The investment process is a journey, and like any journey, it can be helpful to have a traveling partner, or better yet, a navigator. At the same time, many choose to go it alone, with more than a third of Americans managing their own investments and relying on friends and family for financial advice.

Though solo investors and retirement hopefuls may save on fees, Jason Noble believes they may not be accounting for hidden costs that come with managing your own money. He first discussed internal investment fees, saying:

“I see this a lot within 401(k)s and 403(b)s. For instance, when I first met one couple, I found their average expense ratio on their 403(b)s was 1.98% a year. They had no idea that was the internal cost as they would have had to read through pages of disclosures to find that information, and if they had found it, they would have needed to know how to read it.”

Though less than 2% may sound reasonable, those costs can certainly add up over the course of your entire career. It’s important to be mindful of fees you’re being charged for the management of your money because you may be able to find more cost-effective alternatives. Jason went on to discuss portfolio rebalancing, which is when you sell positions that have seen growth and buy assets that are underperforming. Jason recounts potential consequences of failing to rebalance this year, saying:

“If you didn’t rebalance and went into the 2022 market, your portfolio would be overexposed to stocks, causing the risk to drift higher. With higher risk, you have a higher potential for upside return and higher risk for losses.”

In a market rife with volatility, failure to rebalance your portfolio could expose you to unnecessary risk, especially without proper advice from financial professionals who have studied markets. Jason then warned investors of the hidden costs of asset location, saying:

“From a tax perspective, an ideal portfolio construction would minimize the impact of taxes by holding tax-efficient stocks inside taxable brokerage accounts while holding taxable bonds, actively managed mutual funds, real estate investment trusts, and commodities inside tax-advantaged accounts. Smaller Roth IRAs might have more aggressive investments than larger traditional IRAs.”

For private investors, it can be difficult to find the most optimal tax options. Luckily, financial professionals familiarize themselves with tax codes and regulations, all while looking for options to minimize the tax burden on clients. Finally, Jason went over what may be the most important savings in hiring an advisor: your time. Jason says:

“Evaluating an investment position, rebalancing your portfolio, and considering asset location, expense ratios, and diversification in different asset classes while keeping your emotions in check takes time. The cost of this is different for each person, and they will need to determine whether they’re willing to pay that cost.”

Doing your own investing may be costing you more than you think. Investing properly not only takes expertise, but it also takes a lot of time. Consider the value of your own time when doing your own investing, and whether or not your time could be better spent on pursuing life goals made possible by your investments. Consider hiring a financial advisor whose professional goal and focus is optimizing your portfolio based on factors like investment diversification, reduction of fees, minimization of market risk and mitigation of taxes.

To read more about how a financial advisor can help you avoid the pitfalls that come with managing your own money, you can read the entire article on GoBankingRates.