Will somebody else care for my money like I will?

September 3, 2013 6:57 PM

How do I select a money manager, financial planner or investment advisor?

I will have in excess of 100K in the next year. I have never had this large a sum of money before and want to handle it responsibly. I want to get a financial planner or money manager to help decide how to invest, how much to invest etc. Not having experience with this, I have no idea what to look for or how much to expect to pay. I have a fear that a money manager is not going to be as concerned about my money as I would be and will make decisions that are quick or careless.

All suggestions for how to choose this person are welcome. If you feel like I could/should handle the money myself, I'd like to hear thoughts about that too.

posted by rglass to Work & Money (7 answers total)

What are your financial goals? Knowing what you hope to accomplish will influence our answers. As sad as this may sound, $100k is not really a lot of money to someone who manages other people's money for a living. I imagine you probably could manage it very well yourself, depending on what your goals are.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:02 PM on September 3, 2013 [2 favorites]

Your doctor is probably not as concerned about your health as you are, but that doesn't mean you should take out your own appendix.

The universal advice on AskMe is to get a fee-based financial planner. You can start here.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 7:03 PM on September 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

It makes sense to consult with a financial planer, but choose one that you pay. The folks that work on commission are at best biased. An hour or two with a pro should give you perspective.
posted by sammyo at 7:06 PM on September 3, 2013

The Four Pillars of Investing is the only investing book you will ever need, IMHO.
posted by COD at 7:38 PM on September 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

You might check out the Bogleheads' Guide as a distillation of some of the forum resources, too.
posted by RedOrGreen at 8:18 PM on September 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

Good suggestions here, but a simple approach would be to consult the people at Fidelity Investments or Vanguard, and let them handle things. Wish I'd done it before I did it.
posted by fivesavagepalms at 10:56 AM on September 4, 2013

Thirding Bogleheads. That philosophy/community/world of resources has been immensely valuable to me. (Literally!)
posted by TonyRobots at 11:22 AM on September 4, 2013