This Is 50
Financial Planning You Can Afford
ADVICE FROM a financial planner can be costly. You could pay a flat annual fee, often in the thousands, or alternatively, 1 percent of your assets under management (AUM) each year. But just as you may not need a full-body scan at your next physical, you may not need full-service financial planning advice right now. Fortunately, there are services and tools available at various price points. Some are even free. “The challenge can be filtering out what’s useful and relevant to your particular situation,” says Brett Koeppel, founder of Eudaimonia Wealth in Buffalo, New York. Options include:
À la carte • Some planners charge by the hour or by the plan. Hourly fees may range from $200 to $400. Jan Valecka, owner of Valecka Wealth Management in Dallas, estimates that it may take a planner a minimum of 10 hours to produce a complete plan, putting the cost at between $2,000 and $4,000.
You can search for experts in your area at plannersearch.org, napfa.org/find-an-advisor or letsmakeaplan.org. Or try AARP’s Interview an Advisor tool. Be sure to choose a planner who is a fiduciary—meaning they are obligated to look out for your best interests, not their own.
Good-customer deals • Many financial institutions offer free or low-cost advice to customers with large balances. For example, at Schwab, clients with accounts of $500,000 or more can work with a consultant at no charge. It’s the same amount to qualify for Vanguard’s Personal Advisor Select, which charges 0.3 percent per year.
Robo-advisors • These programs use sophisticated algorithms to actively manage your portfolio. Some, including SoFi Automated Investing and M1 Finance, charge no advisory fee. Others may charge between 0.15 percent and 0.5 percent of AUM.
Virtual financial planning • These services offer customized planning and/or investment management sessions via video or phone, making them cheaper than in-person options. Betterment Premium, for example, provides unlimited phone access to its CFPs if you maintain a $100,000 balance; the annual fee is 0.4 percent. At Empower and Facet Wealth, a CFP helps build your portfolio and create a complete financial plan. Empower’s management fee ranges from 0.49 percent to 0.89 percent, with a minimum balance of $100,000. Facet’s fee starts at $2,000 per year, with a free initial consultation included. —Patricia Amend
MY FIRST TIME
NOT KEEPING UP WITH MY KID
MY 16-YEAR-OLD SON and I hiked to our favorite swimming hole last fall. He’s a soccer player who trains daily. But I’m pretty fit, too: At 50, I’d been taking boxing lessons. I had more muscle definition than ever and finally fit back into a pair of hiking pants I’d bought back when he was a toddler. Prepared with water, snacks and sunscreen, we headed out.
The day was unseasonably warm and the path was steeper than I’d remembered, but I was keeping pace with my son. Then, suddenly, my heart started pounding. I couldn’t catch my breath. I was used to working up a sweat in the gym, but there I could always take a breather. Here on the trail, I felt compelled to keep going—until I physically couldn’t.
I leaned against a tree and gulped water. My son, 10 feet ahead and unaware I was struggling, turned back and sighed. But then we locked eyes, and his annoyance became concern. “Are you OK?” he asked, placing his hand on my shoulder.
I remember the hikes when my son was little where he needed to slow down and rest. Now it was my turn. And I could tell that we were both realizing something simultaneously: Sometimes we falter, even as parents, and that’s OK.
Once I felt better, we continued to the top, walking side by side, his hand on my back. As proud as I am to have raised a son strong and fast enough to out-hike me, I’m prouder still to have raised one who understands that from time to time it’s OK to slow down. —Aileen Weintraub
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