How to Money · Monday, September 28, 2026
A listener named 'A' is concerned about her parents, in their late 70s, hiring a financial advisor who charges 1% annually. Her father believes this advisor can save more in taxes than the fee through tax-loss harvesting. The hosts recommended WealthRamp for finding vetted, fee-only fiduciary advisors, emphasizing that a fiduciary's primary duty is to act in the client's best interest. They noted that tax-loss harvesting is typically relevant for taxable brokerage accounts, not retirement accounts, and is often a smaller benefit than people assume.
“However, he is leaning towards hiring an advisor that takes 1% yearly because he is concerned that if something happens to him, my mom won't know what to do, and he wants someone who can oversee everything for her.”
“What you don't want and what you want to completely avoid is... Commissions. You don't want any sort of commission-based advisor because then all of a sudden your interests are not aligned.”
“It's just that when you look into it, yeah, we're not talking about retirement accounts. We're talking about taxable brokerage accounts. Also, well, how much money can you tax loss harvest in a given year, Matt? You know, 3,000 bucks, right?”