About to fire my northwestern mutual "financial planner" what now?

[Muaddib]

Hi all. Really appreciate this website dropping knowledge bombs left and right on me. Wish I had read it all last year. Got sucked into a whole life policy. not as bad as I've read others have gotten on here - about 1 year in with $5k payed in. Supposed to break even 7-8 years in ... cash value first year is $376. Told my guy that we wanted to get out of whole life and he gave us another song and dance and told us to sleep on it. He has helped us set up a bAckdoor Roth IRA and 529s for kiddos. ( Indiana) so the relationship is not without some positives. During our recent meeting however my wife asked whAt other investment opportunities in generAl were available besides the overfunding cAsh value and he went into yet another spiel about how awesome whole life is. That sealed the deal
Our neighbor recently gAve us the name of their financial person who is affiliAted with Edward Jones. They say good things about this individual but I'm skittish given that we were referred to our present person with good recommendations from a colleague.

Who do I trust at this point?

Thanks

[Zaphod]

Trust yourself, you're just moving from one bad situation to another with edward jones (from what I hear). Just stick around here, you dont need any other those guys that will steer you into their best interests. You can find a fee only advisor on wci rec's pages or learn enough to just do it yourself eventually.

[Hatton]

You were sold a policy. Now you need to surrender it and consider it a sunk cost.  Better to recognize a mistake early in life and move on.  Get yourself some adequate term and buy some vanguard indexes. Lots of good stuff on this site to help you.  Just do it.

[jfoxcpacfp]

Read WCI's blog post today and draw your own conclusions. You're merely making a lateral move if you go to E Jones - same commission-based model and canned "financial plans". At a minimum, look for a fee-only CFP, preferably someone who is used to working with doctors.

[Rando]

Dude, going from NML to Edward Jones is going from the frying pan into the fire.  There are some reputable financial planners listed on this site, otherwise read this site and Bogleheads then do it yourself.

[VagabondMD]

Rando wrote:

Dude, going from NML to Edward Jones is going from the frying pan into the fire.  There are some reputable financial planners listed on this site, otherwise read this site and Bogleheads then do it yourself.

Click to expand...

That was my precise initial reaction, including the word, "Dude". LOL

Run, don't walk, away from NWM and EJ. Consider the $5k a small price to pay for a valuable experience on how not to invest for your future. I only wish my early errors were so small!

PS You do not need his, or anyone else's, "help" opening a 529 account (you can do it online in 5 minutes) or a Backdoor Roth (little more complicated). Regarding the latter, there are lots of articles on the internet to tell you how to do it (Morningstar, Bogleheads, etc.), but this one from Kitces should do: https://www.kitces.com/blog/how-to-do-a-backdoor-roth-ira-contribution-while-avoiding-the-ira-aggregation-rule-and-the-step-transaction-doctrine/

[Benjamin]

I feel your pain. I have now fired 3 financial advisors and insurance salesman.

At this point, I have a very simple investment plan and don't need an advisor.

For your investments, consider the very popular 3 fund portfolio, simply the Vanguard total stock market mutual fund or any of the "150 portfolios better than yours" post by WCI. These are very good options that you could manage yourself. I have read that post probably 15 or more times.

If you have other needs, working with a CFP/CFA Fiduciary would be very good. Check out the WCI recommend advisors if you're interested.

Good luck,
Ben