That doesn’t mean planning wouldn’t help you, just that you can get by fine without it. You are limited to the facts you know, but I think even you might be surprised by what you don’t know.
To be clear: There is a difference between “planning” and “hiring a financial planner”
I am well aware that there is a lot I don’t know. That is why I read sites like this and bogleheads. But my interactions with planners so far have not given me any confidence that they have much to offer. Several have pitched their services but the answers I get to what has become my standard set of questions have not been impressive. Back to most wanting to talk about investments and imply that their active management will beat the market.
I say I want to work through a strategy to optimize the after tax value of inheritances to my heirs, who likely will have different tax brackets. This requires considering state and federal estate and income taxes for me and for them. I don’t get anything to suggest they even understand the question, let alone know how to help.
I also used to have two insurance questions, one about disability insurance prices vs. the present value of benefits, discounted by the probability of collecting and the duration of the income stream. The other was about need for maintaining and options for getting rid of outgrown cash value life policies. One planner cheerfully agreed that the present value of disability insurance would depend on the probability of becoming disabled long enough to quality, but had no idea what those probabilities might be. When I raise options for life insurance they agree with my list of considerations, but seem out of their depth in providing any information.
When I ask about Social Security claiming strategies most agree that the probability of collecting influences the present value. But they have no idea what those probabilities are or how to calculate the present values taking those into account. They use calculators that assume a known age at death and cannot go beyond that.
So far with any of those questions I have yet to have someone say anything even interesting, let alone that would make me consider hiring them.
Most say that they don’t provide tax advice, which makes them useless, since taxes are my biggest expense.
This is why I keep wondering what planners are doing when they are spending dozens of hours a year on a client. The answer appears to be none of the above.
If I could find someone who I thought could handle these introductory questions then at least I would consider paying them for advice.
Hiring someone to invest for me is not going to happen. I could imagine paying a flat fee or an hourly fee for advice. But so far I have not found one for whom I would be willing to pay.
I definitely plan. I just don’t use a planner.
It is very disappointing to me that you have had this experience. This is not a-typical and why so many consumers are jaded about our profession. You can find many “advisors” but few who have an interest in real planning, even fewer with the necessary knowledge and experience to go beyond the commonplace. I would say most physicians go their whole lives without ever interacting with the kind of financial planner who could fill the needs listed above. It’s a crying shame and mostly luck if you do find such a person.
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