Are you shelling out too much for your investment advice? Ever since stock market suffered after the 2K peak, investors have increased their spending for advice on how to manage their finances and very few of them are seeking the old stock broker who asks for a commission for each transaction but rather they are turning to independent advisers which charge a fee of one percent of assets under management and some of them are investing in fee based product and services for which they could be charged a fee as high as three percent.



If one works with a fee only adviser it could be an expensive proposition for people with modest portfolio and in case you are not trading a lot, a relationship depending on commissions could be a cheaper option and in case you are confident enough to make your own investment decisions then you would be paying less at a discount brokerage firm.



In case you are willing to spend more on fees then in return you should be getting more hand holding big-picture financial-planning advice. Comparison of costs of commissions with fees paid in a fee-based or fee-only arrangement could turn out to be misleading and these accounts could be compared to those top end products where investors get higher levels of advice and service. In return for a fat fee your advisor should not only develop a financial plan and offer investment management but should also review the finances broadly beyond the portfolio they are managing.