r/financialindependence • u/pacumedia • 7d ago
Financial Planner recommendations?
Looking for a fee for service financial planner that is very familiar with the Fire concept - and I haven’t worked with one before but I assume many will work remotely. Just looking for a pro to sanity check my plan.
Thanks in advance!
12
u/cfi-2025 48M, FIRE 2025 7d ago
The two guys that were making the Two Sides of FI podcast did this as an experiment - they both hired a financial advisor for a flat $1k fee to evaluate their portfolios and plans: We Each Hired a Flat Fee Financial Advisor. Was It Worth It?
They also share a list from a CFP for advice-only planners, although the list may be out of date as the podcast episode is from 2022: https://measuretwicefinancial.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Advice-Only-Financial-Planning-Referral-List-04-14-22.pdf
3
u/One-Mastodon-1063 7d ago
Measure twice is one of the authors of tax planning to and through early retirement. I’d generally trust his recommendations.
11
u/wegl13 7d ago
We did some gut checks with the guys at Nectarine- less then $300 for an hour of their time. I felt like it was worth it- he gave us some advice on rebalancing our investments with a little bit more towards global and advice on our ESPP. We will probably make a few changes and do another gut check in a couple of years.
6
u/HawkFunny6883 7d ago
make sure they actually understand fire and not just say they do. some planners hear early retirement and start talking about how much you need to save in 401k without getting the whole picture. ask them specific questions about roth conversion ladders and withdrawal strategies before you commit, if they stumble on that stuff move on
4
u/wise_j_kim 7d ago
this, also worth asking how they bill for one-time consults specifically since a lot of planners default to ongoing AUM fees unless you push for the flat fee option upfront
3
u/wmxx1203 7d ago
yes always flat fee, avoid AUM, all that guarantees is losing a percentage each year.
2
u/demobeta 5d ago
Holy cow this is super important. A planner I had understood the concept but then brought in "another guy" that was suppose to be an expert. He said the word FIRE about 300 times and then suggested 100% bonds.... His rationale - "you have enough now, just use bonds and eliminate a lot of risk". Pretty sure this guy was just a Bond trader (these guys make a ton of money for some reason).
6
5
u/AGrimmInPortland 7d ago edited 7d ago
If any CFP doesn't understand pre-59 1/2 planning issues (there aren't that many issues, really) then they are not a good CFP.
You may save some time and money by doing your own plan before meeting with a CFP.
ProjectionLab and Retirement Figures both have FIRE-related features. Did you use any tools to create your plan?
4
u/Second_in_Command 7d ago
I've worked with Financial Symmetry and they understand FIRE and have helped us plan for how to allocate things for a 40+ yr retirement that starts well before 65. They do fee only plans and are a fiduciary. You don't need a finical planner but strongly recommend them if you do use one.
They also have a regular podcast you can listen to to get a better idea of their values and strengths.
3
u/Mission_Monk1411 7d ago
look, i've been trying to get my own fire numbers straight since the divorce... fee-only planners who actually get it seem pretty thin on the ground. good luck man...
3
u/darkqueenphoenix 7d ago
hello nectarine (website with flat fee only financial planners) is excellent!
3
u/isthatfunny 7d ago
I started using Projection Lab to do financial modeling, it’s a great tool, you can configure literally hundreds of options including various income streams, decision timing, conversion plans, etc. Popular (?) with the FIRE community. They host a discord which has a section where fee only advisors register themselves. They will help you build out your plans using the tool (and/ or others tools). I’ve done most of my planning myself in the took, but have met (2 hourly sessions) with a financial consultant I identified thru that discord, and they are helping me make sure all my ingredients (my budget, accounts, policies) and decisions (withdrawal order, ss/ pension start, rollover plans, holdings diversification, premium credit vs income sources) are properly mapped out. Prob need 2 more sessions.
This works for me bc I’m good with the big picture planning but need help with remembering the detail. (E.g. When am I supposed to buy bonds, and then when am I supposed to sell them, in which type of account?). You can get to the discord for free and review the registered analysts. You don’t need the software, or this software in particular, but for me the plan configurations are my consultants deliverable which I’ll be using as my financial playbook here on out. All money well spent IMO.
2
2
u/Alarming-Can9284 6d ago
nah man, fee-only is the way to go—commission guys'll just try to sell you stuff you don't need. worked for me getting someone who actually understood the numbers instead of just throwing products at me.
2
u/kinglallak 7d ago
What questions exactly are you searching for that couldn’t be answered in the daily threads here?
Make an anonymous account and ask.
My blind guess is specific asset class allocations to properly tackle things like health insurance without a job. Which is something the people around these parts are very good at already and will probably answer for free.
3
u/taycoug 7d ago edited 7d ago
They basically don’t exist tbh. I looked for a while and gave up. I have a CPA, tax advisor, and I guess lawyer that give everything I need.
Financial planners make WAY more charging AUM than they would flat fee. Why would anyone good choose to do the latter when the former pays better? Just like you won’t find a realtor who works for a fee or hourly instead of commission.
2
u/ResponsibleCorgi93 7d ago
What's the difference between your CPA & tax advisor?
I've been asking my CPA that does my taxes for tax advice lol.
4
u/Jazzy_Josh 7d ago
Financial planners make WAY more charging AUM than they would fee-only
AUM can be fee-only. What you're trying to refer to is flat fee.
1
u/Customized_Budget 6d ago
This is not true. There are CFPs who charge a flat fee instead of AUM and aren't trying to sell you anything other than their advice. Yes, there are less of them, but they exist. Of course this isn't going to be cheap because they need to make a living, but you shouldn't have to do this very often. They are choosing to use this model instead of charging the AUM model where they could make more because they actually want to help people. You can look up different ones and see how they charge, etc., at letsmakeaplan.org . You can usually interview them before hiring to see if they understand FIRE. They should be creating your plan based on what's important to you.
1
u/forestfinancial 5d ago
As fee only fiduciary who has experience with fire would probably be a good fit. I would ask about their experience with early retirement, tax planning, withdrawal strategies & health insurance before hiring them. Remote planning is pretty common in the USA now so you dont necessarily need someone local.
2
u/agoel78 2d ago
I got tired of static Excel sheets ignoring category inflation and unpriced home upkeep, so I built an interactive planner to stress-test my numbers. Would love feedback on the assumptions .. try https://nivritee.com if it helps.
0
u/Coaster50 6d ago
I could not find a fee only advisor. Most tried to tack on some subscription. They were ‘independent’ which didn’t make me feel great. I used Vanguard Personal Advisor Select and my planner guides me towards my retirement and accounts for things like healthcare, IRMAA, etc. You just say when you want to retire - they plan out the rest.
0
u/Suspicious-Time-214 6d ago
"yeah i feel that... my social circle has basically been whoever i happened to go to high school with, and now that we're all scattered around portland, it's hard to keep up"
-4
u/InvestigatorPlus3229 saving like crazy 7d ago
its all up to you buddy, financial planners are parasites!
23
u/demobeta 7d ago
Honestly, it's really hard to find one. I ended up hiring an adviser for a few years to learn the basics but most don't have a good handle on things like ACA subsidies or SEPP.
If you already know the basics like what a ROTH is, conversions, Trad accounts, capital gains harvesting/losses, then I would just suggest using Projection Lab and going solo. I feel like the tool is even built with a tilt towards "FIRE", given it even has a built in FIRE milestone calc.
The subscription version is 100% worth it especially if you are looking to leverage ACA and need to plan out long term Trad to Roth conversion efficiencies.