SOME IDEAS YOU MAY FIND USEFUL IN YOUR SEARCH FOR AN INVESTMENT ADVISOR:

• Fee-only advisors have differing compensation methods that usually fall into the following three categories:
  
  
  • A combination of Investment Management Fees and Consultation fees. This is the most common method and involves:
    
    
    • A fee for managing investments based on the value of the investments, called an Assets Under Management (AUM) fee. Each firm has a unique fee structure but typically the fee is calculated on a sliding scale as follows:
      
      

      $ 1MM and below -	1.25% of assets under management per year
      $1MM - $2MM -	0.75% of assets under management per year
      Above $2MM -	0.5% of assets under management per year

    
    
    • A consultation fee for various non-investment management items calculated on an hourly basis. The most common project is the preparation of a comprehensive Personal Financial Plan and the fee for this could range from $1,500 to $10,000 depending on complexity and the Advisors experience.
  
  
  • Hourly fees. In this category, Advisors charge an hourly rate for the time spent consulting with the client and related working on a project. This hourly rate will typically fall within a range of $100 to $300 per hour. The Advisor will provide an estimated cost for a project ahead of doing the work. Such Advisors typically don’t actively manage client investments although they may provide guidance to the client on how the client may set up their investment portfolio.
  
  
  • Annual retainer fee. This blends project fees and investment management fees into one annual dollar amount.
    
    At M.L. Hopkins & Co, we work on the basis set out in No.1 above and you will find a detailed list of our fees on our website in the section - Schedule of Fees


• NAPFA Advisors are some of the most ethical and professional Financial Advisors you will find in the industry and choosing which one to work with can be a difficult task. Besides doing your usual due diligence in which you will look for signs of technical expertise, knowledge and experience, we recommend that you do the following:
  
  
  • Call the Advisor for an introductory telephone interview to make an initial determination whether this is someone with whom you would like to speak further. Some Advisors do very specific categories of work or may have minimum account sizes they are prepared to manage for clients.
  
  
  • You may save yourself some valuable research time by initially asking the Advisor whether they have any minimums or limits.
  
  
  • As the next step in the selection process, we recommend that you arrange an appointment with the Advisor. While technical expertise, knowledge and experience in an Advisor are all extremely important, a sense that you are a good fit for one another is vital. Your Advisor is a person who will know more about your personal finance than just about anyone else and it is important that you feel comfortable with him/her.