Smart Questions Lead to a Better Retirement
Our Hourly, Fee-Only Financial Planning model allows you to gain financial clarity without the conflict of commissioned sales or paying 1% of assets managed.
Most of our clients were making good money decisions before they started working with us. If you are like most of our clients…
You won’t hire a financial planner to pick the ‘right stock or mutual fund’. You recognize the lack of value in that venture (especially in the long run).
You understand other choices (cash flow, taxes, etc.) have a greater impact and more importantly, you have more control over those decisions.
You are not looking for a crystal ball. You are looking to gain clarity and confidence about your financial future (and the decisions along the way).
You aren’t looking for a sales pitch. You aren’t looking for someone to ‘take over’. You are looking for informed (non-emotional) guidance. You might call it a second opinion.
We believe there are two reasons to hire a financial planner.
The first is to remove (or at least lessen) the emotions often attached to money.
The second is to gain the experience of what other people did (both good and bad).
The ultimate goal is to help you build a foundation (or roadmap) from which you’ll make informed money decisions going forward.
Three common misconceptions about working with a financial planner.
All advisors sell commissioned products (or charge 1%). NOT TRUE!
Our fees are based on hours; we don’t sell commissioned products… or charge 1% to manage assets.
You need to have ‘a lot of money’ to work with an advisor. NOT TRUE!
There are multiple components of your retirement plan beyond how much money you have that determine success.
I’ll have to give up control of my investments. NOT TRUE!
Over 50% of our planning clients continue managing their own assets (with increased confidence). If you choose to have investments managed, the fee will be based on hours- not the typical 1% (or more) annual fee.
Achieve Financial Peace of Mind With Ongoing Support
Build a plan tailored to you!
A financial or retirement plan should be based on the specifics of your values, goals, and motivations. We’ll take the time to know what is important to you.
Enjoy confidence in your retirement readiness!
When you have a clear path towards retirement success, you also gain the confidence to enjoy today.
Gain ongoing support
Our hourly fee structure allows various ways to gain ongoing support. If you prefer to invest your assets, you can, and still have ongoing support.
Packages & Pricing
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Create
We begin with the creation/review of your existing plan.
The initial planning fee is based on the complexity of your situation.
If you are more than 5 years away from retirement, plan creation is usually $2,000 (based on 8 hours).
If you are transitioning into retirement, plan creation is usually $2,500 (based on 10 hours).
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Manage
After a plan is created, you may prefer to have us manage your investments.
We’ll discuss the reasons why you may want to have ongoing investment management.
Fees are based on hours rather than a percentage of assets.
The range is typically between $500 and $1,000 per quarter ($1,000 and $4,000 annually).
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Update
You enjoy managing your investments or most of your investments are in a 401k (or similar) with limited investment choices.
You’d like to update your plan from time to time. No problem…
We’ll update your plan and address questions/changes based on an hourly rate. Most plan updates range between $500 and $1,000.
The Initial Planning Process
Meet to discuss the specifics of your specific scenario
During our interview, we’ll discuss what is important to you when building a financial future. We’ll share our model (different from most). If we agree working together makes sense, we’ll move onto the next phase.
Create a plan
Our planning process consists of three meetings.
Intention Meeting. We’ll review your current situation and consider/discuss your desired outcome. We’ll answer the question most want to know…”will you fail retirement?”. After sharing the initial info, we’ll send you home to consider what you might change after seeing the results (spend more/less, travel more/less, retire sooner/later). By the way…there are two ways to fail retirement…having too little or having too much!
Attention Meeting. Typically begins with scenarios you want to 'test’ after seeing the original outcome. We dig into details. We consider what could go wrong and consider opportunities. Tax planning and cash flow planning are frequent discussion points in this meeting. We’ll also discuss investments (down to the fund level).
Guidance/Repetition Meeting. We’ll provide a written draft of your plan for review prior to the meeting. We’ll discuss and adjust the plan as needed. The ultimate goal of this meeting and the process in general is to provide a clear roadmap for how and more importantly why we recommended what we did. In most cases, we can narrow the steps into three to four simple repetitive steps (automated when possible).
Ongoing Management or Hourly Updates?
With a plan in place, you decide if you prefer to continue managing your portfolio or prefer that we do. We’ll discuss how either solution works. You decide what is best for you. Over half the people we write plans for continue to manage their investments (with some new guidance).
Planning your retirement doesn’t need to be stressful.
Building a successful retirement plan is simple and straight forward when you focus on the numbers. Retirement is not simply numbers for you. You have emotions and questions. Our job is to share the numbers. Your job is to balance the numbers with emotions. We’ll find balance along the way.