Quote:
Originally Posted by Cornstock
It appears the trend for FAs is into the world of managed accounts vs choosing a mutual fund portfolio for a commission. For example, you can hire an FA to create a portfolio of A shares at a 5% upfront charge with some relatively low expense ratio ongoing vs going into a managed portfolio where you have an almost hedge fund like approach that constantly manages risk daily and positions the entire portfolio for the current environment and charges a somewhat higher annual % based on assets invested with no load.
This seems like a good idea based on the current economic climate, where simple indexed funds may not be able to seek out returns in a higher volatility environment.
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I'll preface by saying I've never used either option.
That said, I don't see why you'd choose the 5% upfront charge on assets model. It limits what the advisor could choose because not everything has an A share with a front end load. Also, your strategy seems to be a short term thing based on high volatility. If assets are being chosen based on high volatility, it makes sense you'd want to sell those and adjust to a different porfolio once volatility subsides. The 5% up front load only seems to make sense cost wise if you plan to hold over the long term. In that same vein, if you're unhappy with your advisor or the 5% load funds they invested in, it's harder or more costly to switch to a new advisor and plan.
We're not in a higher volatility market currently though. The market is bouncing around on tariffs and things like Quitaly a week ago but volatility is back way down. The WSJ had an article the other day about how the 'low vol' trade is back at January levels. The VIX is back down at 12 from the 30's levels when those idiots got squeezed and popped the vix up crazy high because they were in triple levered short positions against the VIX futures. Maybe it'll change soon