Accidentally picked up on an Edwards Jones solicitor offering financial services. Decided to give the guy a 30 minute meeting because I need to find one in the next few years. I want to thank this community for prepping me for this first time meeting with an advisor ❤️
Unfortunately for him I’ve lurked in this sub a few years and read about many of your bad experiences. I talked him through my investments: mixed Trad/Roth 401k, a brokerage account, and 529’s all invested in a 75% VTI/15% VXUS/10% Growth mix. Asked him what they offer.
The red flags I’ve seen here appeared quickly: he brought up tax code section 7702 savings I might be missing (quick googling showed me life insurance). And they had an AUM fee of 0.80% on the assets I decided to invest with them. He said it’s a relatively low fee. I told him 80 bps was not a cheap fee ($9k/yr per million) and asked why I’d need to talk with them throughout the year if we’re going to get on the right course in the first few meetings. And that I’m not comfortable letting an advisor hold my money.
He got quiet and realized he was talking to an experienced accounting/finance professional and said they had fee-only advisors at EJ he’d talk to about contacting me 😂. Good luck cause I’m not making the mistake of picking up an unknown number again…
Anyone have good tips for finding a fee only advisor, is it just word of mouth?