About a year ago I hired a financial planner to manage assets in my retirement accounts but am starting to think about doing it myself.
I don't disagree with the general approach they're taking, but it seems like it should be simple enough for me to do myself every 6 months or whatever.
The gist of the strategy is a balance across large/mid/small cap and sectors at certain percents along with some % of bond funds and some real estate funds.
I think my main questions are how do I identify and compare various funds that fall into these broad categories to try and pick the ones I want to actually invest in.
The boglehead wiki is a good place to start and reference and the lazy portfolio article has some good details.
OP, unless you have a very large amount of money you can absolutely manage your own retirement. And it’s even easier than you think. Check out the three fund portfolio and other Boglehead articles for answers to your questions.
Sort of a TLDR of Intelligent Investing is a solid route.
Allocate across low-fee index funds. The book goes in depth on the reasoning and percentages, etc.