Murray, not sure what this means. You held it for a 66% drawdown in the past? I wouldn't hold anything for a 66% drawdown
I find that the main reason people will hire a financial advisor so they don't have to take responsibility for their decisions. If the market does well then you take credit for being smart enough to hire a good advisor and when the market tanks you have someone else to blame. I don't know how you go about ranking individual advisors. I assume they all have similar training and have some regulatory body. Any that I have dealt with were really salesmen in disguise. What makes a someone a good fit for a momo strategy?
You’d be amazed at how many people need a financial advisor because they are totally clueless about investing. I used to tell people, that I provide the discipline that they can’t provide for themselves. Which I guess is another way of saying what you said. But really so many people wouldn’t know where to start. It goes beyond that though, to planning, taxes, etc. re momentum investing, I don’t even know if I myself am suited to it but I guess we’ll find out. To answer your question, as an advisor, I’d say it’s a client who can afford to risk capital without affecting their life, and who has a stomach to take losses when appropriate.
No I'm not amazed at all. The financial industry has done a great job of convincing us we are too dumb to look after our own money. Even friends (millionaires) who own their own businesses are investing with advisors who sell them mutual funds. Taking losses is the toughest hurdle to overcome. No one wants to be wrong and then when the price rebounds like it invariably will, you are wrong twice. Of course there will be the time when you don't take a loss and the price keeps falling. Now you are not only wrong but your capital isn't working for you. It's OK to be wrong just don't be wrong for a long time.
Entirely anecdotal, but my GF's short foray into trading (she asked, not my idea) and then longer in investing was disastrous; not as in blowing up, but as in coming nowhere closer to learning anything. She's never going to learn. She's not dumb, but she isn't the personality that i) is able to take interest in, and ii) make any analysis of this type. The anecdotal point being, if she ever randomly found herself with some money she could use a financial advisor. Tangent from the above, being at least genuinely interested in managing your own money is a clear prerequisite for doing something more advanced than buying SPY in my mind. Then again, many active retail investors over-manage their money due to said interest. The best median investor is a dead investor, apparently. =) But I would assume that goes for financial advisors as well.
I understand the risk management part, I understand the importance of keeping losses small and not being afraid to take a loss. It’s the technical stuff, beyond the basics, that I need to learn better Thanks for all the responses.