posted by kizer permanente

but I honestly have no idea how much of its his salesmanship or actually knowing what he’s doing investing.

I doubt even the big shops formally train their people in research - my guess is they focus on relationship management and retention. His job is to dial phones.  Too much overhead involved for sales people to waste time doing research.

There's a lot one can teach themself about investing, but IMO fundamental research isn't one.  If you don't have the technical knowledge/training to build a DCF, you're just winging it. 

If he has a good pipeline of research, maybe in-house or other 3rd party, he might do a little supplemental work on his own.  That's probably what most successful advisors do.

Off Topic… Moving to Texas we need a new financial advisor. How did you guys find someone you trust. In Ohio we just used a guy who worked for a few other family members and done a good job so we knew we could trust him. Here it’s hard because we don’t anyone.

posted by kizer permanente

His wife is also a financial advisor and claims to make $150k. So he must do significantly better than her. 

$150k is what I have heard is a more “normal” range for an experienced FA. 

Friend of mine from HS does it and said he ranges from $130k-200k depending on how well the year goes.

posted by gut

I doubt even the big shops formally train their people in research - my guess is they focus on relationship management and retention. His job is to dial phones.  Too much overhead involved for sales people to waste time doing research.

There's a lot one can teach themself about investing, but IMO fundamental research isn't one.  If you don't have the technical knowledge/training to build a DCF, you're just winging it. 

If he has a good pipeline of research, maybe in-house or other 3rd party, he might do a little supplemental work on his own.  That's probably what most successful advisors do.

Any investor with half a brain just follows what congressmen are doing. 

posted by sportchampps

Off Topic… Moving to Texas we need a new financial advisor. How did you guys find someone you trust. In Ohio we just used a guy who worked for a few other family members and done a good job so we knew we could trust him. Here it’s hard because we don’t anyone.

If you are happy with your old guy, I don't see why you would need to change just because you are moving.

I still say a diversified, low-cost basket of ETF's is the way to go.  That 1% or whatever you pay your advisor to underperform really adds up over time.

Buy a few books and save yourself those expensive fees!