Financial Advisors/Planners

[Akdare]

I actually have a recommendation for you. Just sent you a PM

 

[RKins]

The companies I worked at all used the 401k provider of their choice but the one most often used was Fidelity, so I used Fidelity for about the past 20 years. At first I did my own selections from their funds and did ok, investing 17% annually for 30 years - usually just buried my head in the sand and threw money at it, knowing that I was a ways off from retirement and I could weather the ups and downs (like 2008 - ouch).
As I neared retirement, the planner side became much more important as I needed to have a plan for the future support of my nest egg. I contacted Fidelity, made an appointment and went in, several times. We got all of our info that he requested and then "undressed", as was mentioned earlier and gave him all the financial assets (both now and upcoming, like SSA) / monthly spend info we had or predicted. He also asked of my nestegg, both now and future, how much I wanted to be risk free and how much risk I could tolerate for the rest. We locked a portion in ladder CDs and annuities to keep that money safe and left the remainder in the market to keep growing and supporting my nest egg. Since my nest egg is with Fidelity, everything we decided, we bought right then and there and he stuffed all that info into his planning software and out came the plan for me to live by until I was 92. It showed me what my withdrawal amount would be year over year based on the info we provided him and how much of my nestegg is still there based on my investment strategy. This kind of planning I could not have done by myself and I'm glad I have him as an advisor. Just before the pandemic really took off I met with him and he explained if the stuff hit the fan, how much actual money I could lose and how much is safe. I started panicking as I saw my egg drop by $150k in like a week and I contacted him - he said that I should stay calm, we had a plan and had talked all the scenarios through, just stay calm. Boy that was hard but now the egg is almost back to where it was before the big dive, in March. As they say, you don't lose in a down market until you sell.
So my advise is having a plan is good. If you're many years away from retirement, make a plan on the % you want to invest every pay check and stick with it. I was with a 401k provider so I was investing in funds, not individual stocks. As you get closer to retirement, you need the help of a CFP to help you. Once it's done, you just ride the waves of that planning. My $.02