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Monday, December 8, 2014
Insight2wealth financial planners references
Has anyone done business with Insight2Wealth in the last 5 years. See advertising on this BLOG on the left hand side,
Please give us your opinion about their products and services.
11 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I have used Insight for several years. I transferred my 403b from UC to Insight. They actually watch the accounts and trends and help me to act accordingly. I'm very happy with them. They are very knowledgeable of TCP1 & TCP2. The advertising you see is based on sites you have visited. It's not the same for everyone.
You would do much better to block all ads on your browser. There is a way to do it. You know that no ads here are sponsored or advocated by Scooby. It is just what Blogger does. Please don't rely on one anonymous positive response to anything. My pages on this blog show no ads whatsoever, because I have set my browser to block any ads on any web sites. Do it, so you won't be enticed into a scam or worse.
It is amazing how people think they are smart enough to game the system. And the "over-paid advisers" are happy to encourage them to try. As December 9, 2014 at 2:44 AM says, the only "trend" to watch is the consistent performance of the UC-managed funds.
Index funds, lowest cost fees, and rebalancing works. And doesn't require any over-paid advisers.
This is the most effective strategy for successful investing.
I would include, "have a long-term investment horizon." Establish and maintain a long-term asset allocation (e.g., percentage of equities vs bonds). Don't move in and out of the market or constantly change investments (although it is reasonable for your asset allocation to gradually shift with age and other life circumstances).
I have no experience with Insight. In general, however, wealth management firms are not cost effective. Their goal is to increase their wealth, not your wealth. They typically charge 1-2% or more of your assets each and every year to "help" you manage your money. This is on top of other fees that the specific investments charge. Also, due to commissions, they often recommend expensive products or products that are not the most appropriate, and they may "churn" your investments. This means that they may constantly change your investments from one product to another. They say that they are "following the trends of the market," when in reality they are simply increasing their commissions.
Investing is not difficult. The most difficult aspect is to realize how simple investing can be - that is, to know how to separate the complex gibberish of the investment community from the simplicity of the most effective strategies.
If you want, pick a single target date retirement fund from Vanguard or other low-cost firm and be done with it. This may not be perfect, but it is inexpensive and gets you 95% of the way to successful investing.
If you need help, go to a "fee-only" financial planner. They charge an hourly rate or similar fixed fee. They do not receive commissions by recommending expensive products.
Read introductory personal investing books by John Bogle (e.g., The Little Book of Common Sense Investing), William Bernstein (e.g., The Four Pillars of Investing), Rick Ferri (e.g., All About Asset Allocation), Larry Swedroe, or The Bogleheads Guide to Investing. A Random Walk Down Wall Street (Burton Malkiel) is also good, although it is not specifically about personal investing.
I've been working with Insight for a few years, and I've been very happy with them. I interviewed a few other advisors first and I was impressed with how much Insight knew about our benefits (my advisor directed me towards an attorney who is in the prepaid legal plan to get my estate planning done at a discount).
The first thing my advisor did was create a retirement strategy, which was very helpful.
As for investments, I don't have the time/inclination to manage my own investments. I applaud those that want to go it alone, but I don't. Insight charges a management fee, but I've been happy with their recommendations (they have recommended some investments that are definitely not available in the UC plan). My advisor also sits down with me a couple of times a year to review everything. Overall, they have been good to work with.
Hey December 9, 2014 at 10:05 AM! Thank you for your opinion but I am asking people with experience with Insight2Wealth. I read more about them and they are fee-based (unlike brokers, insurance agents. In order to have a long-term retirement strategy (not just a 5 year strategy), you will have study financial products in depth, tax laws, estate laws etc... I prefer to pay 1-1.5% of my assets and have someone guide me.
Insight2Wealth is successful not by selling expensive products but by giving sound advice. After all, they would not be in business if they "were not cots effective" as you say.
As for investments, I don't have the time/inclination to manage my own investments. I applaud those that want to go it alone, but I don't.
I'm glad you are satisfied with your relationship at Insight Wealth. I understand the hesitation to go it alone. Investing can appear to be both complicated and time consuming based on the overload of conflicting information that is distributed by the media and other sources. But the key to successful investing is realizing how simple and easy it really is. In fact, the most successful personal investors are those who spend very little time on their investments. Except for rebalancing, these people "buy and hold" into low-cost index funds.
In the simplest example, put your long-term investments in a single low-cost retirement date fund and forget about it. The fund does the rest, such as periodic rebalancing. These funds are offered in the LLNS 401k and in personal accounts.
While this approach isn't perfect, this simple 10-minute act will essentially guarantee you a higher long-term return than if your money is invested through a wealth management firm. The reason is that the firm charges a significant fee that eats into your returns.
This isn't to say that financial advisers are useless. And even low-cost firms such as Vanguard offer advisory services. Financial advisers can help with other aspects of your life such as estate planning. And good advisers can prevent you from doing something stupid like selling everything during a market crash.
But in terms of maximizing your investment returns, the optimal strategy is to buy-and-hold into one or a small number of low-cost index funds such as those offered by the LLNS 401k. You don't need to pay someone thousands if not ten thousands of dollars every year to do this.
I prefer to pay 1-1.5% of my assets and have someone guide me.
There is nothing specifically wrong with this. If it makes you happy, go for it. A lot of people do the same thing. But it is not cost effective. It's like buying your groceries at 7-11 instead of Costco or Wal-Mart.
1-1.5% doesn't sound like much but in fact it's enormous. Keep in mind that the average long-term investment return for a balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds is about 8%. So 1-1.5% is costing you about 15% of your total return. Due to compounding, this reduces your long-term investment return by almost half (e.g., over 40 years). Would you rather have $600K after 40 years or $1M?
Their 1-1.5% fee means that they charge $10K - $15K for those with a $1M portfolio. To me, this seems like a lot of money just to speak with someone twice a year. That's about $5K an hour. But they probably make up for this by sending Christmas cards to all their clients every year.
You might argue that the people at Insight Wealth are really smart - and I'm sure they are - so they're able to beat the long-term market average. But study after study has shown that no one can beat the market over the long-term. So don't try. Take the optimal approach through buy-and-hold investing in low-cost index funds. You don't need to pay a wealth management firm to do this. You can do this yourself in 1 hour without the 1-1.5% fee.
Incidentally, a low-cost wealth management firm such as Portfolio Solutions charges a fee of only 0.37% (a sliding scale based on a portfolio of $1M). So if you insist on going the wealth management route, don't hesitate to shop around.
11 comments:
I have used Insight for several years. I transferred my 403b from UC to Insight. They actually watch the accounts and trends and help me to act accordingly. I'm very happy with them. They are very knowledgeable of TCP1 & TCP2.
The advertising you see is based on sites you have visited. It's not the same for everyone.
Thank you! The advertising I looked at seems to be static (as opposed to Google-powered).
You would do much better to block all ads on your browser. There is a way to do it. You know that no ads here are sponsored or advocated by Scooby. It is just what Blogger does. Please don't rely on one anonymous positive response to anything. My pages on this blog show no ads whatsoever, because I have set my browser to block any ads on any web sites. Do it, so you won't be enticed into a scam or worse.
"I transferred my 403b from UC to Insight."
That was a significant mistake. There's no way Insight could get you anywhere near as low of fees as UC's buying power does.
"watching trends and acting accordingly" is your second mistake. That type of market timing has been proven to not work.
Index funds, lowest cost fees, and rebalancing works. And doesn't require any over-paid advisers.
It is amazing how people think they are smart enough to game the system. And the "over-paid advisers" are happy to encourage them to try. As December 9, 2014 at 2:44 AM says, the only "trend" to watch is the consistent performance of the UC-managed funds.
Be careful of insurance-related products!
Index funds, lowest cost fees, and rebalancing works. And doesn't require any over-paid advisers.
This is the most effective strategy for successful investing.
I would include, "have a long-term investment horizon." Establish and maintain a long-term asset allocation (e.g., percentage of equities vs bonds). Don't move in and out of the market or constantly change investments (although it is reasonable for your asset allocation to gradually shift with age and other life circumstances).
I have no experience with Insight. In general, however, wealth management firms are not cost effective. Their goal is to increase their wealth, not your wealth. They typically charge 1-2% or more of your assets each and every year to "help" you manage your money. This is on top of other fees that the specific investments charge. Also, due to commissions, they often recommend expensive products or products that are not the most appropriate, and they may "churn" your investments. This means that they may constantly change your investments from one product to another. They say that they are "following the trends of the market," when in reality they are simply increasing their commissions.
Investing is not difficult. The most difficult aspect is to realize how simple investing can be - that is, to know how to separate the complex gibberish of the investment community from the simplicity of the most effective strategies.
If you want, pick a single target date retirement fund from Vanguard or other low-cost firm and be done with it. This may not be perfect, but it is inexpensive and gets you 95% of the way to successful investing.
If you need help, go to a "fee-only" financial planner. They charge an hourly rate or similar fixed fee. They do not receive commissions by recommending expensive products.
Read introductory personal investing books by John Bogle (e.g., The Little Book of Common Sense Investing), William Bernstein (e.g., The Four Pillars of Investing), Rick Ferri (e.g., All About Asset Allocation), Larry Swedroe, or The Bogleheads Guide to Investing. A Random Walk Down Wall Street (Burton Malkiel) is also good, although it is not specifically about personal investing.
I've been working with Insight for a few years, and I've been very happy with them. I interviewed a few other advisors first and I was impressed with how much Insight knew about our benefits (my advisor directed me towards an attorney who is in the prepaid legal plan to get my estate planning done at a discount).
The first thing my advisor did was create a retirement strategy, which was very helpful.
As for investments, I don't have the time/inclination to manage my own investments. I applaud those that want to go it alone, but I don't. Insight charges a management fee, but I've been happy with their recommendations (they have recommended some investments that are definitely not available in the UC plan). My advisor also sits down with me a couple of times a year to review everything. Overall, they have been good to work with.
Hey December 9, 2014 at 10:05 AM!
Thank you for your opinion but I am asking people with experience with Insight2Wealth.
I read more about them and they are fee-based (unlike brokers, insurance agents.
In order to have a long-term retirement strategy (not just a 5 year strategy), you will have study financial products in depth, tax laws, estate laws etc...
I prefer to pay 1-1.5% of my assets and have someone guide me.
Insight2Wealth is successful not by selling expensive products but by giving sound advice.
After all, they would not be in business if they "were not cots effective" as you say.
Thank you December 10, 2014 at 11:24 AM!
As for investments, I don't have the time/inclination to manage my own investments. I applaud those that want to go it alone, but I don't.
I'm glad you are satisfied with your relationship at Insight Wealth. I understand the hesitation to go it alone. Investing can appear to be both complicated and time consuming based on the overload of conflicting information that is distributed by the media and other sources. But the key to successful investing is realizing how simple and easy it really is. In fact, the most successful personal investors are those who spend very little time on their investments. Except for rebalancing, these people "buy and hold" into low-cost index funds.
In the simplest example, put your long-term investments in a single low-cost retirement date fund and forget about it. The fund does the rest, such as periodic rebalancing. These funds are offered in the LLNS 401k and in personal accounts.
While this approach isn't perfect, this simple 10-minute act will essentially guarantee you a higher long-term return than if your money is invested through a wealth management firm. The reason is that the firm charges a significant fee that eats into your returns.
This isn't to say that financial advisers are useless. And even low-cost firms such as Vanguard offer advisory services. Financial advisers can help with other aspects of your life such as estate planning. And good advisers can prevent you from doing something stupid like selling everything during a market crash.
But in terms of maximizing your investment returns, the optimal strategy is to buy-and-hold into one or a small number of low-cost index funds such as those offered by the LLNS 401k. You don't need to pay someone thousands if not ten thousands of dollars every year to do this.
I prefer to pay 1-1.5% of my assets and have someone guide me.
There is nothing specifically wrong with this. If it makes you happy, go for it. A lot of people do the same thing. But it is not cost effective. It's like buying your groceries at 7-11 instead of Costco or Wal-Mart.
1-1.5% doesn't sound like much but in fact it's enormous. Keep in mind that the average long-term investment return for a balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds is about 8%. So 1-1.5% is costing you about 15% of your total return. Due to compounding, this reduces your long-term investment return by almost half (e.g., over 40 years). Would you rather have $600K after 40 years or $1M?
Their 1-1.5% fee means that they charge $10K - $15K for those with a $1M portfolio. To me, this seems like a lot of money just to speak with someone twice a year. That's about $5K an hour. But they probably make up for this by sending Christmas cards to all their clients every year.
You might argue that the people at Insight Wealth are really smart - and I'm sure they are - so they're able to beat the long-term market average. But study after study has shown that no one can beat the market over the long-term. So don't try. Take the optimal approach through buy-and-hold investing in low-cost index funds. You don't need to pay a wealth management firm to do this. You can do this yourself in 1 hour without the 1-1.5% fee.
Incidentally, a low-cost wealth management firm such as Portfolio Solutions charges a fee of only 0.37% (a sliding scale based on a portfolio of $1M). So if you insist on going the wealth management route, don't hesitate to shop around.
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