Kan. Decisions become more difficult in the face of a job loss, retirement, family death, employer's merger or similar event. Those are the times when many seek help. Also, the long bull market made Americans so much richer that they increasingly feared making investment mistakes. It is little wonder that increasingly, even no-load funds seek customers by soliciting investment advisers, stockbrokers, bankers and others who don't work for the fund company. Mutual-fund groups that charge sales commissions, brokerage firms, banks and others market themselves increasingly as advisers.
Studies show that the bigger the account, the more important help becomes.
She said that in surveys into why investors seek help, money ranks higher than retirement or other events. Larrabee's job is to attract investments to American Century funds. But Bower argues that most of us shouldn't wait to reach some dollar goal before seeking help. He said the decisions are difficult whether you have a big portfolio or a little stashed away. Big money make situations more complex, he said, but less money doesn't make them easy.