Answers to Frequently Asked Questions.
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Absolutely not. We believe everyone deserves professional financial guidance regardless of income or net worth. Our primary concern in choosing to accept someone as a client is whether they’re willing to put in the effort on their part. Financial planning is a collaborative relationship, and we’re not magicians.
We specialize in building individual stock portfolios with optimal diversification – a unique approach in the industry. We offer this service with no investment or income minimums, thanks to fractional share capabilities and minimal to no trading fees. Our fee structure is tiered, transparent, and straightforward. You can view our financial planning services and tiers here, and click this for our investment fees. Our greatest differentiator would probably be our belief in holding individual stocks as a viable pathway for almost everyone.
“Inflation-focused” means that while we provide comprehensive financial planning, we place a strong emphasis on investment strategies, retirement income, and risk protection built to compete with inflation. Many people think stocks are only appropriate for aggressive investors, but we know how to build stock-heavy portfolios that are perfectly suitable for conservative investors too.
Valid concern – here’s how we actually work. We don’t take custody of your investments. Instead, we’ve established relationships with multiple brokerages that serve as custodians for your assets. Most of our clients choose to use Charles Schwab, but we also offer Altruist, Interactive Brokers, and Betterment.
The majority of our operating costs go toward client service technology. We use some of the highest-rated planning and investment management software in the industry, which allows us to operate seamlessly across multiple custodians and brokerages.
While we always enjoy outperforming the market when it happens, that’s not our primary focus. Our goal is to deliver strong risk-adjusted returns, but our main concerns are:
1) Are you on track to meet your financial goals?
2) Is your portfolio appropriate for your risk tolerance and financial needs?
While we offer various portfolio approaches including ETF-only models, we believe individual stocks provide the best path for optimal diversification. We’ve developed multiple proprietary portfolio models and create customized blends of these models to build appropriate portfolios for most clients. We also offer fully customized stock portfolios for unique situations. A properly constructed stock portfolio with optimal diversification can withstand individual companies failing with minimal portfolio impact. Through fractional shares and direct indexing available at Altruist (direct indexing starting at $2,000), we can achieve this level of customization with no investment minimums, giving you more control and potential for stronger performance than broad-based funds.
The first step is to schedule a complimentary initial consultation. During this meeting, we’ll discuss your financial situation, goals, how our services can benefit you, and assess your risk tolerance.
Come prepared with your questions, concerns, and recent tax returns. For your financial information, you have three options:
Option 1 – Keep it simple: Bring a list of your debts, bank accounts, investments, and credit cards with their interest rates. We’re happy to start with estimates while we earn your trust.
Option 2 – Go digital: Our financial planning portal has secure, read-only linking to your accounts. This means we can’t initiate any transactions, but we can start building your plan using your actual financial data.
Option 3 – Bring documentation: Bank statements, credit card statements, and investment account statements. This helps us work with the most current details and spot immediate improvements you can make.
The initial planning process varies depending on your situation’s complexity and how quickly we can gather your information. The most collaborative part happens upfront as we work together to build your complete financial picture. Using advanced technology in our planning process, we typically complete your initial comprehensive plan within 2-4 weeks, while the industry standard is typically 4-6 weeks. Complex situations may take up to 6 weeks.