I posted this in a different forum as it started out as a general question. I'm trying to figure out which is the better route to take. A friend of mine, who is a former Schwab broker told me that Seperately managed accounts are not necessarily the right way to go. My friend thinks that I shoudl steer clear because the account managers will be actively trading, causing a significant tax on a yearly basis. However, the one benefit of this is if there's a loss, I can write that off to even it out a little. Since I'm in the 35% tax bracket, that might be a good thing. Although I'd rather be on teh upside. It's good only if the economy goes down.

She recommended seeing an independent investment adviser, like at Charles Schwab. She said that holding onto no load mutual funds would be cheaper in fees and cheaper in taxes (my broker would charge 2% on all assets with teh managed accounts). However, I read that mutual funds can still trigger taxes if there's a high turnover rate. I'm really unsure of which route to take. If I lost any money in mutual funds over the next year, I can't write it off. If I lost any in the managed account, I can because I'll own teh stock. Since I owe a lot in taxes for the next couple of years due to options sales, it's appealing. And it seems that a lot of advice out there is against sma's because theyr'e promoted heavily by broker/salesmen to make themselves money. ugggh.. anyone have experience in this area? the tax part is a huge factor for me right now.

thanks