Hello all,

I am about to invest aprox $28K in mutual funds with USAA. I spoke to one of their free CFP's and he advised me to do a mix of 4 different funds. Has anyone used USAA to invest before? If so, what was your experiance?
I have used them for auto, credit, mortgage, checking, savings, etc and have found them to have excellent service. Any advice would be great. Thanks!

Aaron

Aaron

Before you invest, you may want to get the funds ticker, example USAA Science and Tech Fund which is (USSCX) and do some checking; before you buy.

Good Luck

Jay

Go with: www.troweprice.com They are waaay better for mutual funds!

I wasn't going to supply free advertising for the company I'm with, but to save someone else from investing with USAA...I think I will. I will say I've been a member of USAA since 1985, with insurance, banking and investement accounts. The free phone advice you get from USAA is a minimalist approach and from my experience, not very sound or profitable. However, I can't speak for the paid finanical planning with USAA.

I recently transferred all of my investments to UBS Financial Services, a highly rated company recommended by my dad who has used them for 25 years. UBS is HUGE. They manage more personal assets than any financial company in the world. Something in the TRILLIONS of dollars. My dad's money manager put me in touch with one of his managers and we were off to the races.

We were on the phone nearly two hours discussing my financial goals, short-term and long term, before he ever mentioned individual investment ideas. They genuinely want to know about YOU, your family, your goals and your dreams. They are VERY thorough. USAA was like, "We'll put your ROTH in the S&P 500 and split it with the Capital Growth Fund...ok...bye."

With UBS we discussed everything from wills and estates to trusts for my kids, investing risk factors, what my expectations were on returns what my tolerance level was etc. We even discussed topics such as future obligations and effects of my parents estates, a topic I wasn't comfortable talking about but necessary none-the-less. Very, very thorough.

The Company did an in-depth 42-page Financial Goal Analysis and another 40-some page quasi-investment strategy based on the amount of money I planned on transfering to them and where I wanted to be in 20 years. As opposed to a $400 fee for one-on-one counseling with USAA, none of this cost me a penny.

Once I transfered the money, there was no waiting period. The money was disbursed into the exact accounts my planner listed within HOURS of them receiving the transfer. Not to mention, I have constant and immediate email and phone contact, world-wide, with my planner. When I email him, I usually have a response within a couple hours. You don't even get that kind of service aboard the same ship.

I had investments with USAA for a few years with no counseling, no advice, and somewhat poor returns as compared to similiar funds with other companies. Pretty much on my own unless I wanted to pay $400/yr for a counseler. As my UBS planner told me, USAA is a top of the line insurance company but their funds are not that great. This is public knowledge with a little fund research. Once again, I am speaking out of personal experience. I am not intent on bashing USAA in any way. Just didn't work out too well for me.

So...give UBS Financial Services a hollar before you commit to USAA. Like I said, after dealing with UBS's outstanding customer services and genuine concern for your goals, I transfered every account I had with USAA except my credit card. I think you'll be more happy in the long run. I know I am.

My dad is a retired Naval Officer. He told me he has made outstanding double-digit returns with them for the past 25 years. Not withstanding the market trouble in the 80's and following 9/11, there's no doubt in my mind that he's not embellishing the truth.

I agree Go with TROWE Price I do, Orignally I went with USAA and after reading morningstar.com mutual fund analysis I decided to go with TROWE Price, they are awesome for mutual funds.

USAA is, or is nearly, the best you can get in everything except mutual funds. In that respect, their funds perform okay, and their fees are okay.

You can get better long-term performance, and much better fees, and several other places. Vanguard, Fidelity, TRowe, Dodge and Cox, etc, etc.

One key to investing: NEVER invest in the company which is providing you the advice. Even USAA. If I were to use a USAA financial advisor, the first thing I would tell him is "I'm not investing in USAA, so point me to the 'other' best place."

Best advice: Pay a few hundred bucks and go to an independent financial counselor...one that gets paid up front for their time so has absolutely no conflict of interest.

Good luck!

Also I reccomend reading mutual funds for dummies by Eric Tyson, it is easy too read and will give you great reccomendations about the various mutual fund companies, and too how mutual funds work. This book is reccomended by moringstar.com.

Aaron,

I think Sean's investments are with USAA, and possibly Bob's also, so you may want to talk with them sometime about their experiences. Of course it depends what your own personal objectives are, and they may have a different agenda.

I agree that T. Rowe Price, Vanguard, and Fidelity are really quality companies and deserve taking a look at. The best way is with an independent broker who doesn't have ties to any one company.

I just revamped some of my finances and changed a couple of accounts I have - I could put you in touch with the same person I spoke with. It's 100% free to get their time, and you can walk away at any time.

Darin

If you're going to go with USAA funds...I would say stick with the index funds. With the S&P500 and Extended Market index...you won't get great returns, but you'll be average, with lower expense ratios. Their International fund, while not an index, has actually performed pretty well. With those three alone, you can get a good diversified portfolio.

I would go with:
40% S&P 500
25% Extended Market
35% International

This is if you're investing for the long-term (7+ years). If you're investing for a shorter ammount of time, you may want to be more conservative (add some bonds).

All,

Thanks for the responses. I took some advice above and went with T Rowe Price. I dumped a chunk 'o change into Spectrum Growth fund (75%) abd Spectrum Income (%25). I just have the feeling a big market correction is coming soon and was wondering if now was a bad time to do this.

I had considered putting all into a short term CD until late fall, when the market usually picks up. Any thoughts on that?

AB

hello all. I am very very new to this investing thing and I have a question. I recently put $5000 into a USAA money market fund to begin building my emergency fund. I also started a college savings plan (529) with USAA. Are these good ideas?

I too would like to know about 529 USAA. I was going to open it for my son. It's a lot cheaper then etrades

I wouldn't suggest doing a 529 through a bank. Personally I'd recommend signing up for the Upromise program. It's free money, so it can't hurt. Through that you can sign up to contribute additional money to a 529 plan through many providers. If your state does not offer an incentive for a 529 then I would go with a trusted company like Vanguard or Fidelity.

Everyone forgotten about TSP??? I don't know exactly what your goals are, but TSP has been working fairly well for me over the past few years...

I have 2 USAA IRA's.. One is a Roth, one isn't.. I also have the TSP as well.. 25% in C, S, I, & L2040... seems to be doing ok... I have no complaints..

Wray..

TSP is great, no doubt, but only if you are one of us working now for Uncle Sam (assuming everyone here is retired from AD since this is a VA board) or AD (but that's a separate conversation since the benefits are different). But going back to the original question, man, mutual funds are like a colors...depending on your needs (short time or long haul) and willingness to take risk...bottom line, everyone will have a different opinion. And obviously, if you ask one of those so many financial advisors, be careful, they tend to have ties to a few companies and will try by all means to sell you their product(s). Good luck.

quote:

USAA Science and Tech Fund which is (USSCX)

$28K is a lot of money, so be careful where you drop it all. I would suggest you separate it info a few funds/stocks. Remember READ ALL of the prospectus, no matter what you invest in, and do not hesitate to move money out of something if it is not up to your expectations.

If you are BRAVE, (or foolish) try managing your own investments. Not all of it, just enough to get a feel of the market. You would be surprised at how much a few hundred does for you when you have to pick on your own (stocks). You get to compare yourself to the “professionals”.

I am in USAA Science and Tech Fund (USSCX) as one of my primary IRAs (I have three and I watch them like a hawk), as well as the TSP. I am only sorry I did move more $$$ into First Solar when I bought my shares in June ‘07 @ $87/share (now over $200), but I was not as confident in my research and real scared to have to tell the wife I lost her car payment.

Of course like everything there are ups and downs, and the other five stocks I picked last year have bombed, but this one has keep me out of the red. So tread lightly.