Financial Consultants/Advisors overseeing all investments

[Sandy K.]

Are there financial consultants that oversee all investments (401K, Crytpo, Gold, realestate, 529 plans, Roth IRA).

[Dillon Kenniston]

Hi @Sandy K., great question. The short answer is Yes, there are some who "oversee" all investments. The longer answer is below :)

The answer depends on what's meant by "oversee". Most fiduciary, fee-only CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERs™ will help you make a plan for all of your assets, but may not want to or be able to manage your assets. (For example, it's rare that a Registered Investment Advisor would also be a property manager.) Your question also refers to "financial consultants", which I believe is a bit of a wild west term: anyone could call themselves that with little to no qualification needed or enforced. So, once you start getting into professional designations and investment management, the language becomes more technical. But sheesh - what a nightmare of alphabet soup for folks to navigate!

If by "oversee" you mean to include management, then there's regulation requiring anyone who holds themselves out as an Investment Advisor to register either with state(s) or the SEC (basically, anyone who 1) gives advice on securities, 2) said advice is given as part of a regular business, and 3) receives compensation for the advice). This may end up excluding many who call themselves financial consultants or coaches, and leave you with RIAs (Registered Investment Advisors).

Of those who will manage your investable assets (529s, IRAs, sometimes 401ks, etc.), they'll typically have what's called "discretion" over your assets, meaning they're able to buy and sell securities for you as they deem fit, in alignment with your Investor Policy Statement - meaning, they manage your investments in alignment with your goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance. Firms that manage assets will normally also handle portfolio monitoring and operational responsibilities such as rebalancing, tax-loss harvesting, etc. 

In our case at REWealth, we're able to manage most all security/investable assets (529s, Roth IRA, taxable brokerage, etc., and starting next month, also 401ks and most employer-sponsored accounts). For everything else (like real estate and crypto), we work alongside clients to come up with a plan for and help them manage whatever we don't manage directly. We specialize in working with real estate investors. And for that reason, we don't require that we manage investable assets directly; the real value is in the financial plan: how to optimize one's entire financial life, assets and liabilities, cashflow, insurance planning, estate planning, tax planning, etc. This planning service does include Investment planning (asset allocation/location and more), and we help implement all recommendations. But it's not us doing the actual trade execution/direct management. For someone who just wants to offload investment management completely, including execution, that, for us, is available as a separate, optional service; it's for investors who just don't want to have to think about doing asset (al)location or rebalancing; they just want updates on how their investments are doing and what we're doing to align those investments with their goals.

Sorry for the long-ish answer. I do hope that helps!

One parting thought: If you're in the market for a financial planner/advisor/consultant, the three most important questions to ask them - and I'd give my own mother the same advice - are: 1) Who do you work for? (Ideally, Independent), 2) How do you get paid? (Ideally, fee-only), and 3) Are you a fiduciary at all times? (Ideally, yes).