Suggestions with Financial Advisor.

I have been banking with Regions Bank for nearly 25 years. My husband passed away. So I am thinking of finding a financial advisor to manage my investments and for financial planning. I am not sure whether I should opt for a Financial Advisor at Fidelity Investments or a Financial Advisor at Regions Bank. Please offer suggestions. I am clueless about managing on my own right now. May be in the future, I am planning to learn and manage on my own. Thanks

Condolences on your loss. Hopefully he didn't suffer a lot.

First off, be sure to understand the difference between a fiduciary and an advisor (or really, anyone other than a fiduciary). Legally, a fiduciary has to be working in your best interests. Not theirs. Laws were enacted in the last 5-10 years which separates and places certain requirements on them. Obviously this was due to longstanding practices of those in the industry who took advantage of their clients. When considering using the services of anybody in this regard, absolutely ask whether they are a fiduciary. As a consumer, you need to know this. Doesn't mean they won't make incorrect choices or mistakes but at least you'll know that they're regulated and supposed to work for you. Highly suggest googling this and doing your own research rather than just believe someone else's spiel. Or watch the Wolf of Wall Street movie!

Secondly, consider fees. While offhand, a 2% fee to manage your money doesn't sound like much, it can have a huge impact over the long term. Especially if your assets are in broad based easy to manage portfolios. If the annual returns from your investments are 5-7%, the fee could be eating up nearly half of what you're making. On a compounded basis, it's really significant. Do you really want to work five or ten more years so that the person who sends you a form Christmas card once a year can buy a new car every other year when you're still driving that clunker? An entire legal cottage industry was created when a few lawyers began suing corporations who lazily (at best; or who got incentives at worst) invested their employees' pension and savings plan assets with financial institutions with high fees. Remember when inflation was 2%. US treasuries were paying about that. If your advisor/broker had you in those investments and were charging you 2%, then you were not only making zero but were actually losing ground every year. The point here isn't to suggest everyone in that industry is bad or out to get you. It's that you need to be aware of the impact that fees can have.

There are numerous investment opportunities that have very low fee structures. You didn't mention age or timelines, but a S&P 500 fund can have fees of WAY less than 2%. Think tenths of one percent. Not only are you paying less but that additional money you retain builds up much faster.

If you or your departed husband had a savings plan through an employer, you might want to consider using/keeping this first. Traditionally, companies have and use leverage to negotiate lower fees for their people. Not unlike healthcare costs.

Thirdly, know that generally risk and return are inversely related. Simple fact. Higher rewards yield higher risk. During an MBA very advanced finance course lecture, the professor was feverishly writing on the board various formulas and suddenly stopped cold. He turned to the class and said "You know, none of this makes any sense unless you really understand your individual risk profile. There's an old saying "Eat well or sleep well". You really can't avoid this and you need to decide what your priority is". He was spot on. My mother-in-law was incredibly risk averse. Didn't keep her cash in the mattress but was only a bit better. Would only put her money in a local bank CD. Everything she had. Then she'd complain about not making much and that she literally had to budget down to the penny. Her life could have been much better had she put a portion of the money in a higher risk/higher reward investment leaving ample money in cash for immediate or short term needs.

Hopefully whomever you choose will provide a common sense balance of investment funds. The more research you undertake on your own behalf, the greater the likelihood of success. There are plenty of very low fee plans available. Many people don't need the expensive hand holding that a higher fee plan or institution offers. Lots of folks also get personal satisfaction from learning more. Highly suggest Bogleheads or Mr. Money Moustache forums. In addition to Slickdeals of course.

You are not alone. Plenty of people on these sites are or were in your situation and have tons of helpful advice.

One thing I would recommend against, especially given your husband's passing, is investing in life insurance or any other annuity. On the surface, they sound good but the math is just plain terrible. Sadly, when my father died, someone at the life insurance company talked my mom into taking his proceeds and investing with them. Truly terrible returns. It was one of the first things I dumped when she went into a nursing home. Unless you have younger dependent children who require financial security, whole life insurance island annuities are things you should avoid and if any advisor recommends them, run away from them too.

You have many decisions to make and sadly without the help of a spouse. More than just investments. Things like Social Security, healthcare (use COBRA if available?), etc. I truly wish you good luck.

Undoubtedly some or much of what I'm posting will cause ruckus with others, especially if they're in the industry. I'll simply end with the Upton Sinclair quote " It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

Why bother with an advisor at all? Waste of money and time. Just stick it into VTI and forget about it.