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Senior Business Development Role at 360Learning:
Anyone have tips for cover letter/resume to stand out?
They are huge on not negotiating salary there based on their blog.
Anyone know the base salary/expected commission? - It requires you to answer on the application. I would be so thrilled to work at the company I just want to put what they start out at.
Ritz or JW in Cancun?
How to become program manager
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About 35 years ago, I went to a Merrill broker with a small amount to invest. She sold me some fund that was ridiculously bad. It was a cheap lesson that brokers are not on your side. It led me to studying personal finance on my own and self directing my investments (primarily broad based funds and, later, index funds). It worked out well for me.
I’d keep doing what you are doing. My view is similar to Warren Buffet’s view on personal finance (not Berkshire’s strategy; his view on personal finance) that you only need equities and cash. No need to pay someone to tell you that you are right.
As others have said, the answer on whether an advisor at ML is worth it will always be - it depends.
Just based on what you said, if you really are just looking to pay an advisor to buy investments for you to actively manage vs. passive management of index funds, then no, ML will not be worth it. You’ll pay a management fee plus very likely higher cost mutual funds and you won’t be anymore diversified than with your low cost index funds with low odds of better returns.
If you want an advisor for comprehensive planning, including complex tax strategies, trusts, estate planning, retirement planning etc. and you have a high net worth, then it may be worth it. In that case, talk to multiple advisors and different firms. Get a feel for what they are like, their motives, how fast do they bring up buying an annuity or whole life insurance policy, and then decide.
This is the way.
If you feel overwhelmed, start small: Educate yourself with books like "The Little Book of Common Sense Investing" by Bogle, or use robo-advisors like Betterment or Wealthfront for automated diversification at much lower fees (0.25% or less) than traditional firms. Only outsource if your situation gets truly complex (e.g., multi-million estate with tax intricacies).
If you share more details about your portfolio size, goals, or risk tolerance, I can offer more tailored advice. What specifically draws you to active management?
I previously worked there... Merrill sucks unless you're an UHNWI. They will try and sell you on advised solutions and you won't have access to a legit advisor unless you're bringing in a minimum of $1m in assets. Just buy ETFs and mutual funds with low expense ratios and you'll do better than their advised solutions which underperform the benchmark on 5Y and 10Y
Thanks for your candor. That's been my sense as well, but good to confirm.
How are they going to diversify more than you could do yourself?
Would ask friends in the area for referrals.
There are a ton of ML offices and the experience will be very dependent by the advisor you pick there.
Something which I’ve started doing is paper trading using Gemini, and it has proven to be pretty effective over the last 4 months. Of course, there’s no guarantees, however, you might want to try paper trading using the same approach, or, invest a small amount (perhaps $10K) and see how it goes.
Depending on lessons learned and gains/losses made, you can tweak your strategy.
D3, I use FB on my phone and don’t use Gemini on my phone, so it’s gonna be tough for me to type out the prompts, my apologies
Chief
It looks like ML Guided Investing uses both factor tilts, sector bets, and market timing. There are reports of account churning. And they charge you 85 basis points a year for it. I would never do that.
If you want portfolio advice, consider an advice only, fee only, fiduciary financial planner.
If you want someone to talk to at the brokerage who implements the allocation plan for you and is aligned with you, consider Vanguard's Personal Advisory Services, which only charges 30 basis points, does TLH and rebalancing and planning and so on, but uses buy and hold total market indexing rather than dodgy active management.
Both of those are likely to be cheaper and better for you than MLGI.
I have a recommendation. They are amazing. I will DM you
Index investing is a great way to set it and forget it and yes you don’t need an advisor nor should you be paying an adviser who is mostly investing in funds for you, BUT, if you are looking to actually grow your portfolio to get ahead of the crowd, and are comfortable taking some risk, you need a good stock picker, or PM. I have had tremendous success with my guy and have referred many close friends to him. Are you in NYC?
Chief
Run away as fast as you can if you encounter that.
Pro
Why would you pay a salesman to do a worse job of what you can do for almost free?
Play the game you’re going to be successful at, not the one that enriches others at your expense.
I use ML as a brokerage but haven't dipped my toe into their WM offerings. Does their WM justify their fees? Like everything else in consulting, it depends. ;) If your situation is sufficiently complex, e.g. trusts, offshore, etc., WM might offer sufficient value-add. My situation just isn't that complex. One WM related segment I'm considering is private credit, but that's a low priority for me, at least the continuation funds.