I’m 71 and I have my money with Edward Jones. After 3 years my investments are about where I originally opened my account. Now I’m thinking on moving to Fisher Investments. Any advice on my planned move would be greatly appreciated.
Do yourself a favor and go to both Vanguard’s and Fidelity’s websites and compare some mutual fund perfomance numbers.
As an example, a $10,000 investment in Vanguard Wellington in June of 2021 would be worth about $12,500 today.
You don’t need a financial advisor to buy, sell or hold mutual funds.
My advice is to take your money and run away from Edward Jones as far and as fast as you can.
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The Wellington fund is a great idea
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Thanks. I appreciate your response
It is. I’ve held it since 2003. But if tax efficiency is a concern you may want to re-evaluate it.
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Moving to Fisher investments would not be a wise decision. Compared to Edward Jones and Fisher Investments, both Vanguard and Fidelity have significantly lower cost index mutual and ETF fund fees and lower advisor fees.
Educate yourself so that you will understand what a financial advisor and financial company should be doing to maximize your returns. Reading the linked article will give you a good summary of the principles of investing (start with the Create a Portfolio section). Also note that If you have a brokerage account at Edward Jones with mutual funds there may be unrealized capital gains involved if there is a need to sell the funds.
Your new advisory company will guide you through the transfer process.
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bogleheads®_investment_philosophy
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Very true. Tax efficiency has been a problem at Vanguard. But it’s a great fund especially now in a higher rate environment
Can you help me understand tax efficiency
More information about your situation will help. What type of accounts do you have; any taxable brokerage accounts or Roth Accounts? What funds or individual stocks/bonds in each of your accounts? What is your approximate portfolio amount and how much are you withdrawing annually from each of your accounts?
It depends on your asset allocation. If your advisor thought you wanted to be super conservative, perhaps he or she had a large allocation to fixed income in your accounts. If so a large portion of your account was flat or even down because of the large rise in interest rates. To be frank - You can absolutely do this on your own. Some people still want to work with an advisor.
You’re probably better off keeping your investments at Vanguard, Fidelity, or Schwab. Clark Howard recommends all three.
Here’s a video from Rob Berger (a boglehead), comparing the difference between Vanguard, Fidelity, and Schwab.
When you want paid financial advice, I recommend using an hourly CFP. See my link below for some personal finance resources:
https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7994867#p7994867