Retirement Targets

Who are most of you using for your planning purposes? Once you've passed, say the $4M - $5M cumulative portfolio, does that change? I currently use WellsFargo Advisors, but have been considering making a change because I'm unhappy with how much they take in fees. Is Fisher better? Is there another group? I appreciate any input.
 
Who are most of you using for your planning purposes? Once you've passed, say the $4M - $5M cumulative portfolio, does that change? I currently use WellsFargo Advisors, but have been considering making a change because I'm unhappy with how much they take in fees. Is Fisher better? Is there another group? I appreciate any input.
DIY, baby

Ain't no advisor in my book that cares as much about my $$ as I do, and certainly none that justify a 1% annual AUM fee that is fraught with conflicts of interest
 
And I am saying parents made an 18 year+ long decision to spend now when they decided to have the kid.


You're not holding back though. You just did whatever math in your head that spending money on a kid is better than spending it on XYZ. The variables are exactly the same when it comes to this overall retirement discussion, Spend or Save. You’re choosing to Spend.
You’re not seeing/understanding the major difference. If a single person makes a mess, who gets messy and has to clean it up? The one person. I make a mess, 4 other people get punished. I have to be more careful now than I was when I was single. I’m also responsible for my kids actions until they turn 18 so I need to cover/plan for those contingencies.

I also may have to turn down (which I did/have) better paying jobs at the time due to my wife not wanting to relocate or not feeling it is the best place to raise my kids.

That’s why I said variables come into play that can change one’s ability to save/spend. It’s not all black/white when more than one person is involved. And yes, a wife and kids were my decision.
 
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This is a really rough message that can easily cut the other way really quick…
Run it by me. I’m interested. My take is that society/civilization/an economy doesn’t continue if people don’t have kids, so you can’t just say I’m getting rich and winning because I’m not having kids. Not saying it’s for everyone or that, but I wouldn’t say a person is winning at the game of life by not having kids. Again, that’s my take…open to hearing yours.
 
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Who are most of you using for your planning purposes? Once you've passed, say the $4M - $5M cumulative portfolio, does that change? I currently use WellsFargo Advisors, but have been considering making a change because I'm unhappy with how much they take in fees. Is Fisher better? Is there another group? I appreciate any input.
Haven’t reached this point yet, but I’ve been thinking about it as well. I’m tempted to think a good accountant may be more valuable than a financial advisor. I do like the money guy team, and in theory Brian would be the best of both worlds (not that I would assume I would work with him), but fees always turn me off. I’d rather pay a fee for an hour or two conversation once or twice a year perhaps…
 
Run it by me. I’m interested. My take is that society/civilization/an economy doesn’t continue if people don’t have kids, so you can’t just say I’m getting rich and winning because I’m not having kids. Not saying it’s for everyone or that, but I wouldn’t say a person is winning at the game of life by not having kids. Again, that’s my take…open to hearing yours.
Totally respect that, I just think the idea of “thanking” parents for having kids working in those roles is a rough take. Can we go around and trash all the parents of kids who bring down society or contribute nothing? Kinda my point of a slippery slope.

Not the thread to discuss it and I won’t derail but with the state of the world we could certainly do with a whole lot less people having kids. Obv can’t go down to zero but thanking parents is just a massive stretch.

I also have a bias both from my career and being a DINK so obv my thoughts on this are skewed
 
You’re not seeing/understanding the major difference. If a single person makes a mess, who gets messy and has to clean it up? The one person. I make a mess, 4 other people get punished. I have to be more careful now than I was when I was single. I’m also responsible for my kids actions until they turn 18 so I need to cover/plan for those contingencies.

I also may have to (which I did/have) better paying jobs at the time due to my wife not wanting to relocate or not feeling it is the best place to raise my kids.

That’s why I said variables come into play that can change one’s ability to save/spend. It’s not all black/white when more than one person is involved. And yes, a wife and kids were my decision.
You're not seeing what I'm saying. We've been saying the same thing but you're clouding your thinking because you think XYZ expense has more importance and "doesn't count". It all counts. If you're choosing to spend $250 on a travel soccer league for your kid instead of socking it away in retirement, that's the same thing I'm doing, just football tickets or something instead. You just don't want to call a spade a spade.

I don't care what you're spending money on, you've done your own personal hierarchy of wants and needs and decided on your spending. It doesn't matter if it was kids, a house, 500 burgers, a trip to Thailand, $200 spins at the roulette table, or cancer treatment.

You're choosing to spend money on your kids because their safety and wellbeing brings you joy. Whatever that "joy" is, is yours. And that joy right now outweighs the perceived joy you'd receive if you had that money in retirement. I would make the same decision if I had kids. I think most people do/would.

You bringing up the fact I don't have kids and thus don't understand what it's like is essentially saying my personal hierarchy of wants and needs is less important than yours. I couldn't possibly comprehend because I don't have kids yet we're both choosing to spend now.
 
You're not seeing what I'm saying. We've been saying the same thing but you're clouding your thinking because you think XYZ expense has more importance and "doesn't count". It all counts. If you're choosing to spend $250 on a travel soccer league for your kid instead of socking it away in retirement, that's the same thing I'm doing, just football tickets or something instead. You just don't want to call a spade a spade.

I don't care what you're spending money on, you've done your own personal hierarchy of wants and needs and decided on your spending. It doesn't matter if it was kids, a house, 500 burgers, a trip to Thailand, $200 spins at the roulette table, or cancer treatment.

You're choosing to spend money on your kids because their safety and wellbeing brings you joy. Whatever that "joy" is, is yours. And that joy right now outweighs the perceived joy you'd receive if you had that money in retirement. I would make the same decision if I had kids. I think most people do/would.

You bringing up the fact I don't have kids and thus don't understand what it's like is essentially saying my personal hierarchy of wants and needs is less important than yours. I couldn't possibly comprehend because I don't have kids yet we're both choosing to spend now.
Per your last paragraph no, you’re not correct there. Our discussion started with you saying you’d spend now instead of save if given the choice. While I believe most parents have the opposite opinion. That is why I mentioned family dynamics.

I will finish this back and forth with this as I’m sure others wish it to be done.
 
You bringing up the fact I don't have kids and thus don't understand what it's like is essentially saying my personal hierarchy of wants and needs is less important than yours. I couldn't possibly comprehend because I don't have kids yet we're both choosing to spend now.
He literally did none of this, you said your preference was to spend now while you're young, to spend rather than save extra given the choice, he said that having kids could make a difference in terms of that mentality.
 
Man, I want my parents to spend every single dime they've accumulated. I'm good. They worked hard and they should enjoy it. Pretty much feel the same way about my daughter, happy to be in a position to help when she needs it and what not but I'm not going to decide against doing things so that she can have extra after I'm dead.
Both my parents (divorced) thought they’d have a payday. It impacted behavior…in the end one got it and the other one didn’t. Except for a small insurance policy that helped with college savings, nothing passed down. I didn’t want to live like that, so I have aggressively saved for retirement and am going to be in a position to retire early. Still trying to decide what sort of legacy I’ll want to leave.
 
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DIY, baby

Ain't no advisor in my book that cares as much about my $$ as I do, and certainly none that justify a 1% annual AUM fee that is fraught with conflicts of interest

I saw what the financial planning kids were doing in college.

I plan to get a bit of help for tax purposes, but I don't need to pay someone to tell me the obvious right now
 
Who are most of you using for your planning purposes? Once you've passed, say the $4M - $5M cumulative portfolio, does that change? I currently use WellsFargo Advisors, but have been considering making a change because I'm unhappy with how much they take in fees. Is Fisher better? Is there another group? I appreciate any input.
You really can do most of it on your own. Instead of having someone actively manage the account for a percentage just do a yearly check in with a financial advisor you trust. Don’t buy in services just get the consult or pay for a single review.

Also I’m assuming you are already retired but make sure you set up a living trust if you haven’t already
 
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I’m toying with the idea of buying a vacation rental that hopefully covers most of its own expenses, that then transitions to our retirement home location in 25 years.

Bad idea?
 
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I’m toying with the idea of buying a vacation rental that hopefully covers most of its own expenses, that then transitions to our retirement home location in 25 years.

Bad idea?
Maybe or maybe not. You can never be certain of where you want or live in 25 years so there is that. Some of it is how comfortable you feel that the place can take care of itself. In 25 years it will need a new roof, siding and flooring for sure. Decks replaced along with furnaces/AC if this is not a new build.

If you feel you have the cash to cover any hiccups and it’s a pretty safe tourists spot, then you are in a good situation. Plus, you would have your current house to sell if you own it, at that time.
 
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I've mentioned it before, but I highly recommend using Boldin (free version is fine) for retirement planning. It takes some time, but it does a really good job in creating scenarios.
Any credence to the criticisms of the free version?

 
I’m toying with the idea of buying a vacation rental that hopefully covers most of its own expenses, that then transitions to our retirement home location in 25 years.

Bad idea?
We owned a house on Lake of the Ozarks for 25 years. We did not rent it but you learn a few things anyway. Consider the market. Down there, it was hard for that to pay off since the rental season was basically only the summer with some fall and spring weekends. Second, the best time to rent it is when you might also want to use it. Do you really want to own a house you have to maintain but not use? Third, you don’t know what your situation will be in 25 years. I never thought we would sell that house. We loved our family time there over the years. My parents died and my daughter moved to Minnesota. At most, she might come down once a year. It became a lot of work without much pleasure. As far as retiring there, it is a great place to be from April through October, but there is nothing to do there in the winter.
 
Who are most of you using for your planning purposes? Once you've passed, say the $4M - $5M cumulative portfolio, does that change? I currently use WellsFargo Advisors, but have been considering making a change because I'm unhappy with how much they take in fees. Is Fisher better? Is there another group? I appreciate any input.
I went with Vanguard and I've been happy.
 
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