ANy investers on this board

[Eric the Red]

I'm looking into retirement plans....IRA's, Roth's, etc.

 

My knowledge is limited.

 

I have already started a roth with edward jones, but there seems to be quite a few fees, but the gentlemen who helped me was very helpful and patient with me, answering all of my questions. I have another set up through another company but he sucked, which is why I moved on to this other guy.

 

I have heard of Vanguard accounts or something.......anyone who invests a little or an investor, can you help?

[HuskerExpat]

I'm looking into retirement plans....IRA's, Roth's, etc.

 

My knowledge is limited.

 

I have already started a roth with edward jones, but there seems to be quite a few fees, but the gentlemen who helped me was very helpful and patient with me, answering all of my questions. I have another set up through another company but he sucked, which is why I moved on to this other guy.

 

I have heard of Vanguard accounts or something.......anyone who invests a little or an investor, can you help?

 

if you are under 50, a roth ira is far better than a conventional ira, because of the tax benefits. your best bet is to transfer your roth ira from edward jones to a discount broker (for instance Ameritrade, if you want to keep it in nebraska). i suggest a discount broker, because a full service broker like edward jones will charge you hundreds, and eventually thousands of dollars per year to maintain the account. by contrast, a discount broker like ameritrade will charge you next to nothing. given the very easy investment choices available to you (see below), almost no one needs a full service broker anymore.

 

as for what to buy, if you would like to keep it extremely simple, then you can simply buy one of the vanguard mutual funds that target a retirement date. for instance, if you plan to retire in 2035, vanguard has a mutual fund for you (i think its called Vanguard Target Retirement 2035, or something like that). they will shift the investments around as time goes by to invest in the appropriate stuff, even through retirement. theoretically, you would never have to buy any other investment product in your entire life.

[Eric the Red]

I'm looking into retirement plans....IRA's, Roth's, etc.

 

My knowledge is limited.

 

I have already started a roth with edward jones, but there seems to be quite a few fees, but the gentlemen who helped me was very helpful and patient with me, answering all of my questions. I have another set up through another company but he sucked, which is why I moved on to this other guy.

 

I have heard of Vanguard accounts or something.......anyone who invests a little or an investor, can you help?

 

if you are under 50, a roth ira is far better than a conventional ira, because of the tax benefits. your best bet is to transfer your roth ira from edward jones to a discount broker (for instance Ameritrade, if you want to keep it in nebraska). i suggest a discount broker, because a full service broker like edward jones will charge you hundreds, and eventually thousands of dollars per year to maintain the account. by contrast, a discount broker like ameritrade will charge you next to nothing. given the very easy investment choices available to you (see below), almost no one needs a full service broker anymore.

 

as for what to buy, if you would like to keep it extremely simple, then you can simply buy one of the vanguard mutual funds that target a retirement date. for instance, if you plan to retire in 2035, vanguard has a mutual fund for you (i think its called Vanguard Target Retirement 2035, or something like that). they will shift the investments around as time goes by to invest in the appropriate stuff, even through retirement. theoretically, you would never have to buy any other investment product in your entire life.

 

 

Do I contact Ameritrade or a discount broker, or is that the same thing? Also if I already have the initial investment with Edward Jones, wont even more money be taken out If I transfer? Will I have to meet with the edward jones guy again and tell him I pulling my account?

[HuskerExpat]

 

Do I contact Ameritrade or a discount broker, or is that the same thing? Also if I already have the initial investment with Edward Jones, wont even more money be taken out If I transfer? Will I have to meet with the edward jones guy again and tell him I pulling my account?

 

Ameritrade is a discount broker. If you call their new accounts department (go to the website and get the number), they will help you open an account, and they should be able to send you the necessary paperwork needed for them to initiate an account transfer from edward jones so that you will not need to talk to the edward jones guy yourself. I suppose he might try and call you to convince you otherwise, and then it is up to you on whether to take the call or not. Ameritrade won't charge you anything to transfer an account into them, but i don't know if Edward Jones would charge you to transfer the account out. Assuming Edward Jones has some fee to transfer your account out to Ameritrade, I'm sure it would not be much compared to how much you would save having your account at a discount broker for 30 years.

[HuskerExpat]

The other thing to remember is that a discount broker offers you no advice whatsoever. If you call and ask them advice about an investment, they will say they can't help you. So if you feel like you need any advice at all, then a discount broker might not be for you. Personally, with the wide range of investment products availabe (like the Vanguard targeted retirement mutual funds I mentioned in another post) I think full service brokers like Edward Jones are a waste of money for most people, but if you are willing to pay for advice that you can get with a minimum amount of internet research, that is certainly your right.

[huskernumerouno]

I have money in edwards jones right now, I set it up when I came over to Iraq and it was easier for me since I was not going to be around for a while and the wife really didn't want to get involved in that. I plan on taking a more proactive approach to my investments when I am finished over here, but for now I will pay the fees to know that my intrests being looked after by a professional. I know the guy that is handeling my account at Edward Jones and he is very helpfull.

Huskerexpat is correct though. with E.J. or any other full service broker you will pay for help you really do not need after you learn how to invest.

[Eric the Red]

I have money in edwards jones right now, I set it up when I came over to Iraq and it was easier for me since I was not going to be around for a while and the wife really didn't want to get involved in that. I plan on taking a more proactive approach to my investments when I am finished over here, but for now I will pay the fees to know that my intrests being looked after by a professional. I know the guy that is handeling my account at Edward Jones and he is very helpfull.

Huskerexpat is correct though. with E.J. or any other full service broker you will pay for help you really do not need after you learn how to invest.

 

So have you looked into any other funds yet? Or will you just wait until you get back? Please let me know what you decide.

 

huskernumerouno or Huskerexpat I'm assuming the most important thing is the rate of return or at least what's expected is the most important thing to think about?

 

With Ameritrade, do I have to do all the research and find the best program on my own? You have suggested a Vanguard account. Will the Ameritrade discount broker suggest anything?

 

Sorry for being redundant, but as I said, they don't teach this stuff in school. Huskerexpat are you an investor?

[cmb23]

Eric, I just PM'd you (that sounds dirty) with a couple names. One is a broker with Bank of the West and the other works for Ameritrade. So you should have both of your bases covered (personal investor or discount broker). They are both good friends of mine (both were in my wedding) and are good at what they do. I even got one of them started on this board...Rygolf25!

[HuskerExpat]

 

huskernumerouno or Huskerexpat I'm assuming the most important thing is the rate of return or at least what's expected is the most important thing to think about?

 

With Ameritrade, do I have to do all the research and find the best program on my own? You have suggested a Vanguard account. Will the Ameritrade discount broker suggest anything?

 

Sorry for being redundant, but as I said, they don't teach this stuff in school. Huskerexpat are you an investor?

 

Yes, I am an investor. I manage all of my own money, and buy stocks or bonds, without buying mutual funds (partly because I don't like paying management fees to mutual funds [or brokers for that matter] and partly because I like to control my own investments as much as possible). I am also a lawyer who worked for a discout broker, and I had my general broker's license (series 7) and various other licenses as well.

 

If you call Ameritrade, or any other discount broker, they will not offer any advice whatsoever. A broker at a discount broker like Ameritrade is little more than an order taker (seriously, they sit in a massive cubicle farm with head sets and take phone orders or review computer orders all day long).

 

As for what to buy, the possibilities are nearly infinite. I suggested the vanguard mutual fund, because it is probably the simplest way to invest for your retirement. There are a lot of other similar investment products too. My suggestion is that you read a few basic investment articles on the internet, at reputable web sites (money, forbes, yahoo finance, etc) and they will give you an idea of what you want to do. If you still do not feel comfortable after doing an investigation of your own, then maybe a discount broker isn't for you and you might decide to keep your account at Edward Jones. One idea might be to keep your main account at Edward Jones for a while, but also open a smaller account at a discount broker so you can get an idea of what it is all about. After trying both for a while, you could transfer your account to whichever place your prefer.

[Eric the Red]

One idea might be to keep your main account at Edward Jones for a while, but also open a smaller account at a discount broker so you can get an idea of what it is all about. After trying both for a while, you could transfer your account to whichever place your pref

 

I think I will take this approach at least for now. I have received some other leads on investors. Thanks for explaining this

[BIGREDIOWAN]

I need to get rid of AXA Advisors for my 457 plan for my retirement. I've been putting money in there for the last 3 1/2 years and have seen limited return. I was talking to my Economics teacher last night and he told me that I should have made a lot of money on that plan in the last few years so it's not being invested the right way.

[cmb23]

I need to get rid of AXA Advisors for my 457 plan for my retirement. I've been putting money in there for the last 3 1/2 years and have seen limited return. I was talking to my Economics teacher last night and he told me that I should have made a lot of money on that plan in the last few years so it's not being invested the right way.

 

You've got a PM too BRI...

[Rygolf25]

Hey all,

 

 

 

I am actually one of cmb23's friends he was speaking about. I'm a financial advisor for BancWest Investments and I'll try to sum this up for you the best that I can. HuskerExPat is correct when he says that the cheapest way to go is Ameritrade, Etrade or something similiar. They will not charge you any fees (except the management fees that you will pay no matter what you invest in) minus a small transaction charge to do a trade, depending on the account type/fund type.

 

 

 

Here are the main factors to consider. If you want to do your own investing and to actually have the opportunity to do not only mutual funds but possibly stocks, the cheapest route by far is the discount brokers mentioned above. Your fees will be limited (maybe a very small annual fee for tax reporting) but you will receive no advice as they are strictly transactional.

 

 

 

If you want someone to call and ask questions and to receive advice, I would recommend using a rep like you have already or that is in that situation. They not only will give advice but can help you manage all kinds of accounts including IRA's, non-qualified accounts (non-IRA's), 529 plans (college savings plans) and many others. The downside is you will normally pay some sort of commissions or transaction charges. I have many clients that I help them with multiple accounts that they have and they love it as they only have to call one place and receive one statement. The difference in many fund companies is the load vs. no-load structure. Vanguard funds, T. Rowe Price, etc. are your standard no-load funds. They don't charge any type of commissions and normally their fees are relatively low (depending on the fund). Franklin Templeton, American Funds, Oppenheimer Funds, etc. are examples of loaded funds. They have two structures that you will normally see. A shares are up front sales charges where you will pay a charge of 3.50% to 5.75% up front (normally that will pay your broker) and that is deducted from each deposit that you make. This is a very expensive way to start investing as you need to make up a pretty good chunk off of the bat. The other option are called C shares. These are the loaded-fund companies equivalent of no-load funds. They don't charge any up front sales charges but have annual management expenses that are a little bit higher than the A share equivalent. Personally, I use a lot of C shares for my clients as A shares are just tough to justify with their high front-end costs.

 

 

 

I know, a lot of information to take in but I definately would just think in terms of what is best for you. I receive calls from clients who would like to do more of their own investing which I steer them to a discount broker and I receive calls from clients who are just tired of trying to keep track of everything themselves and want help. You need to ultimately choose the option that is best for you. There are obviously a couple of us who have experience and will give you an unbiased opinion so any questions you have, feel free to ask!!!

[Rygolf25]

BidRedIowan,

 

 

 

Over the past three years, 2003 to 2006, you should have seen at least 8% per year for a very diversified return. If you haven't, your accounts (and advisor) is not doing you justice. The past three years we've seen good gains in the markets in general and most balanced funds have seen at least the number above for returns. I'd definately look at making a change or questioning your rep as to why changes haven't been made...

[cmb23]

Hey all, I am actually one of cmb23's friends he was speaking about.

 

I have no idea who this guy is. Do not give him any money. He will blow it on beer and cheap women.

 

But....

 

If you do decide to invest with him, be sure to give him lots of 10's and 20's so I can take it from him at our poker games.