NYC Financial Advisor for The Clueless

August 13, 2024 2:03 AM

Hello Mefis! So after years of feast and famine my partner and I are in need of a financial advisor. We both come from financially illiterate backgrounds and for better or worse have survived but not thrived for most of our lives. We are hitting our mid fifties with no retirement savings and a middle school kid. We have a potentially significant stock windfall from a job coming up. Can anyone recommend a non-judgemental, clear and honest financial advisor to talk to in the NYC area on the next few weeks? We need to know how to handle, well, everything from selling stock an where to put money and best strategies. Advice appreciated!
posted by anonymous to Work & Money (9 answers total)

I was in your shoes a while back, and another mefite recommended Third Eye Associates. They're based in Red Hook NY, so there's no in-person office in New York City itself, but they set me up over zoom. I was personally just looking for a one-and-done "set me up" thing, where they could take a look at what I was doing and then help me figure out how to adjust my plan if necessary, and that worked great.

But they're not ignoring me - they set me up with an online portal that I can use to monitor my budget, my spending, and my income, and I've been using that for the past 3 years. And I've been through a couple job changes since that meeting, and they've been able to meet for quick "do we need to adjust anything" meetings since as well. I'm quite happy.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:40 AM on August 13 [4 favorites]

Can’t help you with an advisor, but I seriously recommend sitting down and at least skimming Personal Finance for Dummies before you talk to someone. It will make the conversation much more productive.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 5:47 AM on August 13 [2 favorites]

If you are planning to put that windfall into a brokerage account, you will likely be assigned someone who can guide you if you want. We use Schwab and were assigned a manager at midtown.
posted by Ollie at 7:06 AM on August 13

As TellMeNoLies suggested above, I would recommend that you do some reading before even scheduling a meeting with an advisor to give yourself an idea of "the lay of the land."

Two resources that you might want to check out:

Bogleheads guide to managing a windfall and

r/personalfinance's guide to what to do with a windfall

Be wary of seeking a financial advisor who is not a fiduciary or who works for an insurance company. Unfortunately, I do not have a specific recommendation for you.
posted by statusquoante at 7:28 AM on August 13 [3 favorites]

We used https://www.futureperfect.nyc/ . They were pretty good at analyzing your existing situation and also looking at your existing investments. WE made some adjustments but all in all really didn't feel like financial planning was worth it (it cost us $2k 7 years ago)
posted by sandmanwv at 10:31 AM on August 13

Just chiming in to say that financial "advisors" at some banks and brokerages are just sales people. They don't owe it to you to make the best decisions for you (they don't have a fiduciary duty to you) so they can sell you mutual funds with high fees that give them kickbacks or they are incentivized to sell funds that their bank or brokerage is promoting.

So it is worth having some understanding of how finances work. This is Canadian centered, but I found the book Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam to be a great resource and a fun read.

It is both empowering and will help you make informed choices with the financial planner you eventually hire
posted by Sauter Vaguely at 1:06 PM on August 13 [1 favorite]

Just chiming in to say that financial "advisors" at some banks and brokerages are just sales people.

If they strong arm you into invest in anything *during* the visit, that a sure sign that they are a sales person and not an advisor.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:33 PM on August 13 [1 favorite]

Make sure the people you eventually work with are fiduciaries - that means they have an obligation to put your interests first rather than just sell you investments that provide them with commissions.

I had modest accounts I inherited at Fidelity and Schwab, and I eventually consolidated with my own retirement account at a large regional bank. I have been extremely pleased with my investment advisor, who I meet with quarterly and is available for interim phone calls or appointments. The first thing he did was have me fill out a form detailing all the insurance/expenses/assets/obligations/children/work expectations/retirement plans, etc. I had, in order to see which investments would be most appropriate for my situation. He wanted to know our entire financial situation before recommending investments.

I pay a quarterly fee, which I think he earns, and my investments have done well - definitely better than I could possibly have accomplished on my own. I am a kind of set-it-and-forget-it investor, and I no longer sweat hearing about stock market/bond market/interest rate changes.
posted by citygirl at 7:36 PM on August 13

Echoing that, if you do hire an advisor, you want someone who will be your fiduciary, and adding that it’s entirely appropriate to ask a prospective advisor whether they would be. Generally, you’re looking for a fee-only advisor, which means you’ll pay for their time and they won’t make commissions. Note that “fee-based” sounds similar but isn’t what you want. One place that only lists fiduciary advisors is Napfa.org, and they also have good questions to ask when you’re choosing.
posted by daisyace at 5:05 AM on August 14