Hey financial gurus.

[brutus]

I have an IRA with money in Clearbridge. I got a new account manager that wants me to move it to Franklin Templeton. By doing this it will have an initial cost for the transfer. Is FT producing a better return than Clearbridge? It may not be that simple but I and not sure what to do as I feel that every time you get a new manager they want you to move something that cost me money. Any info would be very helpful. I can read all about them on the WWW and still not know what I am reading. It is not a lot and I am looking at about 4.5 years until retirement. Thanks in advance for any info.

[BigCountry101]

I would ask the account manager why, and if the answer is anything outside of "it will make you more money", I would hesitate to switch.

It looks like Franklin Templeton is/has acquired Clearbridge.

https://www.leggmason.com/en-us/about/newsroom/franklin-templeton-to-acquire-legg-mason.html

So maybe it's more that your Clearbridge IRA is about to through Franklin Templeton due to that. Seems crazy that you would have to pay fees to make the transfer if it's truly due to the merger though.

Not sure who/what company you are dealing with, but some of those guys are pretty quota driven. It could be that due to the merger they are getting pressure to switch X% of Clearbridge accounts to Franklin Templeton.

Full disclosure - take all of this with a grain of salt. I am no expert and this is mostly my personal opinion. Hopefully a professional will jump in.

[deerwatcher51]

I would certainly want to know what his reasons for the switch and how long is it going to take to recoup the fees to switch.

[ken800]

It should not cost you anything to transfer an IRA. There are so many online brokerages that will do it for free or even give you a cash bonus for moving, I can't understand why it would cost you anything. An IRA is a vehicle and you transfer the vehicle. There are no trades required. You don't have to liquidate your positions, turn them into cash, then deposit in the new institution.

When I hear things like this my reaction is always to move the account somewhere with a lot more transparency and investment options. It cost me zero to move my IRA to fidelity many years ago...

As a last note, an advisor doesn't make money unless you pay him/her a percentage of your portfolio to be an advisor or they churn your money in/out of investment positions. Don't let them do either.

[CWP]

First off, switching from Clearbridge to Franklin is like saying you are switching from Ruger to Remington, calibers matter. If you're switching from .308 to .308, probably not worth it, if you're going from .308 to .22, then the advisor needs to tell you why that's the right thing for you right now. The merger shouldn't require you to incur any cost, the funds should just change name or perhaps be merged but this should not cost you anything unless they plan to absolutely close your fund.

To me it sounds like this advisor is trying to generate some cash for his/her self, but not enough details to be sure.

[Triple 7]

There are a lot more variables that go into that decision. Are you in A share Mutual Funds? Have you had an in depth conversation with that advisor about your goals and developed a plan? If you have not, then moving around and paying more might not be in your best interest. Each investment should be in sync with your goal. If you are just chasing return then you will more than likely take more risk than you need to and end up frustrated. If you know what your goals are then you know how much you need to make. In the absence of knowing how much enough is, more is always better to some advisors. Both Franklin Templeton and Clearbridge have good funds. But those funds might not be right for you.

[wickll]

I am not sure about the merger and how it will affect things. But looking back on some of my mistakes in my 30 years of investing is switching companies too many times.

But I may not be a good guide. I am more of a DIYer when it comes to investing. I have most of my portfolio in Fidelity . Low fees, and I do not use any of their account advisors. I do look at some of their screening tools, ratings etc.

I also have about 25% of my money with an independent broker who has me in about 4 mutual funds and just leaves it in those. He might do some rebalancing, but I leave that up to him.

I have another roughly 25% in another independent broker who has pretty much everything in stocks. Just started using him about 8 months ago.

The bulk of my money is in fidelity and in stocks and a little in index and sector funds. As it grows, I might move funds to the 2 "professionals" IF the size of what I am managing exceeds what I feel comfortable managing. Then I will decide who gets more.

I also subscribe to a couple of advising servises. IAS or Investment Advisory Service has been doing well for me. But that is only if you really want to get into things and want to buy stocks instead of mutual funds.

But for starters, make sure you understand the difference between Class A and Class C mutual fund shares and see what the brokers have you in.

[gingib]

Like mentioned, switching should not be the same as cashing out. If you have to cash then,then I would do not it. Unless your in some awful/terrible high fee funds now. Which I doubt

[brutus]

Thanks GS that is why I asked the question. I read but really was not sure that FT acquired Clear bridge and was wondering the same thing as to why move if they are one in the same. He is saying our return was like 7.14% Clear Bridge and if we went to FT after we recoup the transfer fee it would most likely although uncertain future (New President economy and such) should go to 12.79% return on investment.