ProDarwin said:Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to ProDarwin :
I'm not saying they beat the market, I'm saying they spend 40 hours a week living and breathing the market unless they fall into one of those categories of vultures you mention. If they're a random financial person who takes your commission money without doing any work, then of course they fit that villainized profile you point out.
I never mentioned anything about buying and selling stock or beating the market.
Apologies, maybe I read too much into your statement. If they aren't outperforming the market, what exactly are they doing? "a good broker knows when to hold and fold" sounds like you are suggesting that to me.
A good financial advisor would recommend a balance of index funds based on your risk tolerance and predicted time of withdrawal. They may also offer advice on what types of accounts to use to maximize tax sheltering, liquidity, etc. You could pay them $ to also execute all of this for you. But none of this is related to "reading the market".
I was speaking of the traditional Wall Street 80s model of "buy these shares now, dump these stocks then" while trying to predict what they'll do tomorrow. That is what I assumed you were talking about. There is just so much more to the puzzle than traditional stock-purchase investing. In that sense, holding and folding doesn't have to mean buying and selling stock, it means where to put money and when to not put it there anymore.
I'm no expert, I just happen to have an excellent example of broker/advisor/whatever in my corner. I know you're more savvy than I and can tackle these things on your own, but I'm not there yet. Hence why I'm really happy I have my money guy who has done some fantastic things despite what the market has been doing.