Do I Need a Financial Advisor or Can I Do It Myself?
This video provides tips for those who want to do it themselves as well as for those who realize that a qualified financial advisor can help them implement better tax-efficient strategies than they can on their own.
Topic Chapters:
- 0:00 – Intro: How can implementing financial strategies help me?
- 08:45 – What are stocks?
- 12:08 – What are bonds?
- 18:04 – What are alternative investments?
- 20:35 – What is the optimal asset allocation for me?
- 24:42 – Understanding opportunity cost: how being too conservative can hurt you
- 29:09 – Overview of low cost Index Funds
- 32:14 – How can a financial advisor help me and are they worth it?
- 40:44 – The importance of tax-efficient investing
- 52:38 – What should I look for in a financial advisor?
Key topics covered:
- What are the differences between stocks and bonds and what percentage of each should I have in my portfolio?
- How can I do low-cost index investing on my own?
- Why is it important to focus on after-tax returns?
- Why is it important to defer ordinary income taxes until you’re in retirement and in a lower tax-bracket?
- Why will you pay more in taxes if you put stock investments in certain retirement accounts versus in your taxable accounts?
- Why should you not accumulate wealth to pass on to your kids in traditional IRA/401k accounts? (Hint: your beneficiaries will end up paying taxes on them when you pass away versus getting them tax-free if they’re in your taxable account)
- How can I pay a 0% on capital gains taxes up to $80k in income?
- Why should I pay a financial advisor 1% to 2% of my assets when I can do low-cost index investing for a fraction of the cost?
- What is the difference between a fee-only versus a fee-based advisor?
- What topics should I be talking to my financial advisor about?
- What questions should I be asking a potential financial advisor to determine if they are really qualified or are just a salesman in disguise?
Links mentioned in video:
Vanguard’s asset allocation tool
Low-Cost Index Funds: Vanguard, Schwab, Fidelity
Sites to find fee-only advisor: NAPFA, XYPN, Contact Colva
Colva sites: Website, Blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, Other Videos