Can I Retire?: How Much Money You Need to Retire and How to Manage Your Retirement Savings, Explained in 100 Pages or Less (Financial Topics in 100 Pages or Less)

by Mike Piper

Reduce the likelihood of investment mistakes, such as panicking and selling an investment at the wrong time,

“Assets Under Management” Advisors Many people claim that the best advisor is one who is paid as a function of your account size (i.e., your “assets under management” or “AUM”). AUM fees tie the advisor’s interests to yours—or so goes the claim. What they really do is tie the advisor’s interests to your account size, not to your overall financial well-being. For the most part, this is not a problem, but it does present a conflict of interests whenever the most appropriate thing for you to do is liquidate a part of your portfolio (for example, to pay down your mortgage, delay claiming Social Security, or buy a piece of real estate).