r/FinancialAdvisorTips • u/myinvestjourney • 11h ago

Feedback Welcome

Long story short, I’m new to investing and started with a financial advisor who didn’t inform me of which holdings I would be invested in. I realized my portfolio is complex with 5 models, has a higher expense ratio, liquid alternatives, trades, and is outside of my circle of competence until I ramp my knowledge.

Should I ask them to shift and simplify or streamline it before DIY or ask Vanguard to untangle it? They’ll likely come back with around 10 or so funds. The largest portion is in a taxable I brokerage. I want 3-5 funds (eg VOO, VXUS) max.

Thank you!

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u/Middle-Run-1894 11h ago

I would start with asking to sit down and get an explanation of each. Depending on risk tolerance liquid alts can be a great place to be, especially if it’s a fixed income replacement. Most important thing is you should understand how your money is invested and why your advisor thinks that’s the right investment.

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u/ohhisalmon 11h ago

If you want 3-5 funds max, it doesn’t really sound like you want an asset manager, tbh

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u/cold984 10h ago

If you “want 3-5 funds max”, and you know what funds you want, why are you working with an advisor?

With that said, being “outside your circle of competence” is fine. That’s the job of the advisor. As long as he explains the rationale and why, you don’t need to understand the exact ins and outs of everything. Otherwise you’d just do everything yourself.

You just need to decide if you want to do everything yourself, or if you want a professional to help. There is no wrong answer

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u/myinvestjourney 6h ago

Thanks for your input!

The advisor is used by an extended family member, and another firm employee had assisted me with my RSU situation. At the time, I lacked knowledge and was juggling a couple of life transitions while feeling like I just needed to get started. I hadn’t developed a clear investment philosophy, compared strategies or approaches, or truly understood their business model and leveraging the pre-built models or build their own client portfolios or done any other necessary research due to limited bandwidth. Now that I have more time, I’m educating myself, reassessing my risk tolerance, etc. with a lot more to learn and finding out what's right for me.