I agree with this. I have a family member who works for a small FA firm who deals mainly with people in the 5-20M net worth range. Many of their clients are business owners who have done well, but have a lot of risk/assets concentrated in a specific industry due to their businesses. They specialize in helping business owners mitigate that risk in their personal finances, and he tells me stories about how hard-headed business owners, while very smart people, are also very independent people, so large part of his job is talking them out of selling/buying things that don’t make sense for wealth preservation.HipCoyote wrote: ↑Sat Jun 15, 2024 6:27 pm A FA is absolutely critical…..if you’re likely to do something stupid such as buy high and sell low, chase returns, panic. If you can adhere to and understand a basic, solid financial plan there is no need for an FA.
FAs like to tout a study that says that people make more with FAs than not, on average. No doubt true. But that
Is due to behavioral matters, not performance of stock selection.
They charge 1%, and the stories he’s told me about talking people off the cliff have undoubtedly saved their clients many millions of dollars beyond that 1%. He is a good, honest person who truly lives by the golden rule and takes his duty as a fiduciary seriously. He is worth that 1% for the right person. Most Bogleheads, or frankly regular W2 earners, don’t need his services… as long as they don’t panic sell… and that’s just fine, but if having a 1% fee keeps you from panic selling during every bear market, it’s still probably worth the money.