Our Approach
You’ve Got Some Good Things Going
If you’re like most people who hire a financial planner, you’ve put several pieces of your financial life in place over the course of your adult life: you’ve worked on building your retirement portfolio, you’ve purchased various insurance policies, you own a home, you pay taxes. At some point in your life you may have even hired an attorney to prepare your will and some related estate planning documents.
You feel good about what you’ve already accomplished, but there’s something that’s worrying you. Maybe it’s the way you’re currently invested, maybe it’s the realization that you need to be better prepared for retirement, maybe it’s the lack of college preparation you’ve done for your children, or maybe you’re struggling with how to take control of your money so that you have more to show for it. Whatever the case, it’s this worry that’s telling you it’s time to get professional help from a financial planner.
What’s Inside (and Outside) of Your Boat?
Imagine a small boat on a quiet lake… The pieces of your financial life that you feel good about – you’ve got them safely stored in that boat. The things that are worrying you – they’re floating on the surface of the lake. You can easily see them and you know you need to bring them into the boat. These are the things leading you to call a professional financial advisor. But what about the things below the surface, the things you cannot see? Some of them might put a hole in your boat, causing a leak. Or maybe your boat’s already leaking and you don’t even know it. And maybe those leaks will end up swamping your boat altogether some day.
Comprehensive Approach
While it’s the things you can see, the problems that are worrying you, that might prompt you to call us, it’s the things lurking below the surface, the problems you are not aware of yet, that will likely make our comprehensive approach even more beneficial to you. For most people there is immense comfort in knowing that every significant aspect of their financial life has been thought about, planned for, and coordinated into an integrated whole. Many also find that the things they had already brought into their boat need updates and changes if they are to maximize their resources.
Read more about the services included in our comprehensive approach…
While our comprehensive approach is right for most, it won’t be desired by everyone. In a small number of cases, we also work on financial planning projects of limited scope, such as Investment Portfolio Reviews.
A Note on Cost
Many people hesitate to call a professional financial planner because they are concerned about cost. This is certainly understandable given the many financial obligations we all have. But a better question might be this: what will it cost you to go without professional advice? It’s not uncommon for people to throw away tens (or even hundreds) of thousands of dollars over their lifetime by making poor financial decisions on their own. And as investment author Larry Swedroe says, “While good advice may not be cheap, bad advice always costs you dearly no matter how little you pay for it.”
What will your cost be for comprehensive financial planning services? It depends on three factors: your net worth, your annual income, and the overall complexity of your situation. Every fee is determined individually based on those three factors. We have no minimum asset or income requirements.
Our goal is always to provide value that is greater than the fee we charge. If we cannot show you how you will get greater value than the fee you pay, then we will not recommend the comprehensive approach to you.