Hi All,
I volunteer with a small non-profit that has several hundred k in long term assets that we'd like to invest so as to earn more than the pitiful return on money market accounts/savings accounts. The assets are held at Vanguard. Our by-laws require that we use a financial advisor of some kind. Vanguard only offers advisory services to individuals, not to organizations. I've talked to a few financial advisors, but no one seems to work with Vanguard accounts. They all want to move the assets to Schwab or Fidelity. That's a nonstarter with the board because opening the Vanguard account was such a hassle and they don't want to open a new account. So, I think we're looking for someone who could advise us on an hourly basis, but let us do the actual management of the investments. I've been looking on various fee-only investment advisor websites, but very few work with non-profits and/or they require millions in assets. Does anyone have any leads? Feel free to private message me.
Thanks!
lrwilliams
Comments
https://www.napfa.org/financial-planning/what-is-fee-only-advising
fwiw
all I was thinking is that he would know to refer the querier to someone competent
but yes, I would think vang would be able to help out just fine, and honestly
I just wanted to see if bobc was around and perhaps still reading threads here ...
@MrRuffles - we are members of our state nonprofit association and I have been poking around on their website, but no good leads yet.
@sma3 - I have called Vanguard. They told me they do not provide advisory services for organizational accounts. But, maybe they meant small ones. They do have a nonprofit investment advisor service for accounts over $5 million. If only...
@MikeM - have been looking at the NAPFA site, but the only search is by zip code, so it take a lot of time searching through websites and ADV forms to find ones that work with nonprofits or charge hourly.
@davidmoran - thanks for the reminder about Bob Cochran. Lovely gentleman. I will ping him on LinkedIn.
What a great community this is!
I'm wondering why you can't find local, fee-only, advisors to shop among. Maybe you could even find one to volunteer their services if they are interested in what you are doing.
Seems like some local advisor would see this as an opportunity to burnish their reputation in the community.
I spent my entire career in various parts of non-profit land. So I'm biased towards finding someone with ties to your community, if not ties to your mission.
If there is no one close by, have you tried talking to the trust department where your org does its banking? A big city bank might blow you off as too small. In a town too small for fee-only planners, your local bankers might be friendlier, and able to come up with some help or ideas.