Qualifications of your Financial Person

[SuzySunshine]

I have two recommendations for financial advisers in the KC area, both from physicians. One is a financial representative who works on the commission of the products you buy from him. At first this will not be an issue because DH will need more life insurance and disability insurance. He's also married to a physician (retired) so I think he gets the physician lifestyle.

The other recommendation is a Financial Services company who I'm sure works on a percentage of your portfolio but has all of the designations, Certified Financial Planner, etc.

There is also a company that comes highly recommended by the White Coat Investor site but I feel like we need a KS or MO adviser because we'll be living in one state and paying taxes in the other which already seems rather confusing to me.

So which kind of planner do you have? What do you recommend? Or maybe I should just get an accountant to deal with the dual state tax issue and do the rest myself?

Thanks!

[HouseofWool]

I dunno. Maybe I suck, but I went with my mom's cousin's husband who has a metric assload of money that he has made by investing wisely.

ETA: I obviously am not facing the same issues that you are.

[Pollyanna]

A good accountant is worth his weight in gold. Our plan is to stick with our guy and take care of the rest ourselves.

[MissCrabette]

I have two recommendations for financial advisers in the KC area, both from physicians. One is a financial representative who works on the commission of the products you buy from him. At first this will not be an issue because DH will need more life insurance and disability insurance. He's also married to a physician (retired) so I think he gets the physician lifestyle.

I would make sure he has the ability to sell you more than one insurance product. That is, don't decide on the guy and then find out he can only sell you Standard policies. Guardian policies might be better for you. They're very similar, but also quite different depending on what you're looking for. Working on commission doesn't have to be a deal breaker, but keep your eyes open for what types of investments he pushes more heavily.

The other recommendation is a Financial Services company who I'm sure works on a percentage of your portfolio but has all of the designations, Certified Financial Planner, etc.

That's great that they do, but it doesn't necessarily mean all that much. As the White Coat Investor says, CFP is only the bare minimum, and I agree. Moreover, having all those fancy designations doesn't mean that an adviser will look out for your best interests first and their own second. Meet with them if you want to get a feel for what kind of people they are. Personally, I would not be comfortable handing over a percentage of my assets. I'm sure you've seen this, but I'll link to it again. It's sickening when you figure out how much it works out to per year. And trust me, once you have an investment plan set up, they don't really look at your portfolio all that much if at all until your yearly account review meeting comes up. You might as well go with a fee-based adviser who can do the same thing for you for much less.

There is also a company that comes highly recommended by the White Coat Investor site but I feel like we need a KS or MO adviser because we'll be living in one state and paying taxes in the other which already seems rather confusing to me.

I wouldn't let that stop you. Presumably you will have all that figured out by a good accountant.

So which kind of planner do you have? What do you recommend? Or maybe I should just get an accountant to deal with the dual state tax issue and do the rest myself?

We have none right now. I would recommend a good accountant, like Pollyanna said, and a fee-based adviser if you're not comfortable enough with doing the rest yourself. We have a few more years to worry about this (and read, read, read), and I may or may not try to do this myself at that point, but I would at least consider reaching out to a fee-based adviser to look over my plan.

A good accountant is worth his weight in gold. Our plan is to stick with our guy and take care of the rest ourselves.

I think that's great advice.

[Vishenka69]

We have learned not to necessarily trust other doctors' recommendations for financial advisors. So many docs don't know anything about finance that they wouldn't know a good planner from a bad one. We initially went with a guy who is a SIL to one of the docs in DH's group and handles investments for several others but were not impresses with what he did for us. It's complicated to leave them because you open accounts through whatever banks the planner/adviser is affiliated with and then still have to keep track of them. I would try to find someone who doesn't do the investing for you but rather works on a flat rate or hourly rate and only gives advice. Otherwise you'll end up with investments into whichever funds pay higher commissions.

On the up side, we love our accountant but he was recommended by small business owners vs doctors.

[PrincessFiona]

We don't use a financial advisor, but we do have an accountant.

The accountant has been a lifesaver. We did a couple of free consultations with financial advisors (both had bachelor's degrees, actually) and with a doctor financial company. At the end of the day, we sort of came to the conclusion for us that we couldn't see handing out our money for someone to tell us what we already know....which is .... 1. yes, we should be saving more 2. No, we probably shouldn't buy it (but might do it anyway). Our financial knowledge doesn't always translate into appropriate....how can I say this? Action. We are making some good choices in how much we put away for retirement. We set aside the max each month and dh's employer matches it. Beyond that though, we pretty much know that if we go to the grocery store without a list that we're going to get off track and having someone tell us what we should be spending etc doesn't really...make us listen. Sometimes we are really good about setting monthly goals and sticking with them ... and sometimes we arent'. Paying someone to come up with the plans that we've already worked on for ourselves though would just make us feel crappy because ... we pretty much are awesome when it comes to planning and shit when it comes to follow-through. So we'd be paying someone to not listen to their very good advice.

But that's us..... you guys are probably much better at following those plans!

We use an investment firm for investments and have our insurance through a company we've been with for years. Beyond that, I don't know what an investor could do for us?

Kris

[SuzySunshine]

I talked with him today on the phone, one of the 2 recs, and I've been doing a lot of reading in the last few weeks so I asked him so tough questions and he gave me the answers I wanted so for now I'm using him to buy the disability and increase our life insurance. If he continues to have the right answers he will continue to build my trust, I'm not sure what we'll do about actual investments, that will be after we get to KC so we can talk to people face to face and I'll feel better about that.