Thoughts on my investment Strategy

Bull Sh*ttin you mean.

 

They are not in there just yet mate,i still think Clive Palmer for PM and the good looking red-head Pauline Hanson next too him..

 

The senate will be very important this time round,

 

This a joke right...?

 

What makes you think that?

 

Good question. I will call BT and ask. I would guess no. Ownership has not changed. The wrap is a holding and reporting platform. The units in the funds are held by you so they if you moved platforms the ownership has not changed.

Last time I called BT I asked about the ownership of the funds and what would happen if BT went under and closed shop tomorrow. They said your investments are owned by you and the platform does not have any ownership or control of the funds held in it. You should still be able to contact the funds your invested in and manage your holdings.

 

That’s what I’m assuming but was curious in confirming.

 

Question: what would be a reasonable hourly fee for a financial adviser to charge rather than a fixed annual fee?

@Nodrog who is the adviser I have read you mention a number of times in posts who is a member here? Can’t seem to find a post right now that you mention his name.

Maybe I should touch base with him and compare his services and fees to what I have now. Can’t remember the name for the life of me but do recall reading a number of his posts and being impressed.

 

@Alex Straker, your welcome!

 

Thank you Sir.

 

Just start a conversation on PC with him if interested:
Alex Straker

More info here also:
How to Retire Early

Being a member of PC if he doesn’t look after and deliver to clients from here then he’ll be buried in a pile of ****. Word travels fast in this age of communication. To date all feedback has been good. He’s also associated with @Rolf Latham a very long time respected member here. Both highly experienced professionals.

If interested in International equities, particularly US or markets in general, but worried about timing / valuations then Alex could be a particularly valuable resource.

Like all service providers, now armed with what you’ve learnt, have a chat but if not happy find who’s best for you. I’ve named him as a FP contact for my wife if I kick the bucket etc but with the proviso that the existing strategy be respected but open to changes if my wife feels comfortable with them.

 

Thanks @Nodrog . Will definitely shoot Alex a message and chat about the services he offers.

One of the difficulties in this process is that we have also had a relationship outside of the advise world as I knew this adviser through the wife’s friend prior to becoming our adviser. Not that I have written him off yet, but I’m really questioning his understanding of the wider investment scope and the value I’m getting for what I’m paying.

 

No joke just waiting for the council permit to put the signs up on the 28 mts front fence line..

 

Apologies at risk of taking this way off topic so I won’t add anything else as it’s not the politics thread…

 

Finally had the face to face with the advisor this week.

Good news is we went from looking at an increase in fees to a reduction of 27.5% in his annual advice fee. No change to the current service other than we agreed to reduce our face to face meetings from 3 annual to the single annual meeting. Was happy to communicate via phone or email mostly anyway. Still have some concerns but will watch and wait for now. He will not permit for me to have access to transact in the wrap. Reasons being that only he or I can have transacting access and he feels like it creates risk for both parties by allowing the client to have access to make changes without the advisor.

We started the process of transitioning from the BT Wrap platform to the BT Panorama platform. That change will drop the cost of using a platform by 50% compared to last year and is also capped moving forward. Unfortunately it takes BT anything from 1-3 months to transition to the new platform while they continue to charge you the higher fee with BT wrap. Convenient.

We have decided to drop 2 of the managed funds as soon as we are up and running on the new platform. We will move out of Bennelong Kardinia and Grant Samuel Epoch. We will move those funds into VAS & VGS.

We have setup a monthly buy in plan into VAS & VGS starting from next month. I was keen to also do monthly into a US index above VGS to boost the US holdings but decided to hold off. Feel the US market is trading at the high end right now.

The monthly top ups will come from the income flowing from the property trusts. Income from work will be kept in cash accounts for now. Aim is to build up a 5-6 years worth of living expenses. While I think 5-6 years is a little much, the aim would be to deploy part of the cash reserve in a 20% plus market drop.

Not a major move towards a simple strategy just yet, but its a start. Baby steps.

 

If the advisor can't beat 0.3% per annum move it into VDHG or something here: Vanguard Diversified Index ETFs

Chances are VDHG will beat your advisor after his fees over the long term. Active will struggle to beat passive over the long term "without fees"; active fees are orders of magnitude higher than passive.

Not advice.

 

ROLFLMAO

 

Buffet's latest letter came out. The important point for @Big Al is that a 1% increase in fees since 1942 invested in S&P500 would halve the final portfolio value.

Do the calculation in Excel. Use fees of 0.3, 1, 2, 3% for returns ranging from 5-12% over a range of periods. Then rethink how much you are paying on fees.

Yes, you might hurt your FIs feelings, but not as much as it is costing your bank balance.

Not advice

 

Thank you for your input @Zenith Chaos
Agree with your points. I did meet the advisor last week and he has agreed to reduce his fees. His fee is a fixed annual fee but as a percentage it works out to be .17% of funds.

Its not a case of an index beating the advisors advise as he is only pointing me in the direction of different funds to invest in. Whether that is particular managed funds or index funds. Till this time I have also used him as a sounding board for my strategies. Though my concerns of late have been around his ability in understanding the complete investment universe rather than just a set of particular funds that he is familiar with.

My PC de facto Non Adviser @Nodrog has since educated and opened my eyes to things I had not previously considered or knew.

I actually spent an hour on the phone yesterday afternoon with PC's @Alex Straker going over some of my concerns and situation. I have to say I was very impressed with his knowledge and approach to investment / client focus. Will be doing some further exploring with Alex about how we can work together in achieving better outcomes / strategies.

 

I hope that is a point (.) I see in front of that 17. Note that the funds you invest in also have fees.

@Nodrog is not only a wealth of knowledge but he's willing to share it and there are other gurus here from whom you can learn. You've probably worked out who they are: @The Falcon @SatayKing @dunno etc. They won't necessarily answer your questions directly but what they give that's more valuable is the knowledge so you can answer that question yourself and understand why. With that you can make your own decisions.

@Alex Straker has always struck me as a very knowledgeable and helpful fellow and I hope that works out for you.

Not advice