Morgan Stanley

What are these fees for and what is your portfolio size?

Going price is $3.50 per.

I'm paying .95% for portfolio management. $120 is half as much as i pay Cox cable.

I had Morgan for years. I didn't do anything with them. Since last year, we been dumping money into Roth accounts. They are not our 401ks. My wife and I retired from Air Force. We have 140k in our 2 accounts total. Spending 120 a month on service fees is too expensive?

My service fees are 2%.

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Since last year, we been dumping money into Roth accounts. They are not our 401ks. My wife and I retired from Air Force. We have 140k in our 2 accounts total

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What value are the management fees providing you? Are your returns (after fees) consistently beating market, are they rebalancing portfolio, tax loss harvesting, managing tax optimized withdrawal strategies?

With 2x military pensions it is quite possible your portfolio strategy could be more risky/simple than typical (pension in lieu of bonds) and thus less need for rebalancing. For instance, I am 100% equities since I dont need a stable bond allocation due to pension income. I'm not paying someone 1%+ to buy & hold my index funds. I'm considering paying for tax optimization advice as I begin Roth conversions and tax gain harvesting though.

CFP here - not for Morgan Stanley.

What value are you receiving from the relationship?

Is the advisor assisting in retirement planning, asset location, insurance planning, tax efficiency? Are they providing suggestions with regards to your estate planning (trust/estate planner ultimately needs to do the work, but it’s important the advisor understands how to integrate the strategy into the portfolio/account titling)?

A lot of times clients just see fees and say “What’s the performance?”. Performance matters, but over time most advisors’ performance is going to be roughly in line with the benchmark.

The value we add is in the tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) we save clients over time with having an optimized strategy. It’s also being the voice of reason in times like April when clients get emotional about their money and panic. Without that voice in their ear, they sell and miss a 30% swing back to the positive.

A lot of this board feels they can do all the things I listed and keep their emotions in check. That’s fine, and a lot of people can. There are also a lot of people that need the hand holding. That’s what the fee is for.

Both ROTH accounts is close to 140k. Our returns last year was 22%. Fees are 2% per year. I really don't have any inputs on accounts. The advisor buys and sells funds as they see fit. I don't manage the funds at all. I just send money into account that's about all I do. Any company is cheaper because I don't manage the accounts?

I have trouble understanding the logic behind having an active trader manage a financial portfolio. Studies repeatedly show they rarely outperform the larger market, with high fees.

Why not go with very low cost index funds and save yourself the brokerage fees?