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+--- Thread: A fool and his money. Seeking advice (/showthread.php?tid=1323)
A fool and his money. Seeking advice - wths74 - 04-19-2011
I will be the first to tell you I don't know anything at all about investing. I rolled my old company's 401k and took my pension in a lump sum and rolled them both into a Fidelity IRA. Now there is a nice little nest egg sitting there. Not a millionaire but a nice sum none the less. My question is this. Should I have Fidelity manage it for me? Some say do some research and do it myself and avoid paying them any fees. That sounds good but I don't know what I am doing and I don't want to flush it all down the drain and be left with nothing in my retirement. My thinking is they would probably make more money than I would and it would be worth the fees. Is anyone in this similar situation? Are you doing ok letting them manage your ira? Are the fees cutting into your nest egg? I want to do something because now it's just sitting there getting a whole 0.8 interest. I am still working and I don't need to live on it now. I figure I will not retire for another 8 years or so. Any advice would be appreciated.
Re: A fool and his money. Seeking advice - jblock9292 - 04-19-2011
My two cents on the matter.
I would not pay them if I were you because the fees will eat into your gains and depending on how conservative the investment portfolio, you may be back to 0.8%. They will also be investing in their own offerings, so they will essentially be double-dipping and offering little to no management value. If you do go this direction, ask them to break out compensation by their fees for management and also the expense ratios of the mutual funds invested in. This will give you an idea of how much of your portfolio goes to Fidelity on a yearly basis.
The good news is you are still working and can take on a little more risk by allocating 60% of your portfolio into stocks. You will need the larger gains to combat long-term inflation. Fidelity is likely to have what is called an "Index Fund" in their offering. An index fund simply buys an equal allocation of every stock on an exchange (i.e. S&P 500). When the exchange goes up, you gain accordingly and the same if it goes down. Instead of trying to bet on one stock or a specific mutual fund, you are investing in the general market. It takes the guessing out of the equation.
The other 40% should go into a bond fund or funds. There are low risk options where your principle (original investment) is likely to be safe. You could look at funds that focus on tax-free municipals or highly rated corporate bonds. I would be happy to give you a few Fidelity choices to look at but do a reality check to make sure they are available for your IRA.
A little long, but those are my thoughts.
Re: A fool and his money. Seeking advice - wths74 - 04-20-2011
No, not too long at all... I certainly appreciate your advice. I will definitely take your advice before making any steps. thanks