think I sold at .19 . If I held , I could own a HLVH !

Been there and done that. In my younger years I bought and sold "can't lose" microsoft, amazon, apple and others almost always at the wrong time. It is no different than Vegas I think. My motto must have been buy high / sell low at the time. Then I learned to "buy the whole market" using index funds. I will never get that home run 20X stock, but then again, I didn't before either. But I do get the boring 6-12% or so growth most years.

 

[mmcmdl]

Mike , the 90 degree head and attachments are ready to roll . Makes no difference on my plans . Heve to put in some sleep .

 

[MikeInOr]

I apologize for being rude but 8.28% YTD is CRIMINAL! Seriously if there was any justice in this country your financial planner would be in jail. I am not joking and I am not being a braggard! I have 50% of my controllable retirement money in Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares which is up 15.29% YTD. The other half I have in stocks of my choosing:

Symbol	Description	Gain (%)	Price	52-week high	52-week low	Last
VTRS	VIATRIS INC COM	-21.90%​	13.93​	18.86​	12.94​	13.92​
BP	BP ADR SPONSORED	-7.88%​	25.54​	28.49​	14.74​	25.58​
CSCO	CISCO SYSTEMS INC COM	193.75%​	53.32​	55.35​	35.28​	53.32​
WMT	WALMART INC COM	-0.27%​	140.58​	153.6597​	126.28​	140.58​
SGEN	SEAGEN INC COM	200.97%​	143.88​	213.94​	133.2​	143.88​
JNJ	JOHNSON & JOHNSON COM	59.51%​	169.27​	173.65​	133.65​	169.27​
DIS	WALT DISNEY COMPANY (THE) COM
	WALT DISNEY COMPANY (THE) COM	45.07%​	183.5​	203.02​	113.37​	183.65​
	WALT DISNEY COMPANY (THE) COM	51.31%​	183.5​	203.02​	113.37​	183.65​
BABA	ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LTD ADR SPONSORED
	ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LTD ADR SPONSORED	35.48%​	209.51​	319.32​	198.26​	209.51​
	ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LTD ADR SPONSORED	35.58%​	209.51​	319.32​	198.26​	209.51​
BA	BOEING CO COM
	BOEING CO COM	44.39%​	228.1​	278.5671​	141.58​	228.2​
	BOEING CO COM	16.80%​	228.1​	278.5671​	141.58​	228.2​
CRM	SALESFORCE.COM INC COM	-0.42%​	244.02​	284.5​	181.93​	244.02​
AMT	AMERICAN TOWER CORP COM USD0.01	94.71%​	278.53​	281.62​	197.5​	278.53​
MSFT	MICROSOFT CORP COM	35.36%​	280.88​	282.84768​	196.25​	280.98​
PYPL	PAYPAL HOLDINGS INC COM	396.38%​	301.19​	309.14​	164.33​	301.19​
UNH	UNITEDHEALTH GROUP INC COM	77.88%​	418.54​	425.98​	289.64​	418.54​
GOOGL	ALPHABET INC COM CL A	354.03%​	2,546.50​	2,561.15​	1,402.15​	2,546.83​
GOOG	ALPHABET INC COM CL C	369.76%​	2,619.50​	2,640.84​	1,406.55​	2,619.89​
AMZN	AMAZON COM INC COM
	AMAZON COM INC COM	160.65%​	3,676.00​	3,773.08​	2,871.00​	3,677.36​
	AMAZON COM INC COM	12.93%​	3,676.00​	3,773.08​	2,871.00​	3,677.36​

The "Retirement Planning" industry is legally crooked as sin! They sell you bonds that they make a commission on, a commission that YOU never see and is never accounted for in any of the numbers you see. If you are in your companies 401K you are just screwed because 401K's are setup to only allow you to buy mutual funds and bond funds that they get a HUGE commission on. A commission that they collect every month off of what comes from your paycheck and goes into your 401k.

If your retirement isn't being held hostage in a company 401K convert it to an IRA or Roth IRA with (I use TD Ameritrade but there are others) and JUST BUY "Vanguard 500 Index Fund" you will double the return you are making currently.

My apologizes but seeing how much people are being taken advantage of legally completely within the rules of the law just makes me absolutely SICK!

The difference between your 8.28% YTD and the "Vanguard 500 Index Fund" 15.28% is going directly into some greasy slimy bastards filthy pocket!

 

[Aukai]

Thank you for your input, something to look at I have a lot of what you have listed also...


Dave check your messages....

 

[Reddinr]

The difference also depends on asset allocation. If near retirement it makes sense to have a portion of investment in bonds as "ballast". Bonds help moderate how bad the down times can be but also limit the up-side. I wasn't surprised at the 8.x % for that reason. For someone in 100% stocks, Spring 2020 must have been quite a rollercoaster ride!

 

[MikeInOr]

I am 53. I will probably retire in 12 years. I look for stocks of companies that will still be around 12 years from now. It is hard not to make money considerably above the 401K mutual funds in that period of time on solid companies. The secrete is DO NOT SELL WHEN THE MARKET TANKS!

I am loosing money on BP right now. I am confident British Petroleum will be around 12 years from now and I am confident people will be putting a lot more gasoline in their gas tanks this year and future years than they did last year while the production of gasoline has gone down considerably during the pandemic.

I have taken significant losses on my IRA accounts over the last 35 years but they are almost minuscule compared to the gains over that 35 year period. I gave up on Bond funds 15 years ago after seeing how they performed over the previous 20 years in comparison to even the lousy Mutual funds that I was locked into with my 401K.

If you are looking at retiring in the next few years I am definitely NOT the person to listen to for advise on what to invest in or what not to invest in. BUT I still whole hearted urge everyone to take a REAL look at what your financial advisors are encouraging you to put your retirement money into!

 

[projectnut]

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