Financial Advisor

bel138

Does anyone have one? My life insurance is through a company that offers financial planning, but it seems all retirement geared.

With our tax refund, we'll be able to pay off DH's credit card debt (from before he met me. That kind of nonsense doesn't fly with me.) So we'll have another $300 per month. I don't know if it's ever too early to think of retirement, or we should focus on getting our student loans paid (to the tune of $400k). Will they be able to help with budgeting, or just stuff like 401k, stocks, other investments?

sarabellam

A financial advisor should be able to help you help with budgeting as well as the retirement versus pay off student loans question (and the thought of $400K makes my stomach turn, truly.) Page Expatpumpkin; she should be able to help you.

TheSaltyPeanut

We have one - it's actually a close family friend.  When we meet it's in his office (as opposed to shooting the breeze at a backyard BBQ). 

It's never too early to think about retirement.  If you put it off... well, you won't be able to retire (at least not at the lifestyle you are accustomed to).  In a nutshell, we always pay ourselves first.  No matter what.  We have a certain percentage taken out of our checks that go right into accounts that he set up.  If we never "see" the money, we never "miss" it.  That is one of the best things I have ever done.  We also have the work 401k - the retirement accounts with our FA is something above and beyond.

Edit - He also helped us with a basic budget.  He has a LOT of tools and spreadsheets that he emailed to us that have really helped us out.

ExpatPumpkin

I'd recommend Vanguard or Fidelity.  Their websites are great with lots of interactive tools, they provide phone support, and their fees are among the lowest in the industry.  I use Vanguard for my retirement planning and one of my best friends uses Fidelity (so I've seen how it works) and we're both really happy.

Whatever you do, don't purchase any sort of life insurance plan with a built in savings component: whole life, universal life, etc.  Those hardly ever make sense for regular people - they're great for highly-compensated employees whose regular retirement contributions are maxed out or for estate planning purposes.  But insurance people push them because the commissions are huge.  They could earn up to 100% of your first year's premiums, so be weary of that.

If you have any other questions, in particular about insurance, let me know.  Good luck and good savings

bel138

Is it bad I don't even know which policy I have because my parents bought it for me when I was around 2 years old? hahaha That's the only reason I know that this place does life insurance or financial advising.

squirrly

I've used the free sessions a few times, but they've not done anything for me I couldn't do on my own.  And the paid services are more of the same. 

There are a lot of websites where you can do research and educate yourself.  At a minimum, I'd do that before walking into a meeting, so you have a better idea of what's real and what's fluff.  I like www.motleyfool.com

lannerjarv

$400,000 in student loans? am i rading that right??

lanem688

My FI is a financial advisor and he would say it's never to early to plan for retirement.  There are many different retirement accounts Roth IRA, a regular IRA... I think your age and tax bracket determine how much you can contribute per month.  But with that much in student loans (HOLY CRAP!!) you probably want to start paying those off as soon as possible.  You should definitely talk to an advisor and at least get some advice.

bel138

Sorry I disappeared. Yeah, $400,000. Two undergrads and medical degrees will do that to you.