Check Us on BrokerCheck – a free tool to research the background and experience of financial brokers, advisers and firms.
Submitted by Bumgardner Morrison Wealth Management on June 6th, 2017
Have you met our team?
We have a wealth of experience in the financial services industry.
Have you met our team?
We have a wealth of experience in the financial services industry.
Have you met our team?
We have a wealth of experience in the financial services industry.
Check Us on BrokerCheck – a free tool to research the background and experience of financial brokers, advisers and firms.
Submitted by Bumgardner Morrison Wealth Management on December 7th, 2017
Have you met our team?
We have a wealth of experience in the financial services industry.
Check Us on BrokerCheck – a free tool to research the background and experience of financial brokers, advisers and firms.
Submitted by Bumgardner Morrison Wealth Management on January 4th, 2018
Download
Have you met our team?
We have a wealth of experience in the financial services industry.
Check Us on BrokerCheck – a free tool to research the background and experience of financial brokers, advisers and firms.
Submitted by Bumgardner Morrison Wealth Management on February 9th, 2018
A recent survey indicates that an increasing number of high net worth investors are willing to pay for solid, unbiased, fee-only investment advice, which is not surprising considering the challenges of today’s markets. What is surprising is that there are still some investors who would rather go it alone, thinking they can do better on their own, or that investment advice is not worth the cost, or both. With the average fee charged by an investment advisor around 1 percent, some investors are asking themselves whether the advice they receive actually amounts to a 1 percent advantage in their investment performance. In other words, could they do better on their investment returns if they didn’t have to pay the 1 percent fee?
On the surface that may seem like a fair question, at least until you examine what value the right fee-only investment advisor actually brings to the relationship. The real question is whether or not you feel the advice you receive will add at least 1 percent of value to your portfolio. If you feel that it doesn’t or won’t, then the answer is obvious – you could probably do better on your own.
However, I would add one important caveat to that answer, and that is you really shouldn’t ask the question when the markets are doing well. That’s because most advisors, and for that matter, many do-it-yourself investors, generally look good in up markets.
The time to evaluate the worth of an investment advisor’s advice is during the down markets. Here’s why:
A good investment advisor will have positioned your portfolio with proper diversification to withstand increased volatility and reduce the downside exposure. A well-diversified, strategically allocated portfolio will almost always decline in value less than the stock market indexes. If your portfolio only declines 7 percent while the stock market declines 12 percent, you’ve covered you cost multiple times over.
A good investment advisor will keep you focused on your long-term objectives rather than the market shifting macro events of the day that will have no impact on the long term performance of your portfolio. Many investors who fled the market in 2008 still haven’t recouped their losses, while those who rode the coaster have more doubled their money since then.
A good investment advisor will help you avoid the many common mistakes investors make like trying to time the market (which is nearly impossible) or chasing performance (which is almost always a trap), or trying to pick the winners (which less than 40 percent of the pros can do with any consistency). These mistakes can cost investors a significant portion of their portfolio value.
A good investment advisor will always have your best interests and long-term objectives in mind, which will free you of the time, energy and worry spent trying to manage your portfolio on your own, and that could be priceless.
A truly honest appraisal of the value of investment advice would have to consider how much you stand to lose when the going gets tough, not while everyone is riding the wave of a market rally. If a good investment advisor can help you in any one of the four ways described above, they could be worth their weight in gold. But, a really good advisor will typically help you in all four ways. What’s that worth to you?
*This content is developed from sources believed to be providing accurate information. The information provided is not written or intended as tax or legal advice and may not be relied on for purposes of avoiding any Federal tax penalties. Individuals are encouraged to seek advice from their own tax or legal counsel. Individuals involved in the estate planning process should work with an estate planning team, including their own personal legal or tax counsel. Neither the information presented nor any opinion expressed constitutes a representation by us of a specific investment or the purchase or sale of any securities. Asset allocation and diversification do not ensure a profit or protect against loss in declining markets. This material was developed and produced by Advisor Websites to provide information on a topic that may be of interest. Copyright 2014-2016 Advisor Websites.
Have you met our team?
We have a wealth of experience in the financial services industry.
Check Us on BrokerCheck – a free tool to research the background and experience of financial brokers, advisers and firms.
Submitted by Bumgardner Morrison Wealth Management on February 9th, 2018
In the realm of investment advice, value is defined by what you receive from your advisory relationship that meets or exceeds your expectations. For most clients, it has much less to do with pricing or investment performance, than it has to do with the fulfillment of promises and commitments made at the outset of the relationship. But the commitments will only have value if they are based on your stated needs and expectations.
You should expect your financial advisor to have in place a clearly defined process for working with you to develop and implement your investment strategy. You know you’ve found the right financial advisor when that process includes, at a minimum, these five elements:
Thoroughly Assess Your Financial Situation and Goals
The initial Discovery Meeting must consist of a thorough assessment of your current financial situation in light of your most important goals. It is here where you and your financial advisor must have a frank and in depth discussion of what you want to have happen now and in the future based on your values, beliefs, and priorities, all of which sets the course for developing and implementing your financial plan.
Establish Long-Term Investment Objectives
Having a clear understanding of your financial goals, your financial profile and your risk profile, your advisor should establish well-defined benchmarks which form the basis of your investment strategy. Your benchmarks determine the investment returns you need to generate and become the key measures of your progress towards your objectives.
Develop Your Asset Allocation Plan
With your benchmarks in place, your advisor should formulate an asset allocation strategy that reflects your risk/reward requirements. This involves identifying a mix of asset classes and securities or investment vehicles within those asset classes with the potential to generate the returns dictated by your benchmarks with an acceptable range of portfolio volatility.
Implement the Selected Strategy
With your asset allocation in place, the work begins on constructing your portfolio using select institutional asset class funds to achieve optimum diversification. Institutional asset class funds provide the best possible exposure across multiple sectors and geographic regions at the lowest cost.
Monitor and Rebalance Your Portfolio
With a sound investment strategy based exclusively on your personal benchmarks in place, there is little reason to track your investments daily, weekly or even monthly. Instead, you and your advisor should establish regular intervals when you meet to measure progress, and make adjustments to your plan based on any changes in circumstances. Your investment strategy should include an automatic trigger for rebalancing your portfolio on an annual basis to ensure your target allocation of assets remains intact.
Your financial advisor should clearly explain and document the process and services to be provided to you and define both his and your responsibilities. The client-advisor relationship is defined in large part by the method of compensation, so the advisor should explain fully how they will be paid and by whom, and all potential conflicts of interest should be disclosed.
*This content is developed from sources believed to be providing accurate information. The information provided is not written or intended as tax or legal advice and may not be relied on for purposes of avoiding any Federal tax penalties. Individuals are encouraged to seek advice from their own tax or legal counsel. Individuals involved in the estate planning process should work with an estate planning team, including their own personal legal or tax counsel. Neither the information presented nor any opinion expressed constitutes a representation by us of a specific investment or the purchase or sale of any securities. Asset allocation and diversification do not ensure a profit or protect against loss in declining markets. This material was developed and produced by Advisor Websites to provide information on a topic that may be of interest. Copyright 2014-2016 Advisor Websites.
Have you met our team?
We have a wealth of experience in the financial services industry.
Check Us on BrokerCheck – a free tool to research the background and experience of financial brokers, advisers and firms.
Submitted by Bumgardner Morrison Wealth Management on February 20th, 2018
Download
Have you met our team?
We have a wealth of experience in the financial services industry.
Check Us on BrokerCheck – a free tool to research the background and experience of financial brokers, advisers and firms.
Submitted by Bumgardner Morrison Wealth Management on April 27th, 2018
Download
Have you met our team?
We have a wealth of experience in the financial services industry.
Check Us on BrokerCheck – a free tool to research the background and experience of financial brokers, advisers and firms.
Submitted by Bumgardner Morrison Wealth Management on January 18th, 2019
Have you met our team?
We have a wealth of experience in the financial services industry.
