Having just spent 1.5 hrs on the phone with Vanguard (a hefty percentage of that on hold), I really do appreciate and share people's frustrations with its customer service. That is still a matter distinct from the website or the ease of fund investing there.
The matter I was trying to resolve originated with limitations of a worse financial institution (really!) and I was exploring workarounds that Vanguard could provide. That turned out to be unfortunately little.

@Ben For me, one reason to have all/most holdings concentrated in one brokerage account is to make things simpler for whomever cleans up after me.
When I was Executor for my Dad's estate a few years ago, every financial account that he had was one more thing for me to handle with phone calls, letters, etc.
He had a small DRIP account with Kellogg -- I think because he liked Cornflakes -- which required several communications (and a death certificate) to close.
Most his positions had been moved to TD Ameritade, who (like most firms) wouldn't communicate by email -- many communications over a period of time.
His credit card accounts had to be handled one by one.
Life insurance -- yep.
Magazine subscriptions likewise.
Something I would not have expected -- contact the Syracuse Alumni Association to say your faithful alum has passed and don't bother sending any more newsletter or Alumni magazines. Ditto for professional associations.
You get the picture.
So every extra entity to deal with will make life tougher for my wife and whoever is helping her (although I hope this doesn't happen very soon).
David

The Garrett Planning Network is a national network of hourly-based, fee-only financial planners.
Garrett
The following articles are a few years old but should still be useful.
Note: The SEC adopted Regulation Best Interest in 2019.
The 19 Questions to Ask Your Financial Adviser
Find the Right Financial Help
Disclaimer: I have not used financial planning services from NAPFA or Garrett.

Contact NAPFA. Say you're looking for an advisor who charges either a flat fee for a financial plan or an hourly rate instead of AUM: https://napfa.org/find-an-advisor#

Hi @davidmoran,
So sure obviously the cc co's cannot directly ask about race...but...last I checked they ask for address, what you do for a living, income, zip code etc...so what race are you if you live in 60621? How bout 92037? (I'll save you the time, Englewood, Chicago, and Lajolla San Dog. So my point is that without having the data in front of me. One area likely pays much higher interest rates than the other...and one race is biggly predominant in each zip code. So yes, in mind race does come into play.
You don't think indirectly the end result with the cc co's army of actuary's is they know exactly who they are "lending", I mean loan sharking to. Why is the interest rates not the same for everyone. Blend it. Why are they allowed to burden deeply some with higher interst rates? Go look at the financial metrics of co's like MC, V, etc...some of the best business models, stonk results out there..huge margins, cash flow, etc...
I have no knowledge of this, but what happens with a school loan? Are the interest rates all the same or are they different based on zip codes, addresses, uh, race (sorry David, had to throw that in there...)
Best to All,
Baseball Fan

Per M*, but not sure if it's current/accurate:
Brokerage Availability BSGLX
Allowab (non-advisory)
Fidelity Institutional FundsNetwork
Cetera Advisor Networks LLC
Morgan Stanley Select UMA
Cetera Advisor Networks LLC- PAM, PRIME, Premier
Raymond James
Cetera Advisors LLC- PAM, PRIME, Premier
Raymond James WRAP Eligible
Cetera Financial Specialists LLC- Premier
Schwab All (Retail, Instl, Retirement)
Commonwealth (PPS Access Program)
Schwab Institutional
Commonwealth (PPS/Advisory)
Schwab Institutional Only
Commonwealth Universe
TD Ameritrade Institutional

How 10 of the world’s smartest investors can help you build your perfect portfolio
Is there a Perfect Portfolio for investors?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/how-10-of-the-worlds-smartest-investors-can-help-you-build-your-perfect-portfolio-11628177690
We posed this question to 10 of the most respected pioneers in the investment community. Six have Nobel Prizes in Economics: Harry Markowitz, the founder of Modern Portfolio Theory, the basis of the modern investment portfolio; his protégé William Sharpe, creator of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the beta risk measure that changed how we think about risk and reward in the financial markets; Eugene Fama, who developed the Efficient Market Hypothesis; Myron Scholes and Robert Merton, two of the co-creators of the Black-Scholes/Merton option pricing model; and Robert Shiller, the behavioral economist whose work challenged the notion of market efficiency.
The other four are portfolio managers, investors and bestselling authors who have sold millions of investment books, including The Vanguard Group’s founder Jack Bogle; the “Bond Guru,” Marty Leibowitz; the “Wisest Man on Wall Street” and Greenwich Associates founder Charles Ellis; and the “Wizard of Wharton,” Jeremy Siegel.
Prob 90% spy 10% bnd
Hold and die
What is your perfect portfolio composition?

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/05/bitcoin-jpmorgan-led-by-jamie-dimon-quietly-unveils-access-to-a-half-dozen-crypto-funds.html
JPMorgan, led by bitcoin skeptic Jamie Dimon, quietly unveils access to a half-dozen crypto funds
KEY POINTS
On Thursday, financial advisors were allowed to begin placing private bank clients into a new bitcoin fund created with crypto firm NYDIG, according to people with knowledge of the move.Late last month, JPMorgan rolled out access to four funds from Grayscale Investments and one from Osprey Funds, according to the people.The sources declined to be identified speaking about the offerings, each citing an awkward fact: JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has been one of Wall Street’s most outspoken skeptics of bitcoin and related digital assets.
Manager seen bitcoin is fraud, now open a half dozen cripto bicoin fund
If cannot beat them...join them

Brandywine Global is an investment management company. It provides management services to institutions and high net worth individuals. Its website speaks of investment strategies, not of funds. Looking for funds there would be like going to the Wellington Management site looking information on the Wellington fund (VWELX). It isn't there.
Brandywine Global has been owned by Legg Mason for decades. BrandywineGLOBAL (sic) Funds is a brand name created by Legg Mason for funds it launched and were subadvised by Brandywine Global. It is only a brand name; the funds were always part of Legg Mason.
When Franklin Templeton acquired Legg Mason last year, it acquired all the variously branded funds and management company subsidiaries including Royce, Clearbridge, Western Asset, etc.
I posted more complete information on the Brandywine brand, the BrandywineGlobal brand, and the Friess Brandywine brand here. They're all completely different families.
What is hard, is logging in to a legacy fund account that was acquired by Smith Barney (then a Travelers subsidiary), saw management firm changed to Salomon Smith Barney, became a Citicorp subsidiary when Travelers and Citicorp merged (and rebranded the investment management company Smith Barney), was acquired by Legg Mason, was rebranded Legg Mason Partners with management by Clearbridge, was subsequently rebranded Legg Mason Clearbridge, then had the fund renamed (still branded Legg Mason Clearbridge), and then was rebranded Clearbridge (dropping the Legg Mason moniker).
Then Franklin acquired Legg Mason and the old website login redirected you to an transitional login page (branded Franklin Templeton); one still cannot log in directly at F-T.
And you think you've got it hard :-)

Hi Team ..agree w Lewis and then some .. isn't it all a black box now? Chinese stocks? Black box, Ponzi, CCP Farce? US stonks, Financial engineering, central bank largesse...farce, greater fool...?
Like gramps said to charlie in Willie Wonka...sign away Charlie... what have we got to lose?
Baseball Fan

Hi Guys,
Doing nothing and just holding our current portfolio is often a winning strategy that is NOT implemented. We tend to overreact to developing info and events, We react too quickly: we overreact. I do. It’s a common characteristic we should fight against. Here’s a Link to an article that provides some doable tactiics:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/09/take-these-steps-to-control-your-overreaction-to-market-volatility.html
Good luck on winning this financial battle!

Short summary of research note...

Bank of America (BofA) called central bank digital currencies “a much more effective payment system than cash,” in a research paper published Wednesday.
...CBDCs could “replace cash completely in the (distant) future.”
CBDCs qualified as money “by allowing store of value and being a unit of account and means of exchange,” differentiating them from cryptocurrencies that “do not meet these criteria. “Since they are traded, they could be seen as an asset class,”
CBDCs could lessen the need for stablecoins, noting that the latter could “present a material financial stability risk during times of market stress when there may be a crypto to fiat currency run.”

Bank of America Calls CBDCs ‘More Effective’ Than Cash in Research Note

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/105563/000168386321004334/f9360d1.htm
497 1 f9360d1.htm VANGUARD WELLINGTON FUND 497 PS 21J 072021
 
Vanguard Wellington™ Fund
Supplement Dated July 29, 2021, to the Prospectus and Summary Prospectus Dated March 29, 2021
Effective immediately, Vanguard Wellington Fund is re-opened to all prospective financial advisory, institutional, and intermediary clients without limitation. The Fund remains open to all other clients without limitation.
© 2021 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation, Distributor.PS 21J 072021

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1318342/000139834421014946/fp0067545_497.htm
WCM International Small Cap Growth Fund
(Institutional Class Shares - Ticker Symbol: WCMSX)
A series of Investment Managers Series Trust
Supplement dated July 28, 2021 to the
Prospectus, Statement of Additional Information and
Summary Prospectus, each dated September 1, 2020, as amended.
As previously communicated in a Supplement dated May 20, 2021, effective as of the close of business on June 18, 2021, the Fund is publicly offered on a limited basis to only certain investors. Effective as of the close of business on September 1, 2021, existing registered investment advisors, bank trust firms and broker dealers or other financial intermediaries that have an investment allocation to the Fund in a fee-based, wrap or advisory account will no longer be permitted to invest in the Fund on behalf of new clients. Accordingly, effective as of the close of business on September 1, 2021, this Supplement will replace the Supplement dated May 20, 2021 to the Fund’s Prospectus, Statement of Additional Information and Summary Prospectus.
IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING PURCHASE OF FUND SHARES
Effective as of the close of business on June 18, 2021 (the “Closing Date”), the WCM International Small Cap Growth Fund (the “Fund”) is publicly offered on a limited basis.
Only certain investors are eligible to purchase shares of the Fund, as described below (the “closure policy”). In addition, the Fund may from time to time, in its sole discretion based on the Fund’s net asset levels and other factors, limit the types of investors permitted to open new accounts, limit new purchases into the Fund or otherwise modify the closure policy on a case-by-case basis.
The following groups are permitted to continue to purchase Fund shares:
1.Shareholders of record of the Fund as of the Closing Date may continue to purchase additional shares in their existing Fund accounts either directly from the Fund or through a financial intermediary, and they may continue to reinvest dividends or capital gains distributions from Fund shares.
2.New shareholders may open Fund accounts and purchase shares directly from the Fund (i.e., not through a financial intermediary).
3.Group employer benefit plans, including 401(k), 403(b), 457 plans, and health savings account programs (and their successor, related and affiliated plans) (collectively, “Employer Benefit Plans”), which made the Fund available to participants on or before the Closing Date, may continue to open accounts for new participants with the Fund and purchase additional shares in existing participant accounts. New Employer Benefit Plans may also establish new accounts with the Fund, provided the new Employer Benefit Plan approved and selected the Fund as an investment option by the Closing Date and the Employer Benefit Plan was accepted for investment by the Fund by the Closing Date.
4.Members of the Fund’s Board of Trustees, persons affiliated with WCM Investment Management, LLC, the Fund’s advisor, and their immediate families may continue to purchase shares of the Fund and establish new accounts.
In general, the Fund will rely on a financial intermediary to prevent a new account from being opened within an omnibus account established at that financial intermediary if the account would not otherwise satisfy the conditions outlined above. The Fund’s ability to monitor new accounts that are opened through omnibus accounts or other nominee accounts is limited, and the ability to limit a new account to those that meet the above criteria with respect to financial intermediaries may vary, depending upon the capabilities of those financial intermediaries. Investors may be asked to verify that they meet one of the exceptions above prior to opening a new account with the Fund. The Fund may permit you to open a new account if the Fund reasonably believes that you are eligible. The Fund also may decline to permit you to open a new account if the Fund believes that doing so would be in the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders, even if you would be eligible to open a new account under these exceptions. If all shares of the Fund in an existing account are redeemed, the shareholder’s account will be closed. Such former shareholders will not be able to buy additional shares of the Fund or reopen their account.
Please file this Supplement with your records.

all they need to do is ensure that debt grows more slowly than their tax base.
If we use GDP as a proxy for the tax base (I'm open to better suggestions), then the US is not growing its debt more slowly than its tax base. Quite the opposite. Debt has outstripped tax base (GDP), growing from 40% of GDP in 1966, and from a post-war low of 30.6% in Q3 1981 to 129% in Q4 2020 and 127.5% in Q1 2021 (most recent data). That's significantly higher than even the WW2 peak of 112.7%.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEGDQ188S

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/11/the-long-story-of-us-debt-from-1790-to-2011-in-1-little-chart/265185/
If you want to ensure that debt grows more slowly than the tax base, you have to either reduce the rate of growth of debt (slow or reverse increases in spending), make the GDP grow faster (either expand the economy faster or inflate your way out since we're looking at nominal dollars), or expand the tax base, i.e. broaden what is subject to taxes. Hence the wealth tax that Lewis mentioned.
Here's the most current Fed chart for household net worth. The dip at the end of Lewis' chart is Q1 2020, when the figure was $111K. Since then it has soared, as seen in the tail of the current chart. In Q1 2021, household net worth is $137K, as he noted.
A rise of over 23% in a year, "despite the devastating economic effects of the coronavirus ... driven in large part by surging stock and home prices after interest rates were lowered to combat the financial fallout of the pandemic."
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/542791-us-household-wealth-hits-record-130-trillion-despite-pandemic

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TNWBSHNO

There are a lot of financial advisors and investment professionals ( other than those that run active non Large Cap funds) who have been riding this wave claiming that they are geniuses at investment. Wonder what will happen when the music stops

I actually think the author of the article’s advice is sensible on the whole, but I also think talking about funds and ETFs is very different from analyzing an individual family’s financial goals and figuring out what their specific financial plan or strategy should be. Pensions for instance can be structured very differently depending on the company/government plan and the employees’ election. Some pension payouts for instance continue after the death of the employee. Some don’t. Some plans are healthier financially as well. Also, it isn’t just the financial situation of the couple involved that is a concern often but of their children. This is why financial planning makes sense in the first place. The best plans are as customized to an individual’s specific situation as possible. That level of specificity is difficult if not impossible to address in an article or on this board.

Block Tower Newsletters:

Originally known as “open finance”, the advent of DeFi represents yet another innovation on the rapidly evolving world of cryptoassets and blockchain technology. As with most new innovations, there is the growing litany of new announcements, innovative solutions and industry mania as these offerings progress throughout the landscape. For many, it seems a chance for new business models and rapid wealth creation. For the more sober minded, it is yet another step in the swift transformation happening across financial markets, and indeed across all industries in the global economy. As always, change and disruption require us to revert back to first principles. And these first principles demand that we ask the question: why? Why decentralized finance? What problems does it solve? And what, in truth, do we actually mean by “decentralized finance”?
These inquiries bring us to the motivation for this publication. It is our hope that this primer can offer a proposed definition for DeFi, in all of its forms, as well as share with the reader current and future DeFi use cases. It also touches on the challenges of DeFi, not least of these being the uncertain and evolving regulatory and legislative challenges coming to the fore. As a product of the WSBA Accounting Working Group, this work also delves into the
very complex accounting considerations that DeFi poses, both now and in the future. Finally, we conclude with some thoughts on what the future holds and offer some resources to keep pace with this future.
It is our goal that this be the first in a series of thought leadership publications that continue to aid the advancement of the cryptoassets and blockchain ecosystems, the accounting profession and global markets around the world. We welcome your thoughts and feedback and hope that you find this document informative as well as useful.

https://blocktower.substack.com/
Decentralized Finance: A Primer
whitepapers/WSBA-Accounting-DeFi-Primer-May-2021.pdf

Setting aside the question of whether the OP is asking a question worthy of our consideration, I get the sense that the person is tired of making decisions about his family’s finances. If so, I think the whole enchilada ought to be turned over to a financial advisor who could propose a hands-off portfolio, akin to a blind trust, taking the worry and decision making out of the hands of a person who wants to relax in the twilight years. I would not want to do that myself, but I have thought it would be the best arrangement for my wife if I go first, and I have told our advisor that.

"Goldman Sachs Research’s David Mericle, chief US economist, discusses why central banks are considering digital currencies and the potential implications for the financial system and monetary and fiscal policy."
Video (14 minutes): https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/pages/whats-next-for-central-bank-digital-currencies.html
Transcript (7 pages): https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/pages/the-daily-check-in/whats-next-for-central-bank-digital-currencies/transcript.pdf
I'm still left wondering, WHY?
Some relevant excerpts:

[T]here are two reasons to be a little bit skeptical about some of these [CBDC benefit] claims. The first reason is we could achieve the same benefits with a more traditional approach. For example, you could also offer people bank accounts simply by subsidizing them. And the Fed is already planning to speed up payments by introducing a new, real time payment system called Fed Now that will come online by 2023.
The second reason to be a little bit skeptical is that some of these benefits require a more radical version of a CBDC than any central bank is actually planning to introduce for now. For example, no central bank is planning to completely phase out cash, so you can't really claim that as a benefit.
...
[A]dvanced economy central banks are more focused on improving the safety and robustness of the payment system, although most consider it an open technological question whether or not a CBDC would really achieve this. I think this is basically how the Fed is thinking about it.

About Fed Now (Federal Reserve website)
https://www.frbservices.org/financial-services/fednow/about.html