When you say reputable advisor, do you mean someone like Brian Schwabb? Or like Meryll Lynch?
I'd like to be able to sit down with someone and discuss trading and stocks.
I worked with a broker at Meryll before and had some success. But he did all the work. I'd like to learn how to read the graphs and etc.
Dex gave me a nice site to check out, and I am. But I was wondering, who can I sit down with and put a plan together?
Charles Schwabb is good if you are able to do it all yourself and just need an online discount broker to cheaply execute investments, trades, etc. Many discount brokers these days also have research that they share with clients who hold their $ and investments with them.
I'd recommend going to a nearby full service firm - preferably a local branch of a large firm. My top recommendations would be Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs. Merrill, JP Morgan, and Morgan Stanley are also good. I'd go to several firms and have an experienced advisor from each of them meet with you. I'd recommend visiting the local websites of the local branches of these firms and checking out the bios of the advisors onboard. Narrow it down to one experienced advisor at each office, and give each a call at their direct extention to feel them out. If for some reason you don't get a good vibe from one advisor at any one firm, wait a few days and call another experienced advisor at the same firm. Trust in your advisor will be very important, and he or she should also be able to feel as though they can trust you as well.
You'll have an initial meeting with each advisor to feel one another out. At that first meeting (or perhaps at the second one), the advisor will need to get some very important information from you, and will at some point in the meeting pull out a questionaire. They will ask a series of questions designed to gauge your goals, time frames, liquidity needs now and in the future, risk tolerance, etc. Be open and honest.
After they've done this, they will or should get back to you in a day or two with a proposal to go over that will show you how they would plan to invest your $ based upon what you told them about yourself and your situation. They should explain things to you such as risk, charges, fee structures, any penalties, etc. Ask them detailed questions - why they are recommending this or that strategy or investment, what happens if this or that happens, etc.
After you've compared what several experienced advisors at several reputable firms propose to do for you, you can make an informed decision from there.
Those big firms (and pretty much all experienced advisors at all firms) prefer big money clients - typically $250k or more in investable assets. If you don't have that kind of $ yet, I'd tell whoever you talk to right up front what you DO have, but let them know that you plan to have some big $ coming in eventually. This way they don't blow you off, and for the time being they put your $ into a platform with fee structures that won't eat up large chunks of your smaller nest egg.
You can go to your local bank, but those advisors tend to be limited as to what they can offer and what they actually know, and are usually in the advisor position there because they knew the right person and got promoted up over time from teller to retail banker to advisor.
Insurance agents who a licensed to do investments also tend to be limited in what they can offer on the investment side in terms of actual products and knowledge of investments. The fees they charge also tend to be high.
And smaller firms and independent shops can be very risky to do business with in and of themselves for a variety of reasons. There are plenty of reasons you never hear about a broker at a LARGE firm getting caught for running a Ponzi scheme. Larger publicly traded firms are generally more stable and transparent, and you have the comfort of knowing that your $ is SIPC insured for a half mil and also insured against things like employee theft.
As for doing it yourself, I'd think long and hard about that. Some people have the time and aptitude and can learn to manage their own $ well. But most do not, mainly due to emotions (fear, greed, ego, etc) getting in the way. If you do decide to eventually do your own, I'd recommend taking a long term approach and educating yourself on long term investing for many months or perhaps even years before you make your first trade.
Personally, I did my own investments for years without any formal training. Had some ups and downs, and really learned a great deal once I became an advisor at a large firm myself for a couple of years. I have since gone independent, and now run what is commonly known as a small "hedge fund". I have a small number of investors (mainly family and a few old friends and old clients) who are all "accredited" - have at least $2 mil in assets and / or earn at least $250k per year. Totally different ballgame.
