Subject: Weighing in on elderly parent IRA
For better or worse, my 85 yo mom asked me to look over a weigh in on her IRA which is allocated in several funds and being managed by an advisor. The advisor communicated with me that she encouraged a higher % of the assets being directed into her Own company's Value & Income fund which has lagged the index over several time periods by 3-4% and of course has a higher mgt. fee benefitting the firm and wealth manager (Munger incentive bias). This did not pass our sniff test.
After speaking frankly with mom & my older brother, we elected half of her assets to be split equally between BRKB, RSP & QQQE. The wealth manager will allocate the rest towards her firm's value & income fund (keeping it status quo) and some non-China low fee EM and international funds. Glad she was open to advice and realized that it was lagging performance + higher fees. It is a balancing act to be aware & involved enough but not over step one's boundary. The manager was probably not thrilled but my obligation is more to family rather than the advisor. I cannot be the only one in this situation.