FAQ

We offer a wide range of services tailored to support each client’s unique needs. These include investment management, comprehensive financial planning, estate planning, risk management, and more. While all of our advisors are experienced in these key facets of wealth management, we also have internal professionals that specialize in each area. See more details here.

We are a fee-based wealth management firm designed to meet your needs in the most efficient and effective method for you. Typically, fees are based on a percentage of assets under management, which encourages a long-term investing approach and aligns our success with the success of our clients. We also engage with clients on a per-plan or hourly basis and via commissionable products that are suitable for your overarching plan and objectives.

We strive for full transparency and want to ensure that our clients understand the fees applicable to them. We welcome open discussions about our fee structure and encourage all clients to ask any questions they have.

Our team consists of highly qualified professionals that hold various relevant certifications and designations, continuously update their knowledge, and adhere to strict ethical standards. These certifications and designations include Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®), Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®), and more. See advisor bios for more detail.

The most critical item to bring to our first meeting is an open, engaged mind.  While documents or statements on your existing accounts or policies are helpful, our primary goal is to understand what you are trying to accomplish and why through conversation and education. We encourage you to ask any and all questions as we want to ensure you have a clear understanding of our approach, services, and how we can assist.

All information shared is confidential and important for us to create a comprehensive financial profile. Some of the items we will review (and documents to gather, if applicable) include:

• Income and expenses 
• Assets and liabilities 
• Investment account details
• Insurance coverage
• Estate planning documents

Yes, our team is able to coordinate appointments to best fit your preferences. This can be over the phone, via video conferencing (typically Zoom) or in-person.  We work with clients across the country and are able to accommodate your time and travel constraints.

We work with individuals, families, and businesses seeking professional guidance and support in managing their finances and planning for the future. Our clients come from many backgrounds, industries and have a wide variety of needs.  Over many years we have found clients that are willing to engage in a long-term relationship that encourages open, honest communication and actionable advice are the types of clients that have the most success.

We intentionally have built a team of diverse ages, backgrounds, and specialties. So whether you are looking to build a financial foundation, planning for major life events, planning or in retirement, we have advisors and specialists here to assist.

No. While we encourage everyone to save and invest early and often if possible, we do not require a minimum account size to work with a member of our team. Our goal is to establish lifelong relationships with clients to help achieve long-term financial security regardless of current income or investable assets. We have a multi-generational team of advisors that can help with anything from basic budgets to more complex investment and estate planning decisions.

As a team, we encourage our clients to involve their children in their financial planning and are more than willing to work with them! We have a group of next-generation of advisors who would love the opportunity to connect with them to provide education and guidance to help them develop sound financial habits and build a strong financial foundation.

While portfolios will be personalized to fit each investor’s unique needs and overall plan, our overarching investment philosophy is built upon several key principles that prioritize long-term success. These include:

Goal-Based, Client-Centric Investing: a sound financial plan tailored to your unique financial situation will guide all future investment decisions and help you navigate inevitable ups and downs of the markets and temptations along the way. Checking your progress towards your goals can serve as the ultimate financial checkup.

Diversification: your asset allocation is one of the most important components in developing an investment portfolio, and it should incorporate your goals, time horizon, risk tolerance, and risk capacity. We believe in the benefits of diversifying across asset classes, geographical regions, and investment styles. 

Low costs: costs can significantly impact investment returns over time. Keeping costs low allows investors to retain and compound a greater share of an investment’s return over the long-term.

Tax-Efficiency: it’s not what you earn, but what you keep, that matters. By using a tax-aware approach, we seek to reduce the impact of taxes on investment portfolios. Index funds, tax-loss harvesting, and asset location are all strategies that can be used.

Long-Term, Disciplined Focus: we believe in the power of long-term investing and emphasize the importance of maintaining a disciplined investment approach. Rather than overly focus on short-term market fluctuations and fall victim to the many behavioral biases investors are exposed to, we focus on capturing the long-term potential of markets and remaining invested based on your personal objectives, risk profile, and plan.

Asset allocation and/or Diversification does not assure a profit and cannot protect against loss in a down market.

Financial planning provides proactive direction and guidance towards achieving your financial goals. The process allows you to make more informed decisions over time rather than relying on emotion in the moment and allows you to more easily adapt to life changes along the way. Ultimately, we find progress towards your financial goals to be one of the best measures of personal, financial success. 

A financial plan does not need to be one hundred pages to be effective and basic financial planning really can be done on your own. However, you may decide to seek help from a professional if you need expertise in certain areas of your finances (investment portfolio, estate planning, protection planning), you lack the time or desire to do so, you have an immediate need or unexpected life event, or you just don’t know where to start. 

A financial plan will likely include a review of your net worth, goals and objectives, portfolios, cash flow, investments, retirement planning, insurance needs, and an action plan to achieve goals.

It is a good idea to review the plan wherever there is a major lifestyle change (marriage, birth, death, divorce, job change) or change in financial position. Otherwise, a plan can be revisited at least annually to determine if updates are needed, things are on track, and if changes are needed.

Yes – we believe a team-based approach that leverages the expertise of various professionals is essential to address the various and potentially complex needs of our clients. With client permission, we often work with tax, estate, and other advisors to deliver coordinated outcomes.

You will have a primary advisor(s) who will be your central point of contact. However, we work as a team and believe clients can benefit from the insights and perspectives of more than just one financial professional. As a result, you will also connect with our various subject matter specialists routinely and any team members as needed.