Why not advisers?? Wealthy investors

[JAque]

It is understandable that the majority of people looking for advice in these forum are trying to get a handle on how to get the most of their investments. Very well informed posters here give sometimes specific advice and also recommend reading of many good books. This makes sense as no one is going to care for our money as good as we do.
However, there are other people with significant assets and very busy in making more money that are looking for financial advisors only. It seems to me that very few responses guide them towards that end but instead they are encouraged to read and spend the time learning more and more.

This leads me to several questions:

1- Isn’t it true that there are many wealthy investors that don’t know or don’t care to know how to invest their money and solely depend on advisors? These are people that in general make their fortunes in something totally unrelated to the investment world.
2- If you have the money to pay for TOP advisors, wouldn’t you want those people advice in general over your own instincts? You normally wouldn’t perform surgery in yourself even if you knew how but seek the best surgeon you can afford. Of course, to be informed is good.
3- If you have the money, where do you find these TOP advisors
4- If these TOP advisers exist, who can afford them based on liquid assets? >$500K, > $1M, > $3M, > $5M .. more?

I am almost certain that there many many wealthy people that are only interested in results and don’t have the time of the will to learn. However, their advisers manage their investments successfully. Am I totally off here?


Thanks in advance.

JAque

[NajdorfDefense]

Are you looking for someone to *advise* you what to do, or someone to actually *invest* for you?

Said differently, do you want like an investment consultant, or a really good fund manager?

[JAque]

Hi:

My post was a question in general. I believe that there are many people that do not want to learn to invest, don't have time or don't care to learn. They just want results and have the money to pay to consultants.

You provided two choices, I want to be sure I understand. Could you tell me what the difference is exactly?


My idea is that there are "Top experts" out there. They talk to me about risk , goals , my assets, etc.
The go away for a week and recommend certain investments. I agree and they give me all the details of what to do.
These experts would monitor my investment constantly and provide advise on a regular basis as needed. They should do all the work in figuring out if my investments are on the right track. I do want to care if the market goes up or down or what happens around the world. I am paying these experts enough money so that they will come to me when changes are necessary.

Is this possible? How much will it cost? Do I have to have millions in assets?

thanks

JAque

[edtost]

[ QUOTE ]

Is this possible? How much will it cost? Do I have to have millions in assets?

[/ QUOTE ]

1) yes.

2) 1%-ish of AUM/yr or some type of commission-based model, depending on the advisor.

3) for most reputable firms, probably.

many firms will call this type of service "private wealth management", and will hold your funds in an account as fiduciaries.

[gull]

If you are knowledgable enough, no financial advisor is worth the money.

If you have average investing knowledge and no desire to learn, a financial advisor is definitely worth it.

Though it always depends on the situation, I would say that you'd probably want to be investing 250k+ to make a financial advisor worth the money. I'm not really sure about this figure though.

1 True
2 Yes
3 Internet
4 >$250k

[NajdorfDefense]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Is this possible? How much will it cost? Do I have to have millions in assets?

[/ QUOTE ]
1) yes.
2) 1%-ish of AUM/yr or some type of commission-based model, depending on the advisor.
3) for most reputable firms, probably.

many firms will call this type of service "private wealth management", and will hold your funds in an account as fiduciaries.

[/ QUOTE ]

Given what you seem to be asking for, I agree with the above.

[JAque]

Can you give some reliable examples of firms that do "private wealth management"?

thanks

JAque

[r3vbr]

The real top experts are the quant funds that use computer models to detect market imperfections and then arbitrage them. There is real "edge" in these funds and they really know what they are doing.. but you'll pay a lot of % in fees and you need several million to become accepted as a client.

[MidGe]

[ QUOTE ]
The real top experts are the quant funds that use computer models to detect market imperfections and then arbitrage them. There is real "edge" in these funds and they really know what they are doing.. but you'll pay a lot of % in fees and you need several million to become accepted as a client.

[/ QUOTE ]

... and then still loose your money as has been demonstrated many times by such funds in the past. If there is a return there is a risk... the higher the return the higher the risk... Investing 101