How wealthy must you be to hire a financial planner?

I started my account with only $100.00 a few years ago. My planner didn’t have any limits on how much I needed to open an account.

around 70k and up a year.

The easiest way is by hiring yourself….Open a 401k or a Roth IRA at your place of employment (if available) if not. Go to any Bank or Savings and Loan to open one…Many Insurance Companys offer retirement fund accounts….And then leave ‘em alone. Also there are Investment Firms like “Edward Jones” that offer guidence in exchange for a crack at selling you into their investment packages….It’s free to listen…Go ask….

I’d check out Clark Howard’s Website. He’s pretty smart, and has a lot of good info for average income earners.

If there is any way you can open an account with USAA, I’d reccommend you do so immediately. They offer free financial planning, and are the best banking/insurance company I’ve ever heard of. You just have to be associated with the military in some way.

I’m 25, make under 45k a year and have a financial planner. Couple of my friends make under 25k a year and have them. How? A good starter financial planner doesn’t charge for his time, just makes a commision off whatever you need that he resells. Naturally this can be a concern sometimes but if you keep you get a good guy you trust, its extremely valuable and insightful. Most people my age don’t even have a savings account, much less a plan for retirement. I use a company called Ashford Advisors, they got a nifty product called The Living Balance Sheet (check it out at www.livingbalancesheet.com) that’s a good starter financial planning tool. As my business continues to grow, I plan at some point to upgrade to a more sophisticated financial planning tool/advisor most likely, but to start out with the basics: IRA, 401k, Savings accounts, proper insurance coverage for you, your belongings, and your business (if you have one) its a great starting point. The trick is to start planning now, before you hit 65 and go: “jeeze, how am I ever going to retire?”

Thanks digital and everyone. I am also 25 and making less than 45k. I have already begun working on my 401(k) and savings, but I think I was thinking of a financial planner who specifies in investments. However, lots of great sources have been provided here so I have lots of reading to do ~

Thanks!

@squirbel; thank you for a fluther-like question. One trick is to find several friends and find a financial adviser who will accept a group – altho also willing to give individual advice.

This is a bad time to do anything too daring.

another option is looking into foreign VAs that specialize in economics. You’d be very surprised what you can get for about $4 an hour. I have three and they are amazing.

VAs? Expound por favor!

virtual assistant

@Riser, where did you find your VAs? I am Googling, but I’d rather go with one that you trust.

I don’t think you need to be wealthy to hire one.

As I understand it, Financial Planners work for 1) Hourly Fees 2) A percentage of your portfolio or 3) a combination of both. So, even if you don’t have a million in the bank, you can still get one for an hourly fee.

I would suggest asking a few people for their personal financial planners and then picking one of them. Don’t pick one based on their recommendation unless they use the same person themselves.

You do not have to be wealthy, but I would suggest you get a true financial planner rather than a life insurance sales person.
Financial planners usually have securities licenses and can direct you on where to invest your money.
Some life insurance sales people proclaim to be financial planners when their true trade is life insurance. The giveaway is the only option they offer is investment through some sort of life insurance policy. It doesn’t mean that what they are offering is bad either, it just is a giveaway that they are not a financial planner in the sense that I get you are looking for.
You may want life insurance anyway, but a true financial planner usually does that as a part of their overall options, or can recommend someone to you.
Uusally you can start putting money away, outside of a life insurance policy for $50—$100 a month with a financial planner.

Squirbel,
I would also suggest that when you talk to someone, be as clear as possible of what you are looking for. If you are single, no dependents and are looking to invest for the long term, be wary of anyone who tries to get you to do so through a life insurance investment.
It is more complicated than I can share on here, but if you want to invest that much per month, you would probably be better off doing it in something other than life insurance.
That way ALL of your money, minus a commission (which cannot exceed 8% of ivestment) goes into the investment. In a lifeinsurance policy, it is difficult toknow how much of your money is truly being invested vs going into life insurance vs going into commissions.

Also, there are no load mutual funds that you can invest in,meaning there is no up front commisions taken out, but they are back loaded, meaning they take there money off of the back end.
The benefit means that all your money is being invested and you don’t have to go through a broker. You must do your homework though on how much they take out on the backside of it.
The downside is that they usually require a larger sum to start out with.