It’s important to find an advisor who’s a good fit. Here are a few of the people we serve:
Good financial planning takes time and is unique to every individual. For that reason, we only take on a select number of clients and only if we're a good fit to ensure quality planning.
Here's our 3-Step Process for working with us:
1. Schedule a quick chat to get to know each other.
2. Meet virtually to determine if we are the right advisor for you.
3. Think about it before making a decision. No high-pressure sales here!
The purpose of this meeting is to get to know YOU. We’ll go over your current situation and plan (if there’s one already in place), and get a deeper understanding of what you truly value in life.
This is a collaborative process with a customized approach to creating the life you want to live. It begins with our initial assessment to uncover how best to work together and understand who you are.
There's no one-size-fits-all plan as it includes both an art and science element to it. The point is to get a clear picture of your situation and mindset so we can help curate the best plan to fit your life.
Every plan begins with a foundational footprint. We'll uncover everything you currently have in place and use that as a starting crafting a plan.
We want to get a deep understanding of all the moving parts in your life so that we can build and track your financial well-being over time.
After we have a good understanding of where you are now and the priorities you have in life, we'll begin to test various scenarios with our modeling software to review together.
We’ll also look at the risk and effectiveness of each option to narrow in on the ideal plan that can help meet your goals.
At this point, we’ll have a discussion on how to strategically construct an investment portfolio to align with the financial plan we'll put in place together.
This begins with an Investment Policy Statement which will act as a guide for any investment decisions to be implemented.
In conjunction with our investment specialist team, your portfolio will be implemented on one of our independent custodial platforms (we never custody any client funds) and monitored over time.
Through tracking and ongoing monitoring, you'll have more control over your financial future.
Let us be your sounding board for any financial decisions that may arise in your life. We'll help you to stay organized, implement on your plan, and track your progress over time to reach your goals.
We're here to design an ongoing plan that instills confidence so that you can go out and live the life without the burdon of financial stress.
Financial planners do exactly what you might expect. They help you plan your financial future. By figuring out your goals and outlining a plan, a financial planner can help you map out your financial journey and give you insight on how to invest along the way. We’re here to keep you accountable and on track to reach your financial goals.
In addition, making sure you have a fiduciary to help navigate the sea of investments products that come along with excessive fees can save you thousands. We'll explain and help you understand the world of commissions, kick-backs, and broker-dealers.
People who want to chase the market or invest their money in fads. We aren’t a stock brokerage, so we don’t speculate on stocks that we think might outperform the market. In fact, we don’t let our emotions influence the way we invest at all. We use proven strategies and algorithms to build successful portfolios. And, no matter when and where you meet up with us, you won’t find us wearing the pinstripe suits that brokers on Wall Street wear.
People looking to buy investment or insurance products. As a pure fiduciary advisory, we don’t sell any products (whether that be an annuity or a mutual fund that comes with a load fee). That’s good news for our clients, though, because our recommendations are always made without hidden agendas.
People who hate dogs. Sorry, that’s a dealbreaker.
As a fee-only firm, we make a living by providing financial planning and wealth management services. That means, we only ever earn money for the work we do for our clients -- we never accept any commissions or kickbacks.
Our fee is based on a percentage of the investments we manage debited directly from the account:
First $1 million - 1.00%
Next $3 million - 0.75%
Next $6 million - 0.50%
Above $10 million - 0.25%
We currently have a minimum annual fee of $5,000. If this exceeds your budget, please reach out as we have an alternate coaching program and community offering at a substantially reduced price.
Of course. This could always be done on your own, but many of our clients come to us because they would rather outsource the work and have a go to partner to rely on. In addition to years of knowledge and experience, working with a firm with proprietary software and access to advisor only resources could actually offset the cost of doing it on your own.
If you prefer to handle taking this endeavour on by yourself, we’d be more than happy to point you in the right direction and can even share some simple model portfolios that you can implement on your own.
The simple answer is that not all certifications are created equal.
There are over 100 different designation options for financial professionals, but some hold more weight than others. An alphabet soup after an advisor’s name may look impressive, but it’s not a guarantee they know what they’re doing. Some certifications require little more than mailing in a check.
Ultimately, it’s about quality not quantity and the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation is one that’s held to the highest standard. Each certificant must meet strenuous education requirements and undergo a rigorous exam that covers 72 principal knowledge topics amongst various financial planning subjects areas.
Our goal as a fiduciary is to select the best investments for each client’s unique situation. We invest primarily in low cost ETF and mutual funds, which act as the building blocks of our strategies. These funds help lower costs and improve the overall return of your portfolio.
Because we’re an independent wealth management firm, with no affiliation to a Broker-Dealer, we also have no incentive to use higher priced funds that essentially invest in the same stocks and bonds.
We’re also a DFA (Dimensional Fund Advisors) approved provider. DFA funds are not available to the general public in retail investment accounts and are only accessible through select, vetted advisors that have gone through a lengthy approval process.
We partner with the leading custodians in the industry to hold our clients’ assets. This ensures your money is well taken care of. Investment accounts are held at TD Ameritrade and Altruist Financial.
Unfortunately, acting in your best interest is not a standard across the industry. In fact, the number of firms that actually fall into this category is astonishing. See how we’re built differently to provide you with the utmost care.
We’ve also integrated some of the best technology into our practice to deliver more value. This technology along with being a virtual advisor allows us to lower our costs well below other firms who use outdated tools. (Seriously, some are still running on technology built in the 90’s!)
We're setup work with clients across the country and can meet with almost anyone virtually. In fact, many of our clients live outside the state and we’d be more than happy to meet virtually, even if you live in the area.
But if you prefer to meet face to face, you’re also welcome to come by the office.