💸Can you DIY your finances like a pro—or should you hire one?

☕ Good morning!

Deciding whether to go pro or DIY is a choice we face in many areas of life, and when it comes to your finances, it’s about more than just saving on fees or avoiding a sales pitch. It’s about finding the right balance—whether you handle it yourself or partner with someone who brings expertise to the table.

But one of the most impactful ways to align your time, skills, and goals to manage your wealth.

The good news is that you don’t need all the answers yet.

Let’s explore both options—hiring an advisor or going DIY—so you can decide what feels right for you…..

🏆 The Financial Advisor Advantage

The right financial advisor is a guide for a complex and busy financial life. 

If you’re drowning in tax questions, juggling multiple goals, or simply strapped for time, a pro might be the ace up your sleeve. 

Here’s how they can make your life easier—and your finances stronger:  

🏀Behavior Coach Extraordinaire.

Ever felt tempted to sell everything during a market dip or throw your money at the “hot stock” your coworker mentioned? 

Advisors can help you stay grounded or provide an extra opinion advocating for the purpose you’re hiring them for. 

Evidence shows that staying the course (instead of acting out of panic) could improve your returns by as much as 2.82% annually, according to a study by Vanguard. 

🏁 Beating the Tax Man. 

Consider taxes as little (or big) leaks in your financial boat. 

A good advisor patches those leaks with strategies like tax-loss harvesting (selling losing investments to offset gains) and optimizing where you hold your assets.

Done right, these tweaks could add 0.94% annually to your portfolio performance– that’s real money staying in your pocket.   

⭕A 360-degree Approach.

Advisors consider everything: insurance, estate planning, college savings, and balancing all those “life things” like paying down student loans while saving for a house. 

They have visibility into the financial mechanics and performance of potentially dozens of individual clients similar to you. 

🏆 DIY: The Cost-Saving Path with a Steep Learning Curve  

On the flip side, modern tools have turned the once-daunting world of personal finance into a manageable—and accessible—field for motivated and active individuals. 

Keywords: motivated and active. 

Sure, there are a few set-and-forget tools and strategies that can get you moving in a directionally accurate path, but your wealth-building potential isn’t necessarily something you want to set on autopilot.

Think of your career and retirement as a long road trip– sure, setting cruise control on long stretches of highway is probably fine, but you’ll need both hands on the wheel when navigating new cities and new scenarios. 

DIY finance thrives on control, efficiency, and self-education.

Here’s why it works:

✅ Fee-Free Compounding: A traditional advisor charges 1-1.5% annually on assets under management—a drain that could compound into lost growth. By going DIY, you hold on to those returns as long as you are able to maintain the same returns or better than you would get with a professionally managed portfolio.

✅Transparent Control: Want to invest in ESG funds, crypto, or ultra-low-cost index ETFs? You call the shots, which means no push to follow an advisor’s firm-approved recommendations.  

✅Tools at Your Fingertips: Today’s low-cost platforms like Vanguard, Betterment, or Schwab’s Intelligent Portfolios simplify creating a diversified investment strategy. Robo-advisors, for example, function like digital financial advisors, often with fees under 0.5%. 

✅Knowledge Acceleration: Managing your own finances builds financial literacy over time. While you can read every finance book on the shelf, nothing beats hands-on experience to sharpen your understanding.  

If your financial life is relatively straightforward and you’re self-motivated to dive deep into investing, DIY can empower you to save on fees and grow your skills simultaneously. 

Just be ready to put in the time and pay for a few rookie mistakes—chalk it up to “tuition.”

🎉 The Ideal Mix: Backup When You Need It

While DIY is great for saving fees (and advisors are ideal for complex strategies), there’s also a third way: a hybrid approach. 

This option works well for highly capable, time-strapped individuals who need more hands-on, specialized tasks.  

Here’s what this might look like.

Outsource the complexities to the experts. Taxes, estate planning, or preparing for major life events (e.g., selling a business or planning for early retirement) could be areas where using professional advice saves you thousands—or more.  

For example, if you’re about to do a big Roth rollover that could have thousands of dollars in penalties and mounds of paperwork, wouldn’t it make sense to have someone who does them daily rather than rely on a series of YouTube videos? 

Keep control over simplicity. Leave specific tasks, like managing your retirement portfolio, to a robo-advisor or handle basic contributions and rebalancing yourself. 

Many advisors offer hourly consulting or one-time plans, allowing you to dip into their expertise without a long-term commitment. 

Set periodic check-ins. Even experienced DIYers benefit from a second set of eyes, particularly when making major financial decisions or recalibrating risk as life evolves, such as having a growing family or entering the pre-retirement phase. 

You don’t have to choose an all-or-nothing approach. 

Hire an expert for critical inflection points or tasks outside your comfort zone and manage the rest independently.  

Making Sense of Hiring a Pro Versus DIY 

Whichever route you take, hiring an advisor, embracing DIY, or finding a balance, depends on your financial landscape, goals, and comfort level. 

For complex situations (business ownership, hefty tax liabilities, international holdings, exercising options), having a professional on your team is worth every penny. 

But if your goals are straightforward and fees make you cringe, DIY investing is not only possible—it can be an incredibly rewarding educational experience. 

So, what’s next?

Assess your current finances. Write down what overwhelms you, where you feel confident, and your long-term goals. If the weight leans towards complexity, book a no-strings-attached consultation with a financial advisor. 

Want to test the waters alone? Start with trusted, low-cost platforms like Vanguard or Fidelity and build out from there. 

Whatever you choose, remember: the best strategy is the one that helps you achieve your goals while feeling confident in your financial choices.

Stay savvy, stay proactive, and keep your financial future bright.

Until next week!

This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax advice. We suggest that you discuss your specific tax issues with a qualified tax advisor.

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