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How does Charles Carroll manage my money?
April 26, 2011 By 2 Comments
The first thing we do is create a financial plan for you. We call it a living financial plan. It’s living because as your life changes, we are going to make changes to that financial plan to get you to those goals and aspirations that we set at the beginning. Once we have the financial plan in place, it will give us a guideline — a framework to work toward the asset allocation in your portfolio. Once the asset allocation is in place, we determine the securities that go into your portfolio and then give you feedback along the way to determine how you’re doing in achieving the goals that you’ve set.
Can I see the value of my accounts on-line?
April 26, 2011 By 2 Comments
Every client of Charles Carroll has a client web portal. The portal is web based. It’s on a secure system and allows you access to your statements, your agreements, your performance reports that you might have, how your securities are doing, what the intent is and how we manage your assets, as well as giving you security reports — the individual security reports if you’d like to see what’s happening within your portfolio.
How do I avoid high costs for investing my money?
January 24, 2011 By 6 Comments
First, look at the name on the individual securities that are being sold to you. If they’re mutual funds, are they the same name as the name on the wall of the broker? If they are, then there’s a potential of conflict of interest. They may be selling you the product because there’s an incentive for the broker to sell you that product. What you want to be able to do is separate those two and look for those particular securities that give you the best return for the lowest cost.
How do I deal with the ups and downs of the market?
January 24, 2011 By 2 Comments
Don’t take your eye off the goal. The expectation is that it is a straight line to that goal. It doesn’t work that way, especially over the short term. There are going to be a lot of bumps and grinds along the way. But don’t take your eye off the goal. Remember that when we give you the financial plan, we set timeframes and monetary goals on a yearly basis. And by doing that, we’re working towards those goals every time. Now it’s not going to be a straight line. There are going to be boundary markers that we’re going to go around sometimes. But remember that we’re working towards those goals that we set when we first sat down. And regardless of what’s happened in the marketplace, we’ve got our eye on the ball for you and we’re working towards your goal.
What is Fiduciary Responsibility and why is it important?
November 29, 2010 By 2 Comments
The idea of fiduciary responsibility is that the financial manager is always acting in your best interests. If you’re working with a broker or a financial advisor, and they can’t prove to you that they have a fiduciary responsibility to you, then who are they really working for? How does that affect your portfolio? Ask. Ask your financial advisor, “Do you have a fiduciary responsibility to me, to my goals, to my family and to our needs? If they can’t answer positively, you need another financial advisor.