A note of caution to anyone using independent financial advisers. Never take their word for it. Always read the small print. I got badly burned by a financial adviser, Michael Fleming, who works for Trafalgar International. He set up schemes which ended up making him a lot of money but at my expense. On my pension he set up fees and charges that amounted to 22.3% over the first 5 years! When I questioned the poor performance, he fobbed me off saying that it was down to the market. While the pot did grow, all the benefit went to Fleming and those companies involved. Nearly six years on and I have less that I originally invested. I was a fool for trusting the guy and signing what was put in front of me. I fired him and to be fair Trafalgar International has worked for free in trying to repair the damage. As for Fleming, he smugly said, “you signed it.” Some painful and costly lessons learned: 1. Never sign anything without reading all the details. 2. Assume they don’t have your best interests at heart. 3. Research them fully online first. 4. Check out to see if they are regulated. 5. Check out the professional bodies they are signed up to as there are codes of conduct that should be adhered to.
Does anyone have experience, good or bad, with Fina (https://www.fina.ch/) ? They claim to be independent, but I can't find any information (at least not in German) from any independent source.
I'd also be interested in experiences with Vermögenszentrum. They were recommended by some users on Englishforum, but it seems they are now a bank as well so their independence comes into question.
Anyone tried any of the independent financial adviser services?
E.g. moneyowl has a $99 fee-based independent financial adviser consult service.
Just wondering if anyone has tried one of these services what the outcome was like and if you learned anything valuable or had a more personalized assessment compared to DIY from FIRE blogs or subs like this.
I feel reasonably confident that I’ve got a sound financial plan overall, but some numbers are difficult to calculate for me because I’m at a stage of my life where I still can’t fully project if I’m going to get married and therefore what kind of housing or age I plan to get housing at will be.
Not sure if they would be able to provide a more hand-held, guided step by step experience to projecting for a range of scenarios.
If I had known about such a service I would def have gone for it as $99 seems worth it to have a sound financial plan, especially when I was lost and starting from a blank slate. I guess by reading around the fortunate thing is that I’ve saved some money and also got a more unbiased view (moneyowl may claim to be independent but I know they don’t sell or offer all products.)
What do you think
TL;DR - Looking for recommendations for an independent financial & tax advisor in Copenhagen who can also advise on cross border topics with Germany/Europe (i.e. leaving DK and moving to Germany/Europe)
All,
despite learning a lot here and from other online sources I feel the need to speak with an independent expert regarding finances and especially tax topics in Denmark. Can anyone recommend an independent (I am not interested in being sold any instruments or similar. I want to pay per hour for advice) financial & tax advisor? Some specifics on my situation and what I would be looking for: I (early 30's) am a German national living and working in Copenhagen since 3 years. I am saving up through my employer in the normal danish retirement savings (Danica) account. I have set up a ASK which I have maxed and contains a mix of ETF and shares. I have a portfolio in Germany which is still there. This already causes me headaches here every year in terms of tax returns. I also participate in a subsidized share purchase program through my employer. I am now considering selling out some of these shares and starting to invest in 'frie midler '.
Based on this I would need advice on the following:
- We might leave Denmark at some stage and move back to Germany or somewhere else: How can I optimally set up my investments to minimize the exit tax when leaving DK? My naive idea is that I should hold individual stocks in the ASK as these are taxed every year and ETF's as frie midler as these are also taxed yearly (lagerbeskatning). How would my portfolio in Germany be treated in the case we leave DK?
- If I were to inherit shares in Germany and I was still living and working in DK how would this be treated from a tax perspective?
- Optimal way to set up savings for retirement independent of where I intend to retire/if we leave DK. Retirement savings through my employer here, ASK, Adlersopsaring (?) etc.
Basically, although I see some references to these things online, I believe that it makes sense to actually spend some money to speak to an expert to make sure I get it right :)
thanks for any recommendations you might have!
Hi!
I am 24 living in London, I have no debt and with a little money saved up (under £10k).
These free IFA meetings are meant to give impartial guidance on all aspects of pensions planning, investment, life assurance and tax planning. However, I have no clue about any of this.
As my company's Finance department has appointed this external company to act on their behalf to provide these FA meetings, I'm here in hopes of having some idea of what i should be asking the FA?
Any advice would be great.
Thanks!
When the CEO himself is giving signs that they think their stock is overpriced, I think it's time to start taking note. If anyone has a sense on when the irrationality will end, it's probably him and his advisors.
This whole thing about Elon trying to cash out some stock to pay taxes as a nice guy, was an obvious BS excuse. Then the media comes out saying his REAL intention is to pay taxes that are due. Brilliant, double play to cover for his personal cash out.
If Elon had faith that his stock still had room to grow, there is no chance in hell he'd be selling. He'd just be getting a loan to cover his tax liabilities, while his equity value increases. The fact that he's trying to cash out shows he thinks it's near peak and about to go down. All the media drama is just an attempt to retain value for as long as possible to distract and justify his cash out.
It's crazy how I see NO ONE talking about this... And instead it's all about "clever redditors" seeing his real intentions are to cover his tax liability. No it's not.
Edit: I know. Everyone knows it’s over valued. But it’s different when the founder takes actions versus people mentioning it or even himself.
If you can't do what is best for you!
First of all I think this sub Reddit is great, some really good information on offer to people of all types.
To be upfront I'm a qualified and practising IFA, but nearly half the age of the average adviser. I've got maybe 30 years left of working in the industry until retirement, which in my opinion has predominantly been very old fashioned, manually done, and I feel is likely to need to change massively in the future to keep up with what people need and want.
I know I am likely to get some biased opinions on here as this is a personal finance board. But I'm really interested to hear people's thoughts and opinions on Financial Advisers and Advice in general, or even opinions of people you know if it's even been brought up?
So I was talking with my parents last night about the frustrations they have with their financial adviser. She has not been successful in growing their money, and they feel that she is simply a salesperson for the company that she works for (which is completely true). She's had them in mutual funds that have either done nothing or tanked, and she just blames it on the market while taking a commission.
I know more about investment than my parents do, and I really think my mom would like to learn more about it so that they can manage their money themselves. I know they're getting ripped off, and I know it's not that hard to put your money in index funds or whatever. My parents are married in their late 50s both working, two (soon to be one) kids in college, probably have something less than 250k in money to manage. Could anyone recommend a book for people in this scenario? I feel that it would make a thoughtful Christmas present.
Hi folks--Anybody know of a good financial advisor that does the following to recommend? I'm not looking for anybody to take assets under management or direct my investments. Instead, would really like somebody who is paid on an hourly or flat-fee basis to basically do an annual review of where we stand on our portfolio, insurance needs, etc. and provide a financial plan with recommendations. I feel comfortable doing the execution part on my own, but am thinking it would be useful to have somebody on an annual basis to review where we are, provide recommendations, and leave it to me to carry it out (or reject their recommendations). Obviously want somebody who is (a) good; and (b) a fiduciary. Anybody out there that fits this mold?
My 75-year-old mother-in-law has $1 million in her IRA and is quite happy with her financial advisor at LPL Financial, who has her invested in more than 30 different mutual funds and ETFs.
I took a look at her quarterly financial statement and it literally made my eye start to twitch.
I couldn't even put the whole thing in portfolio visualizer because you can only compare 30 funds max.
Here is her investment "mix," each of which has like 3-4% of her total portfolio in it:
OSCYX
USMV
VNLA
GOGIX
LSGRX
MGOIX
MEIIX
OAKIX
PEIIX
TMCPX
ACGYX
AGDYX
GHQYX
SHOYX
SBLYX
OIIEX
OISVX
OISGX
OILVX
OILGX
OIFIX
GHQYX
SBLYX
SPLV
XMLV
EEMV
EFAV
SMMU
USMV
LDCFX
LGLV
WCMGX
EPS
EZM
For someone like me who is 100% invested in VTSAX and is an adherent of JL Collins and "The Simple path to Wealth" this portfolio screams "Dazzle them with complete bullshit!"
Is a portfolio like this common when you sign up with a financial advisor or is this as batshit crazy as it seems to me?
For the funds I could run through portfolio visualizer this pathetically underperformed VTSAX. Why would you pay somebody to do this with your retirement savings?
This is my second year out of college (I am a software developer), I live in a third world country and I earn 600 USD a month which is 7,200 USD annually. I was lucky to get that job as a fresh out of college as that salary is pretty much average in my country, (newly graduates get paid really bad often). I have 4,115 USD in savings.
I am paying 82 USD to my mother, 85 USD monthly (Master Degree) and 144 USD for French classes so that leaves me 289 USD minus transportation 164 USD = 125 USD left. My mother is broke and constantly tells me that I have enough money in my bank account and I should stop saving and start to help more in the house. I can't leave because rent costs like 300 USD, I live in the city.
Hello,
What is the point of having a financial adviser and under what circumstances should one seek their advice? I realize this might be an extremely broad question, and it would definitely depend on a person's circumstances, but I honestly don't understand why one would seek the help of a financial adviser as opposed to studying and making your own decisions? I am probably naive and arrogant to think this. What is your perspective on this?
How do fees work exactly for financial advisers in South Africa? I'm wondering how the money goes from me to them for financial advice in the following 3 areas:
- Life/disability cover
- Medical aid
- Retirement planning
i'm looking for some impartial advice in the mortgage / property area and I would be interested to hear some views of professionals outside of any specific banking institutions.
Any help would be great! - thanks :)
An elderly relative of mine ("whaea") recently saw a fees-based financial advisor at her children's behest. Whaea recently downsized after her husband's death. He handled the finances and she has very little financial nous and a sudden windfall - so seeing an adviser made sense.
My uncle went with her to the appointment. Based on his reports, I don't think the adviser treated Whaea ethically. I'm curious as to whether this conduct is legal or not and whether Uncle and I have grounds to complain to the FMA.
Whaea sought advice on buying an investment property and some shares. She also wanted to give her children an early inheritance. Whaea has four children and wanted to "gift" them each $50k. For her three children who have mortgages, this "gift" would be held in an offset account used to help them save interest. The children would not have access to this money. For her son who doesn't own, she would gift him the $50k. All this would be marked against the will, with the $50k gift minus any interest Whaea sacrificed redistributed among the remaining children after her death.
Adviser shot down this idea because Whaea "didn't have enough money" (Whaea had over $1m) and warned her against the rental property and buying shares using third-party apps. She advised Whaea to invest in KiwiSaver. She only declared her commission (2%) after my uncle asked.
2% is a high commission and under the FMCA, the Adviser should have declared this upfront. She also has a priority to protect Whaea's interests. If Whaea bought a rental property/put money in an offset account, Adviser would not get a commission. This makes me think Adviser had a conflict of interest.
Whether this was sound advice remains to be seen. I understand the FMCA doesn't prevent advisers from "double-dipping" (accepting fees and commissions) provided they are upfront. However, isn't the point of fees-based advice that it is not on commission? Is this normal? Can I lay a complaint? Can Uncle? I do not stand to profit here in any way (Uncle does). I'm just furious that this adviser seems to be taking advantage of a very naive old lady for her own benefit.
Please help!
• January 2021: while in between jobs, I learned that my gallbladder must be removed. Having an income of $0, I began using Louisiana Medicaid to afford these unexpected/sudden costs.
• Important: I fully expected Medicaid to be temporary. Once my surgery was complete, I firmly intended to find another job where I’d return to using employer health insurance.
• February 2021: gallbladder is removed and doctors incidentally discover that I have fucking cancer.
• Remainder of 2021: a major surgery followed by chemotherapy (which in still in) and countless medical bills- all covered by Medicaid.
Treating Neuroendocrine Cancer • Overall, people with my cancer have a good life expectancy compared to many other types. Many people remain relatively well and lead long, active lives, with only occasional symptoms. At the very least, I’ll have to receive monthly injections for the rest of my life that slow the growth of my remaining tumors (Note: The out-of-pocket cost of these injections is around $10K each).
My doctors constantly reassure me that I have many, many years of life still ahead of me, and I agree. There’s thousands of Neuroendocrine cases similar to mine where patients are still alive today in their 40s and 50s working normal jobs, getting married, and building families. My prognosis is very promising.
Here’s the thing: I’m a 28 year-old woman. I only just graduated three years ago. I have no more savings. I am broke. Cancer has been life-shattering. I still have dreams and goals……but how can I possibly pay for any of them when I can’t get a job with income from a salary? Or better yet, (dreams aside) how the fuck can I afford my own place? Pay for an unexpected flat tire? Having/Raising a child? Get married? (Duel-income) How do people receiving full Medicaid coverage afford quality of life?
I’ve applied for disability and am still in the process of determining my SSDI amounts, but is that the end of the road for me? Will I be living off a set income (which feels more like a monthly allowance with a locked amount) for the rest of my life? What are my options here?
• Note: please don’t tell me about food stamp programs or other programs that offer assistance. I’m not looking to survive on disability- I’m looking to get OUT of financial assistance and GAIN financial independence (AKA: I don’t want to survive, I want to live).
EDIT: for all those who think I’m concerned about not getting hired due to my pre-existing, that’s incorrect. I kno
... keep reading on reddit ➡I see a lot of questions here about tax, savings and investment. Why not just see a financial adviser? Has anyone got thoughts or recommendations about using an IFA?
