Financial Advisor Tim Hayes
Services
Book a Virtual or In-Person Meeting
Who Am I Affiliated With?
I am an Investment Adviser Representative at Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) based in Fairfield, IA. I am also registered with Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., an independent broker-dealer with over 3,000 registered representatives nationwide.
How Much Do I Charge?
Most clients pay fee-only or an hourly rate. The size and complexity of the client’s wealth management and financial and retirement planning determine that fee.
Some clients pay a commission, mainly those with smaller accounts, i.e., Roth IRAs, some public-school teachers with 403b retirement accounts, or parents or grandparents who set up a 529 college savings plan.
Do We Need to Meet in Person?
The first introductory and fact-finding appointment can be in-person or by phone. The next meeting where I provide my recommendations should be in-person. (For the time being, telephone, Zoom, and email are replacing some in-person meetings.)
Subsequent meetings during which we monitor your progress and investments can be done in-person or by phone, email, Zoom, or Skype – or, more likely, a combination of these meeting types.
Independent advisor Tim Hayes offers savvy investment strategies from an objective perspective.
As an independent financial advisor, I have helped people, couples, and families with their retirement and financial planning for over 30 years. Financial markets are more complicated and volatile than ever. That’s why I remain committed to learning and adapting my knowledge and skills to the new financial “normal” as it’s continually redefined—for better or worse.
If you wish to invest successfully in this day and age, this is what it takes.
Helpful Guidance, No Pushy Sales Pitch
Your financial future is too important to rely on amateur hunches. And let’s face it, you don’t have the time or interest to become an investing expert. You shouldn’t have to. And the good news is, as one of my clients, you’ll never have to!
- I emphasize education – I’ll make sure you’re aware of all of your investment options and the potential risks and upsides of each. I’ll give you the objective perspective along with my honest opinions based on years of investing experience.
- I stick around – My clients know that I am there for them, and I am extremely proactive about providing ongoing counsel and advice as changes in your life affect your financial situation and goals.
- Objective advice – No cookie-cutter solutions or corporate financial overlords here! Being independent means I have the freedom to choose from all the options available to you and recommend the ones I feel are best suited to your needs, regardless of who’s offering it. Unlike some advisors, the sky is the limit in terms of the ideas, products, and strategies I may bring to your attention.
Understanding Financial Fees: Commission vs. Fiduciary Advice
Where Do I Work?
From my Boston or S Dartmouth office, I will provide expert, highly personalized financial planning, retirement planning, and investment solutions when you need an independent financial advisor in Massachusetts, Boston or Greater Boston, Salem or the North Shore, Hingham, or any other town on the South Shore, Andover, the Merrimack Valley, and the MetroWest, including Framingham, or the Southcoast, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and Newport, RI.
Investing is a risky business. Give yourself a fighting chance for success.
What Are the Benefits of an Independent Financial Advisor?
- You will understand investment concepts. I talk in familiar language, not financial jargon.
- You can make educated investment decisions with the help of my objective, independent research.
- I am free to collaborate with you and advise you objectively as we design a financial plan to address your concerns and establish a path to your goals and dreams.
- You will be able to trust and confide in me, as I will understand and prioritize your financial priorities and goals. I will serve you in a relationship.
- You will not have to explain your financial history again and again to a series of new faces; I will be here for you.
What are the disadvantages of an independent financial advisor?
One disadvantage of a sole-proprietor independent advisor is succession planning. That is what happens to the advisor’s clients when an advisor retires or, God forbid, passes away.
Instead, if the client were with a big firm such as Morgan Stanley or Merrill Lynch, they would most likely be reassigned to a new advisor, making continuity easier. However, the process becomes backward in that the company, not the client, chooses the advisor.
Independent Financial Professional
Start Your Financial Planning Journey With Tim Hayes
Financial Planning – My financial comprehensive financial planning starts with gathering all your financial information into one place to generate thoughts, questions, and opinions about your personal financial goals and situation.
- Gather Financial Data – fact finder, tax forms, brokerage statements, retirement account statements, mutual fund, and annuity statements, insurance policies
- Establish Financial Goals – college funding, comfortable retirement, income needs, second home, travel
- Analyze Financial Information – mutual fund and exchange-traded-fund (ETF) due diligence, retirement planning, asset allocation, and risk tolerance analysis, beneficiary audit, tax-reduction strategies
- Recommendations – product solutions, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, annuities, life insurance plans
- Monitor and Update – annual reviews, twice a year email updates, monthly brokerage statements, CIR statements, online reporting of your accounts
Financial Planning Fact Finder
Financial Planning for Retirees
Consider me for your financial advisor when switching from growing your retirement accounts to distributing them.
This transition usually means moving some money from stocks to bonds, and I am well-schooled in the economy, inflation, markets, interest rates, and the bond market.
Before coming to Cambridge Investment Research Advisors in 2010, I spent 20 years with MetLife, so I am also well-versed in guaranteed retirement products such as variable and fixed annuities.
The challenges:
- Understanding interest rates, bonds, annuities, and dividend stock investing, along with other transition products, can be challenging and confusing.
- As with most things in life, the first step is often difficult, but securing sound financial advice should not be left until it’s too late.
- Finding a licensed and knowledgeable resource will help you get the best financial advice.
Tim is a financial advisor…
- with a keen understanding of interest rates and the bond market.
- with the knowledge that is imperative when one talks about retirement income.
- with access to the products necessary to help you transition from growth to income.
- who will research your retirement accounts and let you know if leaving it with your 401k or 403b is a good option, or if you should roll it over.
- who will work to keep your costs low – because in a low-yield world, the less you pay to someone else, the more you keep for yourself.
How Tim will help you transition into retirement?
- Measure how well your investments match up with your risk tolerance and goals and income needs.
- Design a strategy for minimizing your tax burden.
- Recommend investments based on an explicit balance of growth vs. security.
- Figure out whether you should keep your 401k or 403b with your previous employer or roll it into an IRA, where Tim will build you a new portfolio.
- Build that portfolio using your risk tolerance to create enough retirement income, but so that you will not outlive your money.
- Look over any pension options you may be eligible for and review any Social Security and Medicare questions you may have.
- Examine any group life policies you may want to convert to an individual policy
Please be sure to speak to your advisor to consider the differences between your company retirement account and investment in an IRA. These factors include, but are not limited to, changes to the availability of funds, withdrawals, fund expenses, fees, and IRA-required minimum distributions.
Are You Ready to Retire?
Portfolio Evaluation
A portfolio evaluation compares your current fees and costs with those for a hypothetical portfolio using mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (EFTs) that have passed my due diligence process. It also compares your current investments’ performance to specific benchmarks and the hypothetical portfolio.
- Holding Summary – Overview of the proposal, our firm, and the services we provide
- Style Analysis – by U.S. equity, international equity, and fixed income
- Portfolio Performance – Compare the performance of your current and proposed investments
- Fee Analysis – Current vs. proposed portfolio
- Risk Tolerance Report
- Closing Comments and helpful items for your consideration
Due Diligence Mutual Funds and Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)
I provide a due diligence selection process using the Fiduciary Focus Toolkit™. It screens, 10,000+ mutual funds and EFTs down to a couple hundred eligible for use in your portfolio. The process screens for manager tenure, fees, performance, and style.
I cross-reference my results with their fi360 Fiduciary Score™. That score is an easy-to-use and easy-to-understand way to objectively compare peer investments and determine their overall appropriateness. It is a ready-made due diligence solution that can help advisors demonstrate a careful investment selection and monitoring process.
Investment Management
The client needs a minimum of $100,000, which can be in any account: IRAs, 403bs, joint accounts, and individual brokerage accounts.
The fee depends on your account size and complexity but is never higher than 1%—the larger the account, the lower the cost.
The accounts are primarily invested in mutual funds and ETFs. All the funds have passed my rigorous due diligence process. I screen for fees, performance, fund turnover, and manager tenure.
I design the portfolio to meet your goals, consistent with how much risk you are comfortable taking.
After your account is set up, you receive monthly statements, and you can follow your account online with CirStatements. Furthermore, we periodically meet to review the portfolio, discuss performance and rebalancing, and check if you are on track to achieve your goals.
What If I Do Not Have $100,000?
My job is to provide independent financial advice to all potential customers, so I do not turn away clients. However, given that my fee-based business usually requires a minimum of $100,000, I typically charge a commission or an hourly rate if you have less than this to invest.
However, I use the same due diligence process for building your portfolio. I use mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that have passed my due diligence process screening for low fees, historically competitive performance, low fund turnover, and manager tenure.
I work with all account registrations: IRAs, Roth IRAs, 403(b)s, SEPs, SIMPLES, 529 Plans, etc.
After the portfolio is set up, you will receive monthly or quarterly statements. You can follow your account online at CirStatements. Your account’s custodian will be either Pershing, a Bank of New York Mellon company, or the fund family itself.
Investor Profile Questionnaire
Over the years, you’ll likely change jobs a few times. Your goals and risk tolerance will change too.
My investment ideas are only as good as their ability to keep up with you, so it all starts with getting to know you and your current investing situation. You may need your portfolio fine-tuned, or perhaps major changes are in order. Whatever the case, I’ll recommend a customized portfolio that addresses your needs and goals. And, as your financial advisor, I’ll commit to reviewing your portfolio at least once a year.
Whether you’re changing jobs, shifting gears into retirement, or already participating in an investment plan at work (401(k), 403(b), etc.), you owe it to yourself and your family to make sure you’re doing the right things at the right time.
How to Choose a Massachusetts Financial Advisor for Retirement
Additional Services
Client Testimonials
These testimonials are based upon an individual client experience and may not represent the experience of other customers, and should not be considered a guarantee or indication of future performance of success.
Financial Planner Costs
Over the last twelve years, the government’s interest in financial advisor compensation has dominated the regulatory landscape. It began after the 2008 financial crisis with the Dodd–Frank legislation, which tasked the SEC with reviewing the two ways that financial advisors get paid: fees and commissions.
Next came the 2015 Fiduciary Rule from the Department of Labor. It would have required most financial advisors working with retirement plans, including IRAs, to charge a level fee if enacted as proposed. The belief was that the solutions provided to the client would be better because the compensation earned by the advisor was the same no matter the product recommended.
After much discussion, court battles, and changes, both are now in effect. The Fiduciary Rule no longer imposes a level fee, but it does require a fiduciary standard for most advisors interacting with retirement plans, including IRAs. On the other hand, Regulation Best Interest, another SEC rule, requires finance professionals paid by commission to work in the client’s best interest.
Fiduciary Fees
Financial advisors working under the fiduciary standard usually charge the client a fee based on the percentage of the client’s assets managed. They might also provide other financial planning services paid for by that fee.
That fee seems to hover around 1% by convention, or it started that way because it is a round number. Anything above seems excessive because clients usually have additional costs for the products, which are not paid to the advisor. Hopefully, the advisor keeps those product costs low by incorporating institutional share classes and index funds.
Hourly Fee
Instead of an asset fee, a fiduciary advisor could charge the client an hourly fee. However, again, the product recommended has no bearing on the compensation earned by the fiduciary advisor. However, I find the hourly fee arrangement less common as most people paying for fiduciary advisory services have substantial assets that the advisor charges a fee to manage.
However, the hourly fee arrangement may become more common as both the Fiduciary Rule and the Best Interest Standard place hurdles on advisors, recommending that customers roll over their 401k accounts.
That rollover is what the previous advisor charged for management or a commission earned after recommending a rollover for many people. Because of these hurdles, advisors may recommend that clients keep their money in the 401k and set an hourly fee arrangement to manage it there.
Commission
One problem with the commission model was that there were so many undisclosed conflicts of interest influencing the product recommendations. Too many times, the customer was placed into a higher-cost product. However, many of those conflicts should be gone with the new Best Interest Regulation, making a one-time commission a competitive alternative to ongoing fees for any client whose 401k plan doesn’t offer great choices for retirement income or institutional pricing.
Fee-Based Financial Planner, Hourly Rate, or Commission
Most clients pay fee-only or an hourly rate. The size and complexity of the client’s wealth management and financial and retirement planning determine that fee.
Hourly Fee
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Fee-only Fiduciary Advisor
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Financial Advisor
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Financial Planning
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Advisor Financial Planning
Fee-Only
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Fiduciary Advisor
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Fee Based
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Fee-Only Financial Planning
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Financial Planning Services
FAQ
Are You a Fiduciary?
I am, but it is less relevant today after the changes in rules from the SEC.
Do you have expertise and experience advising clients on Social Security decisions (timing of receipt and tax consequences, for example)?
I understand Social Security and timing well but cannot provide specific tax advice.
Who are your typical clients? Do you have a client profile you can share?
A typical client recently retired or planning to retire.
How do you get paid? What fees should we anticipate in collaborating with you? Are you compensated for recommending certain products?
Fee-only and occasional commission
How will you choose investments to recommend to us?
I do my due diligence, use a couple of tools, and rely on my 30 years of experience.
Please list and explain any conflicts of interest you or your firm may have in servicing our account. If conflicts of interest exist, how will you address them?
Commission vs. fee is a possible conflict. I avoid all attempts to influence behavior, such as dinners put on by companies, etc.
What are our “all-in costs”? For example, if we provided you with $100,000 to invest, how much will go to fees and costs, and how much will be invested for us?
It is hard to estimate all-in costs, but I keep them low.
What makes a good advisor?
Knowing what to ignore
