Yes. This means we are legally and ethically bound to act in your best interests at all times. Not all advisors are fiduciaries, and those that aren’t are held to a lower standard of client care.

Planning is a key part of achieving your financial goals. We have four visits per year, each organized around specific topics.

LIFE – We review your goals and update your progress. Identify what to do to achieve your goals.
WEALTH – We dive deep into your portfolio, and make sure you understand how you’re doing, the level of risk, and how the assets tie to your goals.
LEGACY – We work with your attorney to make sure your estate plan is up to date, your beneficiaries reflect your wishes, your protection needs are addressed, and your employer benefits are optimized.
STRATEGY – Understand what tax planning strategies might be available and review these with your tax professional. Review of your planning strategies and determine the focus for the upcoming year.

Yes. It’s essential that your tax, legal and financial advisor collaborate with each other. Unfortunately, this isn’t common in our industry. There is great synergy in having your key people working together and communicating on your behalf. Your financial advisor is best suited to coordinate this contact on your behalf.

We can meet less often. We will still have a deliverable for you around the specific topics for that quarter.

Life events such as retirement, marriage, or a family member passing often take a lot of planning work. We step up and make ourselves available to you as often as needed to work through the issues when life happens.

We do not have a hard and fast account minimum for our clients. However, we have several guidelines. We ask all our clients to begin the relationship with us through Our Living Values Financial Planning Process, although we recognize that there are rare cases where this may not be appropriate. We want our clients to take action on the advice given. Most importantly, we expect our clients to be Kind and Thoughtful, our non-negotiable value.

We will not be recommending “hot stocks” or trying to time the market. Rather, we take a long-term approach, with quarterly strategic rebalancing, and occasional tactical portfolio changes, using guidance from a variety of research sources. Our team investment committee meets quarterly to review potential changes. We generally use low-cost securities such as Exchange Traded Funds (ETF’s).

We do not take a “one size fits all” approach. We will make sure you understand exactly what you are paying and why. We generally use a fee for service model, although there are occasional cases where a commission-based approach is a better fit. Our only concern is to manage your needs with your best interests in mind.

Our services are available to people throughout the United States. We use video conferencing, phone and frequently travel to meet our clients in person.