I'm sure there are some out there that are as good as my investment firm, I don't think that my investment firm is the best and cant be matched.

I feel like my advisor is very on point with their data and auditing of their data.

My investment firm has been very transparent about any negative effects of my portfolio and how to best handle those risks.

I would believe that both are knowledgeable enough in their fields that they would arrive at the same conclusions with little variance in terms of investment portfolio results.

The data is all readily available. I competent should have no trouble performing the calculations.

If they use the same standards as you and there are basic requirements, then it makes sense the outcome would be the same or very very similar. If not, ask them to explain how they came to the sum they did.

It might. Many third party could get the same results as the actual company name, but it's a risk that some don't want to take. It depends on how you feel about third-party companies.

I would hope that's true. I wouldn't want to go with a company without knowing an independent 3rd party would also recommend the same.

I sure want to believe my numbers are being calculated properly that is why I hired them.

I would depend upon your expertise and experience how accurate your numbers are. Most people are not able to do this though.

I agree with this statement and trust Fidelity

I am very confident.

Yes I can agree as I know a bit about investing and analysis.

If they are truly a 3rd party they will find the differences.

I think, generally speaking, there is no incentive to lie because, once it gets out, they will not be able to find may customers.

same data provided.....generally same type of software used to run the numbers

I am confident that my investment firm is looking out for my best interests and would welcome and independent audit of my portfolio.

I would say that if an investment firm was wanting to maintain its business and retain its customers it would almost always have to accurate in these things. A third party should find the same results as they should be in the clients best interest.

If all the checks and balances are accurate, irrespective of who is assessing it, things should be fine (in a perfect world and hopefully the 3rd party has integrity, ethics, rules, and strict code of conduct)

I think if they were to take a good look at my investments, they would be able to see what my investment firm sees. That they would be able to make the same correct predictions.

I would agree because the information required all boils down to mathematical calculation and the same set of figures are used by both parties. The only minor difference might be the fees because each company charge differently for fees.

I think most companies in the finance field use the same calculators to advise consumers.

I think independent consultants have no sales agenda that would color their opinions, and if I trust my investment firm--which I probably do if I've been using them--then I have no reason to believe that the third-party opinion would be significantly different.

Investment firms are regulated and disclose fees and other financial information based on prescribed guidelines

I have confidence in my investment firm that is making the best decisions for me.

I agreed because my investment company is rated very highly for its service and what it does. I have been with them for 33 years and trust their expertise. They are very careful when they meet with you about evaluating risk, goals, progress etc. They would not have such an upstanding rating if they were not under constant scrutiny.

The calculations that are done to assess the risk, rate of return and all that are standardized across the entire field. The only difference is in the benchmark, which is driven by the asset more than anything, though most of the time the S&P is used by default.

It depends on if the company is commission based or just salary, I would like their input but wouldn't make any drastic moves.

I think there are laws in place to make sure this information is correct

I would assume this would be correct if the 3rd party was given access to everything mentioned above.

I think they would. They seem very trust worthy

I use a very main stream, ordinary company to manage my pension funds. I don’t think they are out of the ordinary at all so I believe a third-party would think they were ordinary.

The calculations are based on actual results and should always be able to be calculated correctly by anyone with the knowledge of the process.

I don't think it would be exactly the same, but I do feel that it would be similar when using the parameters listed (risk, goals, ect).

I agree, I have faith they would do the same quality work.

I assume everyone is using the same data so the outcomes should be very similar.

I trust the accuracy of my Financial Advisor and the company that she represents.

For the most part 3rd parties are okay and are non-partisan in dealing with investment portfolios. I feel that a major part of there job depends on being that way so I agree that the results would be very close or the same.

I agree because I trust my financial advisor and have been happy with the results

I believe they would have done the research to be confident that a third-party would arrive at the same conclusion.

I think it would be close enough to call it the same results. My investment firm is one of the biggest and I am sure they are highly regulated. I am not saying that my investment firm is 100% honest and looking out for my best interest but I trust them as much as I would any other.

With all of the algorithms being used these days I am sure the results and info can be replicated.

I certainly believe that my investment firm would provide accurate and reliable information on this sort of inquiry, and I would expect a third party to come to the same conclusion.

I think that they will do what’s best for the customers.

Without actually seeing the information that is described in the snippet it's difficult to make a decision. If we are only taking in to account the way the snippet is written I would agree.

I assume that everyone is operating above board.

I agree because investments are not determined by who is doing them it is how the economy is doing.

I think everyone is going to look at something a little differently and have a better way to do something. Its best to get multiple opinions and choose the most comfortable.

Investing and economics is far from an exact science. So much can go wrong.

There is not any solid information to convince me. The statement seems confident, but I need hard data

Although I think that the recommendations would be similar, I feel that results will vary from firm to firm because investing is somewhat subjective.

I do not have knowledge about investing and would rely on others for this information

While I think there would be overlap, I would expect different parties to use different criteria, techniques, and thresholds for assessing investment portfolio performance. For anything that is subjective, they will arrive at the same answer if both parties are honest. There are so many parts of investment such as suggested risk profiles that are subjective, however.

Analysts rarely agree on the value of equities which is why you will see some of them recommend buy a particular stock while others say to hold it or sell it when they should all be looking at the same publicly-available data such as quarterly reports.

I suspect these two different organizations will have different perspectives and different ways of measuring things. These differences will be aligned to their organizational values and goals, and I expect their to be fairly significant differences in their findings.

Overall, I believe the numbers were be nearly the same or pretty close to, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few small differences in risk level and benchmark comparison between my investment firm and a independent 3rd party. It's possible that my investment firm skewed the numbers slightly in their favor to present themselves in a better light to me.

They would arrive at a different conclusion in order to convince me to move my business to them

Not a very good statement. The paragraph needs more explanation and more detail of the specific business.

I think that there are different fees and rates for different companies that manage portfolio and according to those it can affect my return and percentage they take.

I feel that different firms would come up with different solutions to what to do with my investments. I am not confident that firms would be able to come up with the same solution since each firm would use a different metric.

I disagree, different people have different opinions and I'm sure that goes for financial advisors as well.

The reason I say disagree is because sometimes a third party will come up with different results. I've had that experience with my tax returns.

I think an independent third party would likely arrive at different results particularly around risks and benchmark comparisons because they should have access to more data.

I would need to know more about the firm and investments before reaching this conclusion.

I think it's impossible to understand the full amount of fees being charged unless you made a specific request for that information and they are legally obligated to give it to you. I think if people really knew what they were being charged, they would think twice about it. I believe if a third party viewed it, you would get reliable results and know the true amount you are being charged.

Everyone has a different formula when it comes to these types of things. With a different formula, a different outcome will always be the result. Nobody can say exactly what the total rate of return will be unless it is a fixed amount like interest in a savings account from a bank

I would be a little leery of an independent third-party and if they have the same resources that a bigger company have.

I am uncertain that they would arrive at the same results. I feel there are so many variables and companies always look out for their own interests before their client.

I think it would cost even more in brokerage fees with third party company

I don't think I am in good investments and need to get it reviewed by someone else.

Investing is a crapshoot - no one can truly predict with any good degree of accuracy. There is only market manipulation.

I am not sure what I am choosing, but there cannot be but even a little bias in any statement from an investment firm itself versus an independent party. There is always bias because numbers can be manipulated to represent whatever you want them to.

I disagree because I know my risks better and they are not fixed.

I’m not sure that I trust my investment guy especially because he’s using the same formula pre-pandemic as he uses now

I think this statement is too wordy. It’s not direct and to the point. It feels like it was written by a lawyer. It doesn’t give me a warm, friendly feeling. It seems to have a harsh tone. Is the purpose of this statement to clearly communicate information or to provide legal cover in case of a lawsuit? The statement has a blustery tone to it that I find off-putting. Doesn’t this sound better? I’m confident that an independent, third party would agree that the portfolio fees, the rate of return, risk, benchmark comparisons, and progress toward the goal are accurately represented.

I’m not confident that those benchmark figures are standard or consistent with what any other third party would offer.

With a third-party firm, there is no emotional bias involved in making decisions

I feel like investment firms hide stuff. It is crazy how much money they make when they can only get us 3% on investments.

This claim sounds impossible. Perhaps they'd have the same conclusion on 1 or 2 parameters, but not ALL of those. So sounds like grand embellishment.

I have come to not trust investment firms. At this time, we do not know exactly how much we have in our investments. When we go to finance guy, he seems to get a little angry when we ask questions about how much we have in our funds that he is "taking" care of. I worry that a lot of our money is gone. We were ripped off by the previous investment group and so afraid it is happening again. We plan to talk to a different investment firm to see how they feel about our investments and what we should do.

I chose Option B because whenever you open an investment account they are always quick to tell you in fine print that their portfolio fees and rules are subject to change. Historically, there have been too many cases to count where investment firms have been caught stealing their client's money in a variety of ways. As far as rate of return investment firms are quick to tell you a half truth about this because they know that this is the main selling point for their customers. They might exclude bad data from two years ago and only tell you about their good data from a year ago to sell you on their stellar rate of return. I definitely feel that a third-party would assess risk differently because investment firms are very quiet about the nature of risk. They only want to tell you that you could lose money. They don't ever tell you how much of their client's money they have lost previously. They know that this would cost them clients, fees, and sales. Finally, as far as benchmark comparison and goal progress, investment firms pick and choose the data that makes them look favorable compared to their competition. They might talk about how they feature better benchmarks than firm B but they'll never tell you about how firm B has better goal progress. The same goes for how they will say they have better goal progress than firm C but their benchmarks are far behind those of firm C. It's for all of these reasons why I disagree with the above question.

Choosing investments is more of an art than a science. Otherwise, EVERYONE would invest in the same things and get the same returns with the same risk. As a result, I chose Option B and disagree that ANY other firm would come up with EXACTLY the same investment strategy, and evaluate the effectiveness and risk of my current strategy as the same as that of my investment service.

I wouldn't say that I'm confident. I think that there is always a chance that things could go south.

I think stocks are all up for interpretation and I feel like they would definitely be an issue.

Difficult to assess that the same conclusions would be reached.It depends on many factors in any investment, from the factor: time, risk, volatility, perception of benefits, types of investment.

Since there was not an option of "I don't know" I choose B because I honestly have no clue if they would arrive at the same results as my investment company

I think things like risk and goal progress are somewhat subjective so two different people could have two different opinions.

I think that all companies do this differently and that is why there are so many to choose from.

I believe there are too many variables to come to the exact results. They should be very close, however.

I am finding that my investment guy is not making choices that are making money for me. I think maybe that somebody else might make some different investment decisions and make me more money.

Some of those things, sure, but risk and benchmark comparison seem like they could use different metrics.

I feel most investment firms may skew results in their economic favor so I would not always feel confident that the results of a third-party would be the same.

I feel that third party entities are not always the most accurate and not the most credible so I do feel somewhat Leary.

I would think paid professionals have more expertise than a third party.

would depend entirely on the third party and their investment experience

I trust my financial company. They are legit and are pros. I stick with them when it comes to my fiances

The investment firm has direct access - they are the invest part of investment. Third parties are winging it on a song and hoping their magical algorithms and guess work works.

While I trust my investment firm it is to their best interest to move money in certain ways. An independent concern may have a different conclusion because they are not privy to the investment firm's plan.

I think the third party account may find things that I missed or overlooked.

My investment portfolio had a very bad year last year, I am not making progress on my goal, and the firm's fees are higher than what I should be paying, so I have to respond with B. The risk and some benchmarks are acceptable and it is hard to feel good about making an investment choice in the current environment so I can imagine a third-party responding either way, but on balance I should have done better.