My financial planner isn't doing it for me. What do I do?

How is it even possible for it to be at the same spot that it was 10 years ago?

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I've been with a pretty reputable financial planner for awhile but in the last decade - while there's been many wins and he's nearly doubled the portfolio's value at times - today it sits at what it was nearly at 10 years ago.

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I don't know how this would be possible.

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What would Money Talk do?

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You will need to provide a lot more information on your circumstances for a reasonable reply.

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What has he had you invested in?

Him wanting to swing for the fences shouldn’t matter. Your financial plan and investments should be based on your goals and risk tolerance.

What is this money sitting in today? IRAs? Brokerage accounts?

This sounds like something borderline illegal, breach of fiduciary duty, etc.

I do not have experience with this so grain of salt. That said, you might contact an attorney with experience in this area just to see. This person should not be professionally managing money.

He shouldn’t be swinging for the fences unless you want him to be. Did you tell him to do that? What risk tolerance conversations have you had?

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It’s all over the place. Ira, brokerage, money markets… thing is, I don’t know what any of this shite is. I’m pretty ignorant to the world of investing.

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Hate to quote Dave Ramsey here but you really shouldnt ever be invested in anything you have no clue about.

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Im looking for someone who can do all the work for me and just not piss it all away on gambles.

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You need to get more actively involved and find someone who will teach you what it is they are investing in so you understand what it is and why your money is going into it so hopefully you agree to it and it makes sense to you. You dont have to make every decision, but at least understand where its going and why. Do not go to someone and say heres a bunch of money, i dont care what you do with it and I dont need to know anything, generally speaking you're going to get bad returns

Just as an example someone using the S&P calculator above. If 10 years ago you had a $500,000 balance with this person and its only worth about $500,000 still today, it probably cost you a lot of money. Using that S&P calculator above, if that money just sat in the S&P 500 over those 10 years (January 2014-January 2024), it would be worth over $1.5M with dividends reinvested....so it would cost you literally a million bucks on a $500,000 balance originally.

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He's a swing-for-the-fences type and as I said, it's resulted in a lot of growth. But he's been on a disastrous losing streak

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It truly sounds like you have your money not with a “reputable financial advisor”, and not even with an investor… your money appears to be with a (wannabe) trader. More than likely, he’s been trading (possibly churning) your account to generate commissions and/or fees for himself. Is this person fee based or commission based? Before you answer, I’ll venture a guess that he’s commission based.

Given this disastrous performance over the span of a decade, I’d be looking for a (truly) reputable advisor. Only a (bad) trader would see those types of peaks and troughs. But the first thing I’d do is better educate myself about at least the basics of fundamental investing - and realize that trading and investing are two different money management disciplines.

Best of luck going forward.

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I’m pretty ignorant to the world of investing.

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read the sticky thread and educate yourself. you need to learn how to invest yourself. you got played a fool.

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I don’t think anyone would recommend 100% S&P long term

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There are countless people who recommend this. 100% S&P500 is a GOAT portfolio - even Warren Buffett agrees. Who wouldn't wanna own a piece of the greatest 500 companies in America? Of course this is applicable to people with a long time horizon, as you approach retirement then 100% equities is risky (though plenty of people do it and make out just fine).