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Oct 19, 2009 6:09 pm

[quote=Wet_Blanket]I think I’ll avoid the trust route for now, but may consider FAs to my wife in the event of my demise.  She’ll have a good insurance check as well and would probably due something stupid like put it towards the kids’ educations instead of her retirement / living.  Ofcourse, if I go soon, she’ll still be young enough and hot enough to find another suitor.

  If that is the case, then I need to have a FA in place who will honor my request to hide the assets and not give them a dime.[/quote]   Or...you could set up a trust that only allows her to spend a certain amount of money every year.  You could put your house, cars, etc into the trust with directions to the trustee the become her payor on all of those items.  The only thing she would receive would be a monthly stipend for things like groceries, clothes, etc.  The trust could also ensure that if she were to die that the money goes directly to your kids and not to the new hubby.    How pissed off will your wife's boyfriend be when he finds out he can't bump her off too and take all the money? 
Oct 19, 2009 6:37 pm
buyandhold:

Do you manage your own money and financial planning, or do you have someone else do it?
I recently gave my family’s accounts to another advisor, mainly to get another perspective and  to have somebody to talk to.
It’s not a great solution, because this guy is like most advisors – busy building his business giving generic advice. But it’s one less thing I have to do and at this point I don’t have a lot of money anyway. Certainly later I will want to get better help.
If you do have an outside advisor, do you want somebody who really follows markets and has strong, informed opinions on what you should do? Or somebody who will  take you to lunch every now and then and makes sure you stay the course?



  I think you are missing something here, B & H said his family's accounts not his accounts. I see way too many people in the biz who go out and get Mom and Dads, sister and brothers accounts and then a year or two they are out of the business. Your success or failure will not be determined by the family accounts you have  but rather by accounts outside your family. Now if I have misunderstood and we are talking about the advisers own accounts then disregard please.
Oct 19, 2009 7:44 pm

I listen to Jeff Kleintop, Burt White and company through LPL.  Kleintop & co made the call to buy preferreds early this year and diversified glabal natural resources more recently, both of which have done well for me.  No question in my mind I’m better at investing since I began listening to their daily market call in the am.

Oct 19, 2009 8:45 pm
noggin:

[quote=buyandhold]Do you manage your own money and financial planning, or do you have someone else do it?
I recently gave my family’s accounts to another advisor, mainly to get another perspective and  to have somebody to talk to.
It’s not a great solution, because this guy is like most advisors – busy building his business giving generic advice. But it’s one less thing I have to do and at this point I don’t have a lot of money anyway. Certainly later I will want to get better help.
If you do have an outside advisor, do you want somebody who really follows markets and has strong, informed opinions on what you should do? Or somebody who will  take you to lunch every now and then and makes sure you stay the course?

  I think you are missing something here, B & H said his family's accounts not his accounts. I see way too many people in the biz who go out and get Mom and Dads, sister and brothers accounts and then a year or two they are out of the business. Your success or failure will not be determined by the family accounts you have  but rather by accounts outside your family. Now if I have misunderstood and we are talking about the advisers own accounts then disregard please.[/quote] Sure about that?
Oct 20, 2009 2:24 am

Never trust a skinny chef…

Oct 20, 2009 2:39 pm
B24:

[quote=noggin][quote=buyandhold]Do you manage your own money and financial planning, or do you have someone else do it?
I recently gave my family’s accounts to another advisor, mainly to get another perspective and  to have somebody to talk to.
It’s not a great solution, because this guy is like most advisors – busy building his business giving generic advice. But it’s one less thing I have to do and at this point I don’t have a lot of money anyway. Certainly later I will want to get better help.
If you do have an outside advisor, do you want somebody who really follows markets and has strong, informed opinions on what you should do? Or somebody who will  take you to lunch every now and then and makes sure you stay the course?

  I think you are missing something here, B & H said his family's accounts not his accounts. I see way too many people in the biz who go out and get Mom and Dads, sister and brothers accounts and then a year or two they are out of the business. Your success or failure will not be determined by the family accounts you have  but rather by accounts outside your family. Now if I have misunderstood and we are talking about the advisers own accounts then disregard please.[/quote] Sure about that?[/quote]   My bad, disregard my thoughts, please.
Oct 20, 2009 3:55 pm
buyandhold:

Do you manage your own money and financial planning, or do you have someone else do it?
I recently gave my family’s accounts to another advisor, mainly to get another perspective and  to have somebody to talk to.
It’s not a great solution, because this guy is like most advisors – busy building his business giving generic advice. But it’s one less thing I have to do and at this point I don’t have a lot of money anyway. Certainly later I will want to get better help.
If you do have an outside advisor, do you want somebody who really follows markets and has strong, informed opinions on what you should do? Or somebody who will  take you to lunch every now and then and makes sure you stay the course?



I think that we should handle managing our own money and financial plannning.  However, it's probably smart to get help.   My suggestion would be to find someone to review what you are doing and you do the same for that person.  They may have a suggestion or two that might be helpful and they'll understand what you are trying to accomplish for your family if something happens to you.
Oct 20, 2009 4:05 pm

[quote=Wet_Blanket]I think I’ll avoid the trust route for now, but may consider FAs to my wife in the event of my demise.  She’ll have a good insurance check as well and would probably due something stupid like put it towards the kids’ educations instead of her retirement / living.  Ofcourse, if I go soon, she’ll still be young enough and hot enough to find another suitor.

  If that is the case, then I need to have a FA in place who will honor my request to hide the assets and not give them a dime.[/quote]   Wet_Blanket, you need a good advisor.   This is the kind of stuff that we hear from prospects trying to avoid buying the proper amount of life insurance.   Why should your wife have to choose between retirement and educating the kids?  If you are alive, aren't you going to do both?   A hot, young wife is no longer a hot, young wife once she has a kid and is a widow.  She is seriously damaged goods.  Who wants to date someone with this kind of baggage unless they are full of their own baggage?  When I was dating, there was no way that I would date someone with kids.   When you die, they aren't your assets.  Put things in place now so that the money gets handled properly.  Don't try to control a spouse from the grave.   I'm going to leave my wife plenty of money.  I don't ever want her to be in a position that she has to find someone for financial reasons. 
Oct 20, 2009 5:18 pm

[quote=anonymous] 

Wet_Blanket, you need a good advisor.   This is the kind of stuff that we hear from prospects trying to avoid buying the proper amount of life insurance.   Why should your wife have to choose between retirement and educating the kids?  If you are alive, aren't you going to do both?   A hot, young wife is no longer a hot, young wife once she has a kid and is a widow.  She is seriously damaged goods.  Who wants to date someone with this kind of baggage unless they are full of their own baggage?  When I was dating, there was no way that I would date someone with kids.   When you die, they aren't your assets.  Put things in place now so that the money gets handled properly.  Don't try to control a spouse from the grave.   I'm going to leave my wife plenty of money.  I don't ever want her to be in a position that she has to find someone for financial reasons.  [/quote]   I was kidding about leaving my family in shambles - but it is probably time to reevaluate my insurance since I recently changed jobs for a large pay increase.  But I will need to get a good advisor for when I pass.  Probably could use one now for the insurance aspect.
Oct 20, 2009 5:43 pm

[quote=anonymous] [quote=Wet_Blanket]I think I’ll avoid the trust route for now, but may consider FAs to my wife in the event of my demise. She’ll have a good insurance check as well and would probably due something stupid like put it towards the kids’ educations instead of her retirement / living. Ofcourse, if I go soon, she’ll still be young enough and hot enough to find another suitor.



If that is the case, then I need to have a FA in place who will honor my request to hide the assets and not give them a dime.[/quote]





Wet_Blanket, you need a good advisor. This is the kind of stuff that we hear from prospects trying to avoid buying the proper amount of life insurance.



Why should your wife have to choose between retirement and educating the kids? If you are alive, aren’t you going to do both?



A hot, young wife is no longer a hot, young wife once she has a kid and is a widow. She is seriously damaged goods. Who wants to date someone with this kind of baggage unless they are full of their own baggage? When I was dating, there was no way that I would date someone with kids.



When you die, they aren’t your assets. Put things in place now so that the money gets handled properly. Don’t try to control a spouse from the grave.



I’m going to leave my wife plenty of money. I don’t ever want her to be in a position that she has to find someone for financial reasons. [/quote]



+1
Oct 20, 2009 9:43 pm

I don’t see myself as a money manager.
Pretty much like Morean said, I help working couples allocate their old 401ks (asset allocation models) and get insurance, and new retirees set up their IRAs into some kind of income stream (bond/stock mixes and annuities.) That’s my business.
Those people want education, they want somebody they can trust, they need to have somebody sit down and referee the money conversation between husband and wife. I tell them up front, I’m here to help you manage your goals and make good choices.
Right now my FA helps me do that. It’s a relationship thing. Later, when I have more assets I would be be looking forsomebody like a Morean or an ice or gaddock and to give me advice.
Even if it turned out that I could do exactly the same job as my FA, I would still like somebody doing the grunt work for me.
Btw, if it sounds like I’m knocking my acumen, I’m not. I do a great job for my clients. And maybe I will someday have the time to really run money.