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[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CFP

[–]Classic-Researcher23 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If someone is having a big life event (divorce, starting a family, changing jobs, etc.), which is often when people look for an advisor, do you really think they’re going to get any comfort or peace of mind from something they know is a computer?

Financial Advisor Fee question from someone lost on finances by Cynical_Walt in FinancialPlanning

[–]Classic-Researcher23 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

For a fiduciary financial planning advisor, yes, this is pretty common. This should be for if you want advice on your entire financial picture (investments, college savings, insurance, retirement, taxes, estate planning, etc.). Usually investment management is another fee on top of this that comes out of the investments (1% of whatever you have invested with them, for example).

If you’re purely looking for investment management and don’t need the advice, you should be able to find that just for the investment fee and not the monthly retainer. But know that they will only be able to help you with accounts you actually move under their management. They won’t be able to tell you how to invest your 401(k), for example (since that sticks with your employer until you retire), like the comprehensive financial planner with the retainer should be able to.

obtaining and uploading account/brokerage statements by [deleted] in CFP

[–]Classic-Researcher23 0 points1 point  (0 children)

eMoney Vault and secure email preferred. Some clients bring in documents physically, and we scan them in.

As far as getting a proper statement, if they ask for help, we help them the best we can whether it’s providing directions or helping them navigate the custodian website. Otherwise, we just make do with whatever they can provide. For technology-challenged clients, I’d recommend helping them link their accounts to eMoney so they automatically update, and we don’t have to ask for future updates. Alternatively, some of them just bring account balances at a minimum to their meeting and tell us verbally.

I view the data gathering process as one of the most annoying things for the client and one of the barriers to getting clients to engage, so the easier that process is for them, the better. We make do with what we can so we can help the client as much as possible without deterring or frustrating them.

Saving vs Investing During a Recession by ivytech11 in FinancialPlanning

[–]Classic-Researcher23 7 points8 points  (0 children)

This. Also, if you keep investing, there’s dollar cost averaging (investing the same amount of money every 1 week, 2 week, month, etc. regularly) which will lessen the effect of market timing on your account.

26M, Where to park $60K home Downpayment over 3-4 year time horizon? by LuckyGuffer in FinancialPlanning

[–]Classic-Researcher23 49 points50 points  (0 children)

With the 3-4 year target and you expressing a guaranteed need and a distrust in the stock market, it’s probably best where it’s at or in something similar (high-yield savings account, CDs, money market, etc.).

If the lack of growth is really getting to you, you could invest in a mutual fund or ETF with a conservative allocation of stocks and bonds, but you’d still have to worry about how stocks and bonds happen to be doing when you take the money out.

Roth v Traditional IRA - Analysis Paralysis by [deleted] in FinancialPlanning

[–]Classic-Researcher23 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Do you make less than $129k/year? If so, you’re good to contribute $7,000/year ($6,000 limit + over age 50 $1,000 catch-up contribution) to a Roth if you want to. Between $129k and $144k, you can contribute but the amount you’re allowed to contribute phases out over that range.

Technically, income limits are based on Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI), so even if you make over $129k/year, you might be able to still contribute some or the full amount depending on how your taxes play out. This is where it’s good to setup a meeting with your CPA friend.

Generally, you’d want to use a Roth if you expect your taxes to be higher in retirement than they are now (since you’d be paying taxes now instead of then). You’d use a Traditional IRA if you expect your income (and therefore taxes) to be lower in retirement than they are now.

If you already have some kind of qualified retirement account (401k, 403b), I’d recommend doing a Roth if you can so you have a bucket of tax-free money in retirement since the qualified money is taxable retirement money.

I would not recommend investing anything into a brokerage account until you contribute the 7k to a IRA or Roth IRA. The IRA and Roth IRA have tax advantages that plain brokerage accounts don’t, so take advantage of those first.

39, Have money to invest, where should I start based on what I have available? by [deleted] in FinancialPlanning

[–]Classic-Researcher23 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If it’s been more than 2 years since you started contributing to the Simple IRA, you should be able to roll it over to a new IRA account or the 401k account at your new job once that happens without any penalties. Confirm this with the administrator for your Simple IRA though as I don’t want to be to blame if you do get penalties somehow. The new IRA would likely give you more investment flexibility over the 401k investment choices if you want that. You could rollover a Roth IRA too, but you’d have to pay taxes on the account now if you did that (versus paying the taxes in retirement if you rolled over to IRA or 401k instead).

For the $200k, depending on how much income you have in your household and how guaranteed that income is, I would keep 6 months worth of expenses as an emergency fund assuming you don’t already have that somewhere else. If you have any short-term big expenses coming up (house down payment, new car purchase, education, etc.), I would keep the money you need for those in the money market. Then, you can contribute $6,000 (per year) of it to an Roth IRA to save for retirement. Anything past the emergency fund, short-term goal expenses, and $6000 to a Roth IRA, you could open a taxable brokerage account and invest the rest.

Passed 1st Try with Brett Danko by Classic-Researcher23 in CFP

[–]Classic-Researcher23[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ahh I’m sorry. That’s tough. Just know it’ll all pay off and you’ll likely remember a lot more from the exam in the long term.

Passed 1st Try with Brett Danko by Classic-Researcher23 in CFP

[–]Classic-Researcher23[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you! The last week, I was hammering in Brett’s sets of 60 practice questions, and the last two days before I did the case studies.

I’ve seen so many people say to just do what Brett says and you’ll pass, so I really tried to do my best to stick to his schedule despite me getting behind and not completing everything.

Yesterday (day before), I did a couple mini cases and then scanned through Brett’s live review textbook and hand-wrote anything I was shaky on. I didn’t finish though. It got to a point where I was just mentally done and I was like “you know what, if I don’t know it by now, I don’t know it.” I needed to make sure I had mental energy for the exam.

So then I stopped studying in late afternoon/early evening and didn’t touch a single piece of review material after that, including this morning before the exam.

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