Investors' hunger for help has prompted mutual fund groups that charge sales commissions, brokerage firms, banks and others to market themselves increasingly as advisers. Perhaps you're not comfortable doing it yourself anymore, or you don't have enough time, or a thousand other reasons combined. Folks who have studied that question often focus on the size of an investor's portfolio. The bigger the account, the more important help becomes. Of course, size is relative.
Advisers charge one of two ways.
They charge commissions on each investment they sell you, or they charge a fee, which can be an hourly rate or a percentage of your total account each year. A cheaper alternative is to skip the advice, build your own plan, and pick your own stocks and mutual funds from a no-load fund company or through cheap online brokers. But the trend these days is to seek and pay for advice.