No…that’s not a typo in the headline. In this article, I’ll talk about why you don’t want to hire me- a financial advisor, to manage your financial picture. If you fall into one (hopefully more than one) of the five categories below, you might be in good shape to save a little extra towards your retirement and handle the planning on your own.

I talk with a lot of Lockheed employees and some of them come to me already thinking they don’t need my help. And a lot of them might be right. Let’s take a look at a few of the reasons some of those employees might choose to go the DIY investment route.

Reason No. 1: You enjoy researching the market and handling your own investment mix

The do-it-yourself investment world has grown a ton since the housing bubble in 2008 – and with the market up almost 260% since March of 2009, many do-it-yourself’ers haven’t had much trouble finding investments that have made a decent return.

If you’re comfortable with the market’s ups and downs and pretty familiar with asset allocation (how you invest your money- stocks, bonds or cash for example) then you might not need a financial advisor to help.

If you truly enjoy the investment planning world and have the time to invest in the research, managing your own financial picture might be the right move. If you really love investments and financial planning research, check out Michael Kitces’ blog the Nerd’s Eye View.

Reason No. 2: You are relatively young and all of your money is in your 401k

If you don’t have a ton of outside assets and are relatively young, investing in your 401k might be the only thing you need to manage financially. Your Lockheed 401k investment mix might need a little attention in the beginning and there are online tools at Voya that might help you allocate correctly with a little time invested.

Once you add in a house and a family, your situation might need a little more attention, but young investors might be ok if they can manage their budget and life insurance plan on their own.

Some investors might look at paying a financial advisor a flat, one-time fee to get a financial plan done for them and just update down the road if anything changes. Much like you’d pay an attorney a flat fee to put together a will for you. This type of advisor is a little harder to find, but becoming more popular in the industry.

Reason No. 3: Your budget is really tight

If you don’t have a ton of extra money in your monthly budget, then sticking with your 401k might be all the investing you need. Once you get your budget in line and reduce expenses or increase your income, hiring a financial advisor might be a good option to help you manage what to do with your new expendable income.

Depending on your situation, a financial advisor might be able to help you with your budget to figure out where your money is going and how to better manage your monthly cash flow.

Reason No. 4: You have the time to monitor and adjust your plan

About the time you develop a financial plan and put it into practice, it’s pretty much wrong. The market, your current situation at work or at home changes and the plan you spent time putting together already needs a few tweaks. You have to take the time to update your plan as your financial world changes.

Besides updating the overall plan, you’ll also want to allocate some time to rebalancing your portfolios as needed. Some do-it-yourself investment management companies (like E-trade or Vanguard) can do this for you as well (sometimes for a fee).

If you decide managing your investments and keeping up with the changing tax and investment environment is more of a challenge than you expected, you can always hire an advisor down the road to free up that time.

Reason No. 5: You don’t make emotional decisions when the market drops

This is the most difficult one to master. When times like 2008 come around again (and it will) how do you react? Do you lose sleep at night wondering what your 401k account balance will look like after tomorrow’s market?

Talk around the water cooler at the office and on the news can really drive people to make emotional decisions when it comes to their investments. Going to cash after a market drop and waiting until “things are better” could be detrimental to your overall retirement plan.

A financial advisor can help you with a plan for what to do when the market drops. Sticking to the plan even when others are panicking can be extremely difficult.

Cutting your own hair is so easy…right?

Not everyone needs a financial advisor to manage their investments. Much the same as many people cut their own yards, do their own taxes or cut their own hair (!?!).

If you decide you might need some help, shoot me an email at Brian@TheAeroAdvisor.com or fill out the form below. We might find out you can do this on your own, or I might be able to help.