Do you have a managed brokerage account?

A CMA account is just place to hold money. Do you mean you have some type of managed investment account where someone is investing your money for you? what are you paying? 1% annual is typical but what investments are they putting you in? Mutual funds? Stocks?

[quote]Do you mean you have some type of managed investment account where someone is investing your money for you? what are you paying?

Yes. He follows some plan that Merrill Lynch headquaters figures out.

[quote]1% annual is typical but what investments are they putting you in? Mutual funds? Stocks?

Yes 1 percent is the fee. It is mostly stocks (lots of them) and a few mutual funds.

1% is pretty typical for managed account. can get lower as your portfolio goes over $1million.

If you aren't really clear what they're investing in for you and why (what is your risk tolerance? what is the time horizon) you need to have a conversation with them to see if the investment strategy matches YOUR risk tolerance and time horizon for the money .

Merrill has cheaper plans that are robo (autoamted) or hybrid robo/live but they aer setill more than competitive offerings at Fidelity (Go), Vanguard, Schwab (intelligent portfolios)and even Goldman Sachs (Marcus Invest). Most of those charge between 0.35-0.65%

Actually just checked it and it looks like less than 1percent. I'll have to ask the guy like you said r3. Thanks.

I have everything invested with Vanguard and they manage it all for .3% (three-tenths of one percent). If you're paying a full 1% for Merrill Lynch to just follow a predetermined plan and rebalance every few months, you're paying a lot.

I consider myself pretty astute when it comes to investing but I still pay Vanguard to do it for one main reason - I need to protect myself from me. I'm afraid I will do something stupid after reading the market is tanking, or it's time to buy the latest hot stock. My brother, who I thought was equally astute, pulled out of the market 18 months ago when things were going south. He never got back into the market. My money almost doubled in the last 18 months and he totally missed the upside. I am a big proponent on managed investments.

[quote] I have everything invested with Vanguard and they manage it all for .3% (three-tenths of one percent). If you're paying a full 1% for Merrill Lynch to just follow a predetermined plan and rebalance every few months, you're paying a lot.

Merrill rebalances non-401k accounts regularly. 2021 returns were spectacular but we're about to lose most of it in 2022. Still, you will make out better when the account is managed, they make money on your money so they are working to maximize returns.

This week is a good example of why I'm in a managed account - I know I can't impulsively sell anything without going through the CFP at Vanguard who manages my IRA's. Conversely I can't buy anything without going through him, and buying stock funds (like S&P 500 or Total Market) is my inclination whenever the market tanks. But those types of impulse purchases always throw off my stock/bond and domestic/international ratio. Ultimately my IRAs don't need to be tapped for another ten years so I'm not going to worry about market fluctuations in the meantime. The money I'm living off of until then, besides social security, is in stable money market accounts and bond funds.

Anybody who is foolish enough to sell rather than buy when the market goes down needs professional financial guidance.

Is Vanguard as good of a manager as Merrill?

Or is Merrill more active in buying/selling when necessary?

I don’t believe in Merrill’s “managed” accounts. I made them switch me to self managed. Paying them is a waste IMO. They are not experienced personal investors. They are stockbrokers - aka, just looking to make money on you. Vanguard has a much better “managed” model.

What about TIAA?

Thumbs up for Vanguard. The fees are low and they know what they are doing. You need to have $50k to get managed service (can be a combo of different accounts, like an IRA and a brokerage account). When I set up service with Vanguard I had a long call with the planner to discuss my goals so they could manage the money accordingly. I feel like I’m in good hands. Now I just need the market to stop fucking around and start going up again.