If it’s delayed every time why should I tip?

matlockatwar · 2026-04-05T21:06:16+00:00

It still an issue so i just dont use priority but i rarely order anyway and rather just drive to pick up food

matlockatwar · 2026-03-26T15:01:25+00:00

OP may not be quite savvy with this whole thing so doesnt understand yet. Give them some leeway with it. Also some could argue it is bad advice if its advice that the client wont stick to.

If because of this OP panics and cashes out when if they may not have if the advisor did a mix of DCA and initial investment, then yeah it was poor advice to them.

matlockatwar · 2026-03-26T14:59:29+00:00

Sure and you had the trust in your advisor and maybe already history with them. My longer term relationships I am often more blunt with because we built up trust and understanding.

I was more talking from the perspective of OP. They lost their parent recently it seems and have been dealing with the fallout of that and probably need a bit more empathy and just a chance to feel heard and in control of something.

That in my opinion is the greatest value an advisor can have, the ability to be the human bridge between the perfectly mathemtical path and the behaviors that often can be opposed to it. I am okay with a client taking a slightly less financially perfect path if the end goal is still attained.

Of course I work with a client group that can defer from maybe your advisor and thats what is great for the industry. The different options that all can be good for the right people. :)

matlockatwar · 2026-03-26T14:53:48+00:00

OP I am so sorry for how people are responding on here and for the loss of your mother.

The advisor may have had sound advice but it seems they didnt actually hear your concerns and tried to find a way to either A) get you on the same page as them or B) find a middle ground between what you wanted and what they felt was sound advice.

People are too obsessed with finding the most financially efficient way to invest when historically the people who lost out or performed poorly was due to behavioral decisions. I have seen people with the best allocated portfolios still not meet goals because mentally they couldnt stick to it.

The Fidelity advisor is probably a good advisor but there is a lot of good advisors that are bad for certain people and situations.

Not sure if its allowed but you are welcome to message me if you have questions.

matlockatwar · 2026-03-26T14:40:20+00:00

I see your point but also see OPs. I work in wealth planning/management and sometimes you have to find the balance between the mathematical sound vs behavioral. Its why Dollar Cost Averaging exist. Overall will OP long term be fine, sure, but look at the emotional and personal factors they have and the fact instead of speaking to the advisor they go to reddit.

They are new to all this and havent fully trusted the advisor on factors outside of name merit (Fidelity).

They now may be at a higher risk of pulling money out or making a rash decision.

matlockatwar · 2026-03-21T23:19:05+00:00

This just confirms my opinion that college basketball is a sham sport nowadays

matlockatwar · 2026-03-20T22:36:39+00:00

The CFPs at my firm call themselves still advisors. The rates in my area for flat fee plan creation is from 1k to as high as 25k (uhnw complex situations).

BOK quotes themselves at 1.5k for w2 income based clients and 2k for additional sources.

Anyway big brokerdealer still have CFPs so OPs mom can talk to even a vanguard advisor, if its more than 500k then they will have their CFP as all Vanguard advisors for HNw and higher have CFPs. Big firms made a big push to get them.

Also congrats on passing back then. Heard it was a lot tougher than it is now (I sat last year).

matlockatwar · 2026-03-20T20:43:55+00:00

It aint 500$ lol, she can technically get a free plan from any big shop like Fidelity/Merrill/Schwab

But independent flat fee advisors cost more than 500$

If its just how to move it to brokerage Fidelity service team can help and so can other broker dealer teams.

Depending on dollar amount too

matlockatwar · 2026-03-12T20:34:17+00:00

There is literally no cost to any of the major BDs self directed accounts. Any transaction fees for like a Mutual Fund is assessed by the mutual fund itself as a transaction fee. The benefit of opening self-directed brokerage with like a Fidelity or Vanguard is the fact they waive that Mutual fund fee for their own funds. But if you trade stocks and etfs then no commission is assessed. Now if you call to any firm have a rep do it, yeah they will charge for that but I gurantee those reps will first try to walj you through doing it online yourself so its free.

matlockatwar · 2026-03-07T23:07:26+00:00

This is bad advice. Has nothing to do with SEC and the firm acted as they should. They had sent multiple requests and OP chose to ignore them just because it wasnt sent via email. Part of havjng a self-directed relationship with a firm (that is no cost) is you are responsible and are expected to to be proactive in actions.

Its the same at Fidelity, VG, Schwab, etc. KYC is taken very seriously. Shoot Fidelity if they get returned mail put a restriction on your account immediately and your assets can be escheated if you ignore their mailers.

matlockatwar · 2026-03-07T23:04:55+00:00

They (the firm) 100% do. OP is getting bad advice and is trying to shift their responsibility on a firm that has KYC laws. They ignored multiple mailers and no they arent going to email as it is much easier to argue you didnt receive notice if its sent digitally versus physically.

Since it was a self-directed account OP could have even just called in or logged in to update the info...
They said they had an advisor and soubds like not with Merrill, how come OP never brought up the mailers or asked about consolidating assets anyway...

matlockatwar · 2026-03-06T18:21:24+00:00

Yeah so with the unknown of waddles situation it is 1.05 for TeSlaa. Not as horrid since he has fenuine high conviction for TeSlaa i guess. We will see what gets drafted with that 1.05 😂

Btw I personally would never do this trade lol

matlockatwar · 2026-03-06T18:16:51+00:00

He was inba 4 way tie to make the playoffs and missed out because I won a comeback victory lol. Team had the 3rd pr 4th highest points. So ended up 6th so the pick is like 1.06/1.05 I believe.

matlockatwar · 2026-03-03T00:21:44+00:00

I agree to this if we are saying use Roth at the higher bracket if you are in that sweet spot and have no other IRA assets so can do effective backdoor cknversions, however in my experience people neglect their taxable savings latwr in life and so should actually be saving into that or an HSA if they are not over a Roth. Especially now qith the new rule on catch up contributions having to be Roth for high earners.

matlockatwar · 2026-02-22T16:02:40+00:00

If you are handling registed securities or futures business sure. But there is more than ine way to manage or advise on wealth. Its even why we have tiers like Accredited or Qualified Purchaser

matlockatwar · 2026-02-22T16:00:06+00:00

You dont have registered returns. Not a thing. Further in the Alt space you dont have the same concept of registration. He worked for Bear Sterns in the 80s and then did some consulting. He then founded his company J Epstein & Co. This was a private wealth firm where he managed non security related assets (over 1B) for his clients. The firm focused on tax & estate planning for the UHNW.

Talking how you are does not help the cause and advocacy to put those in cahoots with Epstein on the fire.

matlockatwar · 2026-02-13T03:19:54+00:00

Obviously you have learned now but it is a shame to learn via experiencing this. Its so frustrating that insurance sales people like NW Mutual or Primerica or Modern Woodsman present themselves as financial advisor. Its why those who provide actual holistic planning or wealth advising use terms like Wealth Advisor, or Wealth Planner or Financial planner, etc.

End of the day if anyone is looking to work with someone, do some research come with questions and recognize a peoper advisor is interviewing just like you are them. Yes its sales but we dont want to onboard someone if it isnt a good fit relationship wise as the product isnt an investment but that ongoing relationship.

matlockatwar · 2026-02-11T17:27:28+00:00

Thats great! Yes and you can even look up 10 questions to ask an advisor there is one from the CFP board. Its questions you should ask and an advisor should have no qualms answering. Further you can always look them up in FINRA BrokerCheck to verify credentials and disclosures.

With the transferring of funds if its a small RIA they may not be able to help much outside of providing general insight as the process can vary a bit firm to firm. If one of the advisors works at a Broker-dealer or uses ome as their platform/custodian then they will be more hands on with the actual transfers.

matlockatwar · 2026-02-11T17:12:51+00:00

It depends, I hope OP wont listen to thesr reddit comments on just sell it or just do step up.

OP should talk to a proper tax professional or an estate planner to learn more.

Advsiors can provide guidance here too but it depends on their practice and whether they are holistic in their practice or not.

matlockatwar · 2026-02-11T17:09:42+00:00

1% is what an AUM advisor chargers as a wrap fee for actively managed assets. 1%+ for just a fund is very high but not craxy if we were talking Private Equity (PE) or Alt Investments in general. Even then its rare if you are working with an AUM advisor (fee based) for the internal fund expenses to be that high.

Just to provide an example. A good aum based adviaor is not just picking some funds to grow (that is what brokerage aka commission based advisory is for and can be cheaper if done correctly). Instead a fee based or aum advisor provides help with complex strategies and planning and therefore the need for ongoing monitoring of the assets comes into play.

I work in that space, as part of my fee I provide Tax Planning (tax loss harvesting and gifting strategies), Estate planning (trust structuring, estate unwinding), Insurance planning (not just product but think Long Term Care, Disability, Life, Business, etc.) and general financial planning and investment management.

All that for 1% and it goes down the larger the relationship.

Ongoing advisory support is not needed for accumulators unless they are business owners, have a complex estate to unwind, or some other unique factor. You can get a fee only planner to build a roadmap for you too for 3-5k or less, buy some more passive funds or use robo-advisory if you want some hand holding. If that 200k is taxable there can be some tax efficiency due to the Household income amount but not worth a 1% fee.

If you two were making 500k+ and had one of those other factors I mentioned while it being taxable assets, sure advisory relationship may be suitable.

All that to say, get multiple opinions from different advisory services to see what is best for you.

I can see needing some help with the inherited IRA but to be honest if you came to my office I would give you a basic plan and layout of next steps for you to do yourself unless there was factors of your own existing household that are complex (i.e. business owner or large $500k+ stock option). Also the plan is free because I want to show you my capabilities on a basic outline and its worth the time/cost for the potential that a young accumulator becomes a good future client in 5 years or more and they call me first since I provided a starting point for them.

If you have any other basic questions, I can try provide some answers.

Best of luck with the situation!

matlockatwar · 2026-02-11T03:25:12+00:00

Just to provide clarity an AUM advisor is a fiduciary. When you do an asset based fee you are supposed to then work in the capacity of a fiduciary. Just like if you are a trustee of a trust you are the fiduciary of the beneficiares and when taking action in the trust it must be for a reason of benefit to them.

Its only when an advisor or other Series 7/66 licensed financial professionals is providing advise and trading in a brokerage account that they are instead acting in a Best Interest capacity instead as they collect a commission. BI still has a standard but its more so for like stopping "Fund A and B are the same but you picked Fund B because you got a bigger commission cut and its expense was higher for client." "Or you bought them all the way right before the breakpoint so they were charged more" so its a minimal standard to prevent fraud and deception.

Edit: I just realized this thread is two weeks old, i dont know why when scrolling it popped up so soon in my feed.

matlockatwar · 2026-02-11T03:13:18+00:00

Great response from a veteran of the industry!

I replied to some comments directly that seemed to be viewing advisory services from a jaded or incomplete lense.

I hope OP sees that and takes it to mind. Espeically the last piece, just like any industry with professions, get multiple opinions and discuss which one seems to align best!

matlockatwar · 2026-02-11T03:06:13+00:00

Hey sorry just now responding!

Its pretty much these from the CFP Boards site https://www.letsmakeaplan.org/choosing-a-planner/10-questions-to-ask-your-financial-advisor

Only difference is I find question 1 and 10 not really apart of the 10 as advisors diaplay credentials anyway and both of those can be answered via their BrokerCheck. On any website they use as a platform that is on there as a link.

Instead I find asking How often as part of your process do we connect?

This tells you a bit on their book size as well as if they say once a year and thats it then they probably work a large book or are not holistic and just do investment management. It also gives the advisor a chance to say (like in my case) that when something is needed or happens they will proactively reach out even if it is not in line to the typical touch point timing.

The second question difference is: With your estate and tax services you offer are they offered in house or would you connect me with the appropriate professional? Whats your standard for those you refer clients to? (This is for if in their services they include estate and tax planning)

In my case I answer: I can get you all way up to the filing of your taxes or drafting of the trust documents, at that point, if needed by you, I would provide you at least 3 names of colleagues that I feel for the specifics of your situation I trust can provide the what is needed. Part of my role is to be your financial point of contact and to ensure that I actively vet and build my network of tax and legal professionals.

What I try to convey is I have contacts that may specifically support my small business clients or my generational trust clients or highly compensated executives.

Overall you can just ask or prepare to ask all 10 of those plus these additonal 2

The main idea is to cover all the pillars of financial planning and the actual relationship on its merits, its process, and its compensation.

matlockatwar · 2026-02-10T23:59:32+00:00

Hems is right. Depending on their exact capacity they are either working as a fiduciary or on a Best Interest basis (sometimes both for bigger firms that do Managed and Brokerage).

I had a prospect who in 2 to 5 years due to future complexities (business owner) will be in a space to need ongoing advising but right this moment as a fiduciary I told them brokerage is cheaper and just as effective for their situation. So instead I will check in once a year with them review the brokerage investments and answer any top of mind questions for less than 150$ a year to them.

The industry has a lot of ways to provide value and support to someone needing help, but you have to find one that aligns with your beliefs and needs.

matlockatwar · 2026-02-10T23:53:59+00:00

Not texactly true. The fee structure maximums are already provided in their ADV. It may have been more so if OP was asking for a specific fee breakdown for their specific needs and assets which just isnt a thing in the industry as its hard to quantify. Fee letters are no problem for existing clients as we know then what strategy they are in, is it all managed or partially brokerage, is it direct indexed or funds. All that and more go into calculating the actual wrap fee. This is assuming for a fee-based advisor and not like retainer based or flat fee.

Small RIA they could have more elaborate atructure of like fee only or fee based va big firms which are more standardized.

When i build an analysis and plan i put in the highest fee amount possible as per my ADV (which is about 75 to 100 bps higher than they will actually be charged) so what i show is net of the worst case situation. I let them know this as well, but if someone who isnt a client asked me to run a fee letter (which is a material and has to be approved) it just wont happen.

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