How about VUG for my Roth IRA, with some foreign ETF mixed in?

I made this same mistake when I started in my 20s. American Funds are the highest load funds out there, and I would get rid of any advisor that would put you in those.

As the next post said, you can get in some long-term Vanguard funds for fees under 1%. Your American Funds would have to outperform Vanguard by 5% just to break even for you, and they aren't doing that.

Are we getting to the point where technology is starting to make financial advisors less relevant for basic stuff? Similar to travel agents? What I'm doing right now is not very sophisticated. When I started saving I couldn't even make any purchases on AF without a broker so that's why I have my financial advisor. Earlier this year I did discuss with him about rebalancing and going much heavier on growth. That's also gotten me much better dividends already. I think just this week one of my accounts paid out a dividend worth 6 months of my contributions so I'm pleased with that move.

I'm hesitant though to just cut my guy loose. I'll see if I can ask him if we can get those fees down.

RUN AWAY FROM EDWARD JONES!!!

WTF do you need a FA for? do you have millions you need help with? About to retire and need advice?

Just cut him loose and with a swiftness! He is not your friend or ally he has been gouging you for a task you could easily do on your own. Move to a low cost provider such as Vanguard, Schwab or Fidelity and don't look back. Unless you don't trust yourself to stay the course in a down market and need a FA for the emotional support that is.

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Vanguard has embarassing UI.

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Agreed. I don't recommend Vanguard as far as the brokerage site to use, but do recommend their funds/ETF's. I use Fidelity as my brokerage company and am very happy with their UI.

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RUN AWAY FROM EDWARD JONES!!!

WTF do you need a FA for? do you have millions you need help with? About to retire and need advice?

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Some people need help. Some people don’t. Regardless, people should talk to an advisor or 3 and decide for themselves. Most folks don’t even know what questions to ask to find out if they even need help.

A good FA is worth it. A bad one isn’t. Pretty cut and dry.

Eta- for the OP specifically, if your FA cannot articulate his value, then move or go it alone.

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Agreed. I don't recommend Vanguard as far as the brokerage site to use, but do recommend their funds/ETF's. I use Fidelity as my brokerage company and am very happy with their UI.

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+1

I used Vanguard for several years after college and hated their website. After Vanguard introduced ETFs, I moved everything over to Fidelity and couldn't be happier. Most of my portfolio is comprised of Vanguard ETFs at Fidelity.

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I usually check my balances/transactions through my financial aggregator. I hadn't logged into the more robust portal on American Funds in quite a while. I'd always made adjustments via my financial advisor since they run the account.

Apparently it looks like you can buy funds right through American funds now. I don't think they had that capability 4 years ago when I started the fund.

Anyway I can see through there that I'm paying about 5.75% in fees each month for each transaction. Is there anyway around this to minimize fees or is that about standard? I'm still in my 20s so I'm trying to increase my savings and reduce my costs anywhere I can because anything I do now will obviously balloon exponentially by the time I'm able to retire.

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It seems apparent you do not understand how much you are actually paying in fees. 5.75% might be the loads to purchase/sell some securities, but you're most certainly also paying a management fee if you have an advisor (who is getting commissions on buying and selling your AF mutual funds).

Regardless, you're paying WAY too much to accomplish what you want to accomplish...financial advisor or not.

If you want to do it yourself, read a lot of the responses above. You can find low-cost, no-transaction-fee ("NTF") mutual funds or ETFs that provide exposure to the markets in which you should be diversified. You could literally save thousands of dollars a year doing it this way if you know what your doing and are comfortable with your level of sophistication to apply a prudent investment strategy across your portfolio.

If you want a financial advisor, you should be able to find a fee-only advisor with management fees below 1.2% depending on your assets under management. You can start your search on NAPFA.org. You don't have to pay commissions to implement an excellent investment strategy. I'm a CFP(R) professional and a fee-only financial advisor. The ONLY way our firm gets paid is through one-time financial planning fees and management fees based on AUM. We implement strategies with no-load mutual funds from mutual fund companies we have researched thoroughly and trust their process. But because we don't accept commissions, we are not beholden to them and can literally move all our client assets to other mutual funds tomorrow with no consequences other than taxes in non-retirement accounts.

There are tons of reasons to hire a financial advisor or planner that are outside the realm of "investments". If you asked my clients what I do, they would describe major life events (family member dying, job transition, saving for kids college, tax planning, etc.) I helped walk them through and major decisions I helped them think through. Very few, if any, would mention investments first. The main driver of not hiring one is expense. A do-it-yourselfer can save money by managing their investments themselves. For those folks, a financial planner makes more sense to review their situation and give them some great direction.

tl;dr - You are paying way too much in fees. Consider doing it yourself with low-cost ETFs or mutual funds or hiring a competent, fiduciary, fee-only financial advisor or planner.

Their UI is geared towards Boomers. If you have ever dealt with that generation and technology, you will understand.