re: Is it better to invest with a financial advisor who works for a reputable company or ….

Give some to the advisor and you invest some of it. You can to ETF's until you get more comfortable before wading into stocks. Most advisors cannot beat the S&P so try VOO or SPY and compare your returns at the end of the year.

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NW proceeded to liquidate all the Prudential funds and converted them to NW branded funds that were all front loaded with 6% fees.

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Typical of any insurance company that offers investment options. They are all designed the same way regarding fees and they’re all absolute shite. I sat in meetings between customers and the State Farm agent who took me under his wing and taught me about the business 15 years ago. I listened as he talked these options up as such fantastic options for the clients and I would remain quiet. Most customers didn’t think to ask about the fees but one day this really anal bastard came in and had tons of questions. He brought up the fee structure and it opened my eyes. I was green to the industry and it got me thinking. After that meeting, I asked the agent if I could pick his brain about things and he said yes. So I sat in his office for two hours asking about the products and how he sells them so successfully. He brought up the fees and how they suck compared to most brokerages, but because his office is in such a small town of low income low educated people, it was like shooting fish in a barrel. That agent happens to be a cousin of mine who was not only born into an absolute shite ton of money (as in over $50 million) but also he’s taken his daddy’s money and used it to start tons of businesses and he’s amassed hundreds of millions of dollars now. I was comfortable enough to ask him if he has his money in those investment options and he smirked, then explained that only a small amount of his overall net worth is in State Farm’s options and that he has the majority of his money spread out over other brokerages with low fees.

Long story short: tell any insurance agent who asks you to move investments over to their brokerage to go frick themselves.

yea go waste someones time and be a dick. Great advice!

Sounds like you are in great shape, financially. Why don't you take a percentage of your portfolio and try investing on your own? You can learn a bit and you may enjoy it. Take an amount that you are comfortable losing, but with an objective of beating your current rates. You can develop a strategy that works for you and have some fun with it. It doesn't have to be a lot of money, but you may learn what your current portfolio shortcomings are, as well.

With your income and portfolio value, you can do this without risking your retirement.

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Is it better to invest with a financial advisor who works for a reputable company or ….
invest on your own?

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You have the assets to reasonably do both. Then you'll be able to answer your own question. Keep your financial guy for the time being, but fund your own personal account. Set up a portfolio. Work it for a year or so. Then compare results. Based on your post, I suspect you'd outperform your NW guy.

In terms of stocks vs funds, as much as folks attribute individual stock transactions to brilliance, IMO it's much more about simply having the discipline and time to research, invest, and closely follow the markets.

It sounds like you're occupied full time elsewhere. So a basket of funds in your personal portfolio would probably be the best way to get your feet wet.

Good question.

You could pay someone 1-3% of your funds every year to pick some mutual funds that you could pick yourself.

They get paid even if they lose your money. Which is bonkers.

Or you could just pick some mutual funds yourself.

Most "financial advisors" did not go to Brown or Harvard. They went to regional schools or community colleges.

Are you familiar with SPY? QQQ?
That’s about all you need to know.
Take a flyer or two on some of the individual names you see here.
There’s a lot of growth happening now.

I was talking to a who is with Edward Jones and Was asking him about how he was doing because the market has been so hot that anybody can look good. He said he wished he could do more but almost all the really hot stocks are off limits. As is Bitcoin or anything new like high yield leveraged ETFs. But he was also taking a family vacation to the Great Barrier Reef on EJ's dime. Boring pays well I guess.

For the OP. Why not try some yourself and look at it like gambling? You'll learn pretty quick and realize you can probably do much better.

a fricking moron who does not wanna trade, does not need dividend paying ETFS can just throw 50% of money in QQQ and 50% in VOO and forget it and they would make a killing over time.

Congrats on your dad paying 20K a year (1% average) to some guy for doing almost absolutely nothing but using a formula.

If this guy just has 10 clients like your dad, he would gross 200K a year. 100? 2M.

This is why hedge fund managers can get so filthy rich. Skim off a ton of people. Only issue is getting the clients. That’s why they send out those free dinner flyers to restaurants. All the need is 1 sucker and the cost pays for itself easily.