How much your financial planners are charging you?

Who will benefit hiring a financial planner? Is this something you can do by yourself? I wonder whether it is worth paying someone to manage your finances. Thanks for all serious responses in advance.|||Hiring a planner isn't the same as having someone manage your finances. The planner shows you a roadmap for how to reach your goals. A good planner will ask you to explain what your financial goals are, and how much risk you are comfortable with. The planner will show you what it will take to achieve your goals. That's the key - having a goal makes it possible to formulate a strategy to get there. You can't just say "I want to make a lot of money."





Let's take an example. You want to retire at age 60 with an income that is 80% of what you make today, and you have a moderate risk tolerance. Your planner will look at what investments you have today, and tell you how much you will have to save each month to achieve your goal, and suggest investments that will support reaching it.





Can you do that yourself? Sure, if you have the knowledge and discipline. There's no magic to it. But most people do not know everything there is to know about managing their investments and the help of an expert can be very valuable.





There are different ways to work with a planner. First I suggest working with someone who has a certification in the field, such as a CFP (Certified Financial Planner). Some planners charge a fee and do not handle your investments at all. They provide recommendations only. Some will recommend investments from which they earn a commission and don't charge anything beyond that.





Personally I would find someone who is a fee-only planner, so there is no conflict of interest involved with the recommendations. Then follow the plan yourself. You pay one time, and have a plan laid out that you follow. Fees for this, in my experience, range from $300 to $1,000. I paid for a plan 20 years ago (at today's prices, it would have cost $500) and I've been following it ever since, and doing well.