Why I Hired a Financial Advisor

In November 2021, I was working two jobs. I terminated my employment with one of them and didn't know what to do with my dormant retirement account. I needed a sense of direction with my retirement plan. I didn’t like that I had two traditional IRAs and no Roth IRAs. I also had burning questions such as: Do I roll one into the other? How does one optimize their retirement accounts? Should I have a 401(k), Roth IRA, HSA, or all three?

I also needed expertise in allocation and diversification. Prior to this decision, I had spent 2020 and 2021 managing my own portfolio of investments on Robinhood. I was confident at picking stocks and doing my own research, but what bothered me was not knowing what percentage of my net worth should be in each asset class. Essentially, I didn't know how to diversify my portfolio so that it wasn't just high-growth stocks.

Today, I consider my financial advisor as my defensive coordinator. His job is to minimize risk and make boring investments. He has a much better idea of ​​how to properly weigh the assets in my portfolio. On the other hand, I consider myself the offensive coordinator. My job is to increase risk and make semi-speculative investments. I like to pull from both extremes. For me, this is what creates a balanced portfolio.