Questions We Hear Most

Fee-only means our compensation comes from the fees our clients pay us. We don't earn commissions or receive compensation from product companies for recommending investments. This structure significantly reduces the conflicts of interest that exist when an advisor is paid to recommend specific products. When we make a recommendation, it's because we believe it's in your best interest, not because it generates a payment to us.

Yes. As a registered investment adviser, we are legally required to act as a fiduciary. This legal obligation means we must put your interests ahead of our own at all times.

We specialize in working with individuals and couples who are within ten years of retirement and want to make sure they’re prepared, as well as those who have recently retired and need help coordinating their income, investments, and taxes. We work with clients nationwide.

That depends on your engagement. For Ongoing Planning and Wealth Management clients, we hold regular strategy sessions throughout the year, with additional meetings as needed when life changes or opportunities arise. During a Retirement Transition Engagement, we meet in a series of working sessions over the course of the engagement. For a Retirement Readiness Assessment, we meet to understand your situation and then to present your findings and recommendations. Throughout any engagement, you have access to us between meetings for questions and time-sensitive decisions.

Yes. We work with clients across the country through secure video meetings and shared screen technology. The tools and platforms we use make it easy to collaborate on your plan, review documents, and have in-depth conversations — regardless of where you're located.

Absolutely. You can begin with a Retirement Readiness Assessment or a Retirement Transition Engagement, then continue with Wealth Management or Ongoing Planning. If you continue after an Assessment, a portion of your Assessment fee may be credited toward your next service. Clients in Ongoing Planning can also move to Wealth Management whenever they’re ready. There’s no pressure to do everything at once, and each step builds on the one before it.

The Retirement Readiness Assessment is a one-time review for those one or more years from retirement: we analyze your situation and deliver a written report with prioritized recommendations. The Retirement Transition Engagement is a series of working sessions, typically over three to twelve months, for those about to retire or recently retired, focused on the decisions that come with that transition. Wealth Management combines comprehensive planning with professional management of your portfolio in one relationship. Ongoing Planning is a continuing, flat-fee relationship in which we keep your plan current while you manage your own investments.

For clients who manage their own investments, we review your current holdings and the fees you’re paying, and recommend an asset allocation for you to implement. For employer retirement plans such as 401(k)s, that means a target allocation at the asset-class level using your plan’s available options. We don’t recommend specific funds or securities, provide rebalancing guidance, monitor your accounts, or make trades. Those services are part of Wealth Management.

Our planning covers the areas that matter most in the years around retirement: retirement income strategy and withdrawal sequencing, Social Security timing and claiming strategy, tax-efficient planning including Roth conversion analysis, healthcare and Medicare coordination, savings and contribution strategies for those still working, equity compensation planning, estate and legacy considerations, insurance and risk management review, and cash flow coordination. We also guide you through major life decisions—such as paying down a mortgage or downsizing—where having a clear financial plan makes a real difference. The specific topics we focus on depend on your situation — we tailor the scope to what's most relevant to you.

Yes. Good financial planning doesn't happen in a vacuum. We’re happy to coordinate with your tax professional, estate attorney, or other advisors to make sure everyone is aligned.

No. You can work with us through Ongoing Planning and continue managing your own investments, or you can choose Wealth Management and have us manage your portfolio as part of an integrated strategy. Clients who choose to have their plan and portfolio managed together often find it provides a level of coordination and convenience they value, but it's always your choice.

We primarily use low-cost index mutual funds and ETFs for the core of most portfolios. Depending on your situation, we may also utilize money market funds, Treasury securities, CDs, and other fixed-income instruments — particularly for near-term income needs. In some cases, we may also work with outside managers for a portion of a client's portfolio.

For clients drawing income, we structure your portfolio so that near-term spending needs are set aside in stable, liquid holdings. As those reserves fund your income — typically on a monthly or quarterly schedule — we replenish them by rebalancing from your long-term growth portfolio, and the cycle continues. The specifics vary by client: some may have a longer reserve, others a shorter one, and the instruments we use depend on your situation. The goal is a steady income stream that is less dependent on what the market is doing in any given month.

For Wealth Management clients, we track your portfolio balances against your spending plan and its built-in guardrails on a monthly basis. If market performance or inflation data suggests an adjustment — whether that means you can comfortably increase your spending or should temporarily pull back — we're alerted when it happens, not at the next scheduled review. We then discuss the recommendation with you and decide together how to proceed.

You'll receive monthly account statements directly from Charles Schwab, our custodian, which detail all holdings, transactions, and account activity. In addition, we provide quarterly performance reports that include your current holdings and portfolio performance. Between the custodial statements and our reporting, you'll have clear visibility into how your money is invested and how it's performing.

Yes. Your investment strategy is built collaboratively: we discuss your goals, explain our recommendations, and agree on your target allocation and approach before we begin. We manage your accounts on a discretionary basis, which means we handle day-to-day decisions such as rebalancing and tax-loss harvesting without needing your approval for each trade, always within the strategy we’ve agreed on. Any meaningful change to that strategy is something we discuss with you first.

Your fee is based on the complexity of your situation and the scope of services involved. A straightforward assessment for a single person with one retirement account will be different from a complex engagement involving a married couple with multiple income sources, pensions, and tax planning needs. We outline the exact fee in your proposal, so you'll know the full fee before you begin.

For a Retirement Readiness Assessment, half of the fee is due at the beginning of the engagement and the remaining half is due when your findings have been presented. For a Retirement Transition Engagement, the fee is billed in installments over the course of the engagement, as outlined in your proposal. For Ongoing Planning, the annual fee is billed in installments, either monthly or quarterly, depending on your preference. We'll discuss the billing arrangement during the proposal process so you can choose the option that works best for you.

Wealth Management is a single advisory fee that covers both financial planning and investment management, based on a percentage of the assets we manage. Although there’s no minimum account size, our Wealth Management clients typically have $1 million or more in investable assets. Your complete fee is outlined in your proposal before you commit to anything.

The investments we use carry their own internal expense ratios — these are fees charged by the fund companies, not by us, and they apply regardless of who manages your money. We place a strong emphasis on low-cost funds to help keep these expenses down. Charles Schwab does not typically charge trading fees for the types of transactions we make; however, some transactions may carry fees, which we will review with you. There are no hidden fees, wrap fees, or additional charges from us beyond what's outlined in your proposal.

For investment management clients, your accounts are held at Charles Schwab, one of the largest and most established custodians in the industry. Schwab holds your assets directly — we don’t hold your money ourselves. You'll have your own Schwab login and can view your accounts at any time. Schwab provides SIPC protection and additional coverage through its own insurance. SIPC coverage protects against the failure of a custodian, not against market losses.

If you choose investment management, we generally recommend that your managed accounts be held at Charles Schwab, where we can manage them most effectively. If your accounts are currently at a different custodian, we'll coordinate the transfer process for you — it's typically straightforward and we handle the paperwork. If you already have accounts at Schwab, the process is even simpler. For planning-only clients, your accounts stay wherever they are — there's nothing to move.

We can manage most standard account types held at Schwab, including individual and joint taxable accounts, traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, rollover IRAs, SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, and inherited IRAs. Employer plans such as 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and 457s stay with your plan provider. Depending on your situation and the plan, we may include those accounts as part of Wealth Management.

The introductory call is complimentary and gives us both a chance to see whether there’s a good fit. We’ll talk about what prompted you to seek guidance, your current situation, concerns, and goals, and what you’re hoping to accomplish. We’ll explain how we approach planning and what working together would look like, and if there’s a fit, which of our services suits you best. There’s no obligation.

You don't need to prepare anything formal for the initial conversation — just come with your questions and a general sense of what you'd like to accomplish. If we decide to move forward, we'll let you know exactly what information and documents we'll need at that point. There's no homework required upfront.

If there’s a fit, we’ll prepare a personalized proposal that outlines how we’d address your specific concerns, the strategies we’d consider, the scope of services that fits your situation, and your fee. Take the time you need to review it. There’s no obligation to move forward.

We’ll walk you through the necessary steps and gather the information we need, so we can get started on answering your questions.