Why do we stay with them?
It's been growing more than twice what we spend each year and add another year with the money from TheHusbandHalf's paycheck - we're happy. (what we actually spend is kept in a savings/checking account)
See, that's enough. We don't join in to the 'whoever dies with the most wins' game. We watch what they do, talk to them 4/yr scheduled, more if WE want.
I have relatives that have lost big time to financial planners they have chosen, and a couple of guys THH works with, same thing. I do not have a fear of something like that happening. We sleep well.
Something the guy asks every year, is the % growth we want. He's spot on each time.
Really, that's enough.
By chance we learned that they hire from this podunk school system, and the county over, and to be honest, that moves them up a notch in our eyes. These people are not involved in any way with OUR money, they are in some other department.
THH and I have talked about some of the issues that have been mentioned. One of the things we talked about was having money left to give to a charity, to our kids, or having little left. The way we looked at it, sure, they're making $ from us, but we are happy with the amount. Helping to pay people that lived around here when they were younger, and I'm sure others from little towns, so they are employed vs a charity when we die? It's one of the choices we made. We have a few charities mentioned in our will, if there's ANYTHING LEFT.