AboutJohn D Smith, CFP Expertise I can answer detailed questions regarding mutual fund investing, retirement planning, education planning and related financial planning/investment issues. I have a B.S. degree in Financial Planning & Counseling. I am also a Certified Financial Planner practitioner and have performed fee only investment management and financial planning services for the past 11 years.
Expert: John D Smith, CFP Date: 1/27/2006 Subject: why pay a financial planner
Question assuming I do reasonable research, invest in a diversified array of mutual funds with good track records and rated highly by the experts, such as morningstar, why pay for the services of a financial planner. the funds are already assessing their fee. am I missing something?
Answer In my opinion, you should pay a financial planner if you feel they can offer services that will justify you paying them a fee. This can be in the form of better performance, the hand holding and reassurance that is necessary during bad market environments, being a resource for questions you have, helping with issues like retirement planning, insurance planning, etc. In our instance, we often find that our service offering and ability to manage portfolios more tax efficiently than most investors can do on their own, plus our access to institutional funds with lower expense ratios than the general public can typically access, pays for our fee.
