I’m 19 and stand to inherit millions. I’m completely unprepared.

Yes - at your level of wealth you can basically hire the best and avoid a lot of the 'scammers' people typically associate with financial advisors.

What you want to look for is a private client banking relationship. Idk where you are based but they have these at every bank. There are also smaller financial firms called 'wealth management firms' that do essentially the same thing. You basically request to talk to a 'portfolio manager' and then they'll explain to you why you should choose them.

My 2 tips:

Key #1 is INTERVIEW a lot of them before you choose one. You want to choose someone who's knowledgeable, that makes you feel comfortable about money, and is trustworthy. You don't need to make a decision on the day of so I would advise setting up meetings with many firms, going through multiple interviews, and then sitting down and making a decision.

Key #2 is DIVERSIFY. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Because you have a lot of money, you should look to have your money with multiple portfolio managers. Perhaps 5 at $10m each or 10 at $5m each or however you want. Its up to you. You can always move money from one portfolio manager to another if you realize one isn't what you imagined.

The reason why you don't want to go down the self-investing route reddit is suggesting is because your financial needs are very different from 99% of the population. Who cares if you earn a return that is 1% less than the market, if a financial advisor can prevent you from selling your investments out of fear during a market correction, you would probably have saved yourself $10million in one trade. All for a measly $500k (or less) in annual dues. (I'm assuming 1% fee on $50 million but you can likely get lower at your level of wealth).

I realize this reply will be unpopular on reddit for obvious reasons but I know and work with people and institutions with a lot of money like you. Feel free to also DM.

/r/fatFIRE Thread Parent