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Thread: I want to find a full service retirement fund company. Advise ?

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    God/dess carmen_b's Avatar
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    Default I want to find a full service retirement fund company. Advise ?

    Hello !

    I'm VERY into investing and planning for the future and I have a good chunk of money sitting in a bank from my self employment gig ( I worked my ass off over the last 3 years ! ). I want to find a FULL SERVICE company that can handle a retirement plan for me. I'm interested in a target retirement fund from Vangard or Fidelity , but I HATE paperwork.

    Is there a company who I can go sit down with ( or do this over the phone ) where the person will explain everything , take my money via check , and start the fund for me with minimal paperwork on my part ?

    I want to just be able to read, sign , write a check , and then have a pre-set amount taken out every month . I've literally left this money sitting in the bank because I find the paperwork and long process of signing up for this stuff confusing .

    Thanks in advance !

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    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re: I want to find a full service retirement fund company. Advise ?

    ^^^ the list is VERY long !

    I'm personally not a fan of 'managed' retirement funds. However if that's what you're looking for, and if you're willing to pay a 'cut' for that management, I have heard very good things about T. Rowe Price ...

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    Default Re: I want to find a full service retirement fund company. Advise ?

    You can call Vanguard or Fidelity directly and have this done. However, as a Financial Advisor, I do recommend you speak to one of course, in order to ascertain your goals, income/taxes situation, risk tolerance, etc.

    Here are a number of financial planning firms that will also have retirement planning:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_advisor

    Some more good info:
    http://www.sec.gov/answers/finplan.htm

    Some fund families I personally like:
    Franklin-Templeton
    Oppenheimer
    Columbia
    Van Kampen (not so much these days)
    Fidelity
    You can google all of those.....

    I am also not a huge fan of target retirement funds. If you work with a a decent investment advisor, they should be able to throw you into a decent mix of managed funds and exchange-traded funds.

    And yes Melonie, she's willing to pay a cut for them to take the pain out of doing it herself, do we really need the sarcasm?

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    Default Re: I want to find a full service retirement fund company. Advise ?

    Carmen,

    If you just want a single fund for your retirement and don't want to spend a lot of time doing research, you might want to try one of Fidelity's Freedom funds. They have multiple funds that base their portfolio on when you want to retire. You choose a fund for the year you want to retire. Here's a link to their page:

    http://personal.fidelity.com/product...nds.shtml.cvsr

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    Default Re: I want to find a full service retirement fund company. Advise ?

    And yes Melonie, she's willing to pay a cut for them to take the pain out of doing it herself, do we really need the sarcasm?
    Actually my intention wasn't sarcastic. It was merely to make other readers aware that the 'management fees' attached to both mutual funds themselves and with 'professionally managed' retirement accounts in particular can consume a significant percentage of annual gains. Over the 40 year life of a retirement account, the difference between averaging a 7 percent annual gain from self-directed investments, versus a 4-5% net gain from 'professionally managed' investments after these fees are subtracted, can result in a HUGE difference in the final retirement account balance.

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    Default Re: I want to find a full service retirement fund company. Advise ?

    Quote Originally Posted by Melonie View Post
    Actually my intention wasn't sarcastic. It was merely to make other readers aware that the 'management fees' attached to both mutual funds themselves and with 'professionally managed' retirement accounts in particular can consume a significant percentage of annual gains. Over the 40 year life of a retirement account, the difference between averaging a 7 percent annual gain from self-directed investments, versus a 4-5% net gain from 'professionally managed' investments after these fees are subtracted, can result in a HUGE difference in the final retirement account balance.
    How about the opportunity cost of trying to invest yourself, chasing returns, and losing out, versus investing in a professionally managed, properly allocated, and annually rebalanced portfolio?

    "Have you ever been to American wedding? Where is the vodka, where's marinated herring?" - GB
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mia M
    If a cupcake was tossed at me... well, I'd only be upset if it missed my mouth

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    Default Re: I want to find a full service retirement fund company. Advise ?

    How about the opportunity cost of trying to invest yourself, chasing returns, and losing out, versus investing in a professionally managed, properly allocated, and annually rebalanced portfolio?
    well if that professional manager could GUARANTEE better returns than the market averages, your point would have great merit. However, when professionally managed funds lose money, the fund manager still gets paid !

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    Default Re: I want to find a full service retirement fund company. Advise ?

    I am leaning towards full service even though you are right ( small percentages do add up when interest compounds over 30 years ) . However, right now I just need to get my $ in a better spot NOW. I've put part in a high interest savings account and part in CD's , but I know I need to do better.

    I want to go in , sit down with someone , have them fill out the paperwork ( I will carefully read over everything of course ) and then write a check. I don't want to fill anything out online and I don't want to fill out paperwork ect.

    Can Vanguard or Fidelity ( or someone else ) do this ? I'm frustrated because I feel like no one if making it easy .

    Thanks for your advice !

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    Default Re: I want to find a full service retirement fund company. Advise ?

    ^^^ yes Vanguard and Fidelity and many other institutions can create an IRA account for you ... and they can set up an arrangement where you as the customer don't have to do anything but send them a monthly contribution check, which is then invested in a 'professionally managed' retirement fund (or fund of funds). If you don't want to 'lock up' your money in an IRA, they can do the same thing with 'professionally managed' investments that aren't subject to the early withdrawl penalties (but which also don't result in deferred income taxes on the contributed money).

    Where dancers are concerned, one of the more 'useful' non-retirement related fund products that are available from many of these financial institutions is a state specific tax exempt fund. Given that most dancers fall into a 30-40% tax bracket, the tax exempt interest earnings from a state specific tax exempt fund often yields a greater real world rate of return than a high interest rate CD where the interest is fully taxable.

    for example ...

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    Default Re: I want to find a full service retirement fund company. Advise ?

    I wanted to do an update in case anyone was following or finds this link later :

    I decided to go with a 2045 fund from T. Rowe and got signed up over the phone today!

    Vanguard had very similar fees for the fund ( minimal fee's .... you are going to have them if you have a managed fund ) .

    T . Rowe STOOD OUT from Vanguard from a customer service point . I called Vanguard to and got a phone tree, got frustrated , and hung up. T . Rowe had a PERSON answer the phone, took my info, took my inital amount and got me started ! So .... T. Rowe got for their better customer service even though I was leaning towards Vanguard. They also were able to take the amount I wanted out of my checking every month.

    I should simply have to wait for papers to sign only ( not fill out ) . I'll keep you posted on whether or not getting everything started is as easy as I'm hoping it will be.

    The other big difference that might matter for some people is that T.Rowe requires $1000 to start and Vanguard requires $3000.

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    Default Re: I want to find a full service retirement fund company. Advise ?

    Melonie wrote on Sept. 20 "Where dancers are concerned, one of the more 'useful' non-retirement related fund products that are available from many of these financial institutions is a state specific tax exempt fund. Given that most dancers fall into a 30-40% tax bracket, the tax exempt interest earnings from a state specific tax exempt fund often yields a greater real world rate of return than a high interest rate CD where the interest is fully taxable.

    When looking at State tax exemption, keep this in mind. The Supreme Court is reviewing this issue, that may, or may not, affect those that hold these in their State.

    The following is a quote from a NY times article.

    "In a case with the potential to rattle, if not reshape, the market for state and municipal bonds, the Supreme Court agreed on Monday to decide whether states can continue to exempt interest on their own bonds from their residents’ taxable income, while taxing the interest on bonds issued by other states.

    The preferential tax treatment for in-state bonds is longstanding and very common, offered by nearly all the states that have an income tax. State and local governments issued more than $350 billion worth of bonds a year from 2002 to 2006.

    The practice was, in fact, largely taken for granted until it was declared “facially unconstitutional” in January 2006 by the Kentucky Court of Appeals. That state court, ruling in a case brought by a Kentucky couple, George and Catherine Davis, who own bonds issued by other states, said the preferential tax treatment erected a barrier against interstate commerce in violation of the Constitution’s commerce clause.

    In the only previous decision on the subject, an Ohio state appeals court upheld that state’s preferential treatment of bond interest, in a 1994 decision that the Supreme Court declined to review. The fact that two state courts now disagree on such a fundamental question probably led the justices to conclude that the issue required their attention."

    My thought is to 'stay away' from these until this is decided. Unless your State treats other States as their own.

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