All Forum Posts by: Chinmay J.

Whatever word you want to use, you are right.. I think $5000 is way too much. That's the bottom line. Not a big fan of semantics

It seems you came up with the 25 hrs by dividing $5000 by $200/hr.  For a trained eye, it shouldn't take 25 hrs to provide me with guidance . It shouldn't take even an hour actually if you have a system where you have created templates (EXCEL Documents), which you can provide me to fill up. Even if I am the most disorganized person in the world, if I can fill up your templates properly, you should have data you need to provide me with meaningful feedback. 

 I am looking for meat here.. I am not looking for all the fluff and song and dance with fancy PowerPoint presentations and abridged versions of Tolstoy novels. A simple 1 to 2 page PDF document would more than suffice. 

What I am willing to pay is $300-350 per hr. This is what a typical lawyer and CPA would charge you for "typical" work, and my finances are pretty typical. A few rentals, Real Estate Earnings, Stocks & Bonds, W2 job.. That's it.. This should not take more than couple of hrs to compile. My finances are not that complicated.  Meet up once or twice a yr on as needed basis. If you are my CPA, I am more than happy to get a bundled service from  you where you provide me with tax planning, financial guidance and do my taxes as well. 

So based on the advice above, and my own leaning in this matter, I reached out to a few fee based advisers. Talked to one firm about their pricing, and their cheapest rate is $500. For that they will advise you how to get  rid of your credit card debt..That cracked me up. There must be some really stupid people out there who need to pay $500 to learn how to get rid of their credit card debt. 

For the kind of advice I Was looking for, seems their package is $5000.00  What I am looking for is the following:

How to structure finances to minimize tax liability? How I am doing financially relative to my age? What age will I be able to retire? What would be a good target number that I should work towards if I want to retire at 65 if I want to do XYZ things in my retirement.

CPA who is a financial adviser (fiduciary) would be a great option for me. 

Any suggestions.. I have also heard of "Fee Only" financial planner.  

I am extremely good at my managing my money. I make budget for every quarter and every quarter come under the budget. Rarely go over it. I have been investing in retirement accounts since I was 22. Now, I am 38 and feel that i need some advice, as I have accumulated a little bit of a nest egg. I am a big proponent of investing in broad S&P 500 and Bond Funds.  Just wanted to get a different perspective from folks here on BP. 

So I recently got connected with a very good CPA in NoVA for my 2019 taxes, and she advised me that I need to see a financial planner. So far, I have been investing my money myself into stocks and bonds. 

In my situation a Financial Planner can certainly help me if I find a good one, and I am sure most people are ethical, and work in the best interest of their clients. However the question that keeps me up at night is, how do I know I am not dealing with the next Bernie Madoff?  I am a big fan of the TV Show "American Greed", which for those of you who don't know is a CNBC production currently in its 13th season that focuses on White Collar Crime. The show is rife with story after story of people who handed over their assets to financial planners, and lost everything.

What are the steps one can take to ensure that you are not one of those poor saps who end up on AG. 

I have a lot of experience dealing with section 8 administrators in different jurisdictions, and yes there can be issues with them responding in a timely manner, but I have never had issue with them not responding at all..  Walk us through the whole story of how you got here..   

The answer is "depends".  I have a tenant in a class A neighborhood, who always pays late - usually by 15th. I trust her that she is always going to pay. I would have had her for 4 yrs in October. She doesn't bother me with anything other than occasional repair request or there is a true emergency. Very honest and decent lady.  Why do I want to kick her out? Just because I can..?  Getting the rent a bit late and making more ($50 is late rent fee) is a lot cheaper than vacancy and turnover cost in addition to the uncertainty that the new tenants bring. 

Now, a small thing like she being totally unresponsive, or chronically being late where she is not paying the rent until 3rd or 4th week, or completely stops paying  can change the whole picture.. 

 100 bucks say this is a big joke.. One can't be this stupid to leave United States at the age of 39 and move to Mexico and then scrambling to make ends meet... OK You entertained us..  Thanks for the laughs. 

How does a good realtor keep PM accountable if he screws over the client down the road?  The most he can do is give the client some references of another PM company, and hope that they won't screw him up. The realtor is not going to fight with the PM on his behalf once the deal is closed.. 

Furthermore, a good PM has the pulse on the rental market better than realtor. A lot of successful realtors in low rent areas, don't even do rental work. 

Jonathan is right.. Don't do analysis like you are doing PhD in Real Estate. Successful investors don't get into analysis paralysis.  You are 3 hrs from Reno, NV assuming you are recalling from Fiddletown, CA.  Have you considered Reno market?