Your Financial Adviser May Be Charging Way Too Much

The real cost of financial advice can vary. It pays to shop around.
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Excessive fees have become an obsession for many investors, and rightly so: Over time, an extra 1 percent or 2 percent a year can take a big bite out of a portfolio.

It’s not always easy to know how much you’re paying, however. Even if you can decipher your quarterly statements, you might not realize your adviser has an incentive to steer you into particular funds or recommend expensive insurance products.