What Services do we provide you?

Comprehensive financial planning integrates seven key areas of your financial life:

1) asset management (your total investment picture)

2) disability and risk management (protecting you from catastrophe)

3) tax planning and management (improving your wealth-building efficiency)

4) debt management (reducing unnecessary expenses)

5) estate planning (helping you transfer your lifetime assets to your heirs and/or to worthy causes)

6) charitable planning

7) An evaluation of the goals and objectives that provide all context for the financial plan as a whole.

All of these areas are important to helping you achieve personal financial success.  Successful people need and value all aspects of financial planning.  If any one of these areas is not examined before decisions are made, then there is a danger of providing advice that may conflict with your actual needs.

Our planning services include mathematical analysis and forecasting, professional evaluation and advice, specific recommendations, support, a structure for making decisions, and accountability--all so that we can enable people to make effective financial decisions.  We want our clients to become more effective in their personal and business lives.  People work with us to put issues into perspective, and to make important decisions that require professional analysis. 

In the broadest possible sense, our goal and duty is to be your advocate in every area of your life in which we are allowed to be a part.  We are willing to stand between our clients and the difficulties of life, to help you make decisions that will resolve existing problems and prevent future ones. 

When it is not possible for us to handle your problems alone, we will call in outside professionals and monitor the relationship to ensure that the work done on your behalf is of the highest standards.  We also strive to be your friend, confidant and a mediator of conflict which may arise.

Grounds for a good working relationship

What are our core beliefs and philosophies?

In our view, it is not that "Life is too short," but rather that "Life is too long, not to be doing those things that are fun and rewarding."   We believe the majority of people in our society and culture don't spend enough time examining these issues.

We believe that the money is "the means, not the goal." While money can assist the achievement of these goals, often there are other ways to achieve these goals which may have little to do with personal finance, and which are instead related to astute lifestyle choices.

We also believe that in our society, there are certain activities, undertaken by professionals and financial consumers that are usually harmful to a person’s financial health.  Financial publications, chat rooms, discussion forums, and many television programs promote investment habits which we believe--and which the most respected financial research confirms—are, at best, unproductive and, at worst, destructive.

At our firm, we do not believe in the concept of “hot” stocks or in seeking short-term returns from any investment.

Nor do we believe in attempting to “time” the market, which usually means moving investments out of the markets when a manager thinks they are going to go down, and/or moving back in when a manager thinks the markets are going to move up. 

We also believe that if your time horizon is greater than three years, you should accept some of the volatility risks of the stock market.  For those financial needs that are fewer than three years in the future, we believe you should invest in ways that do not accept this risk.

Our investment activities are generally defined by principles that are collectively known as Modern Portfolio Theory, based on the work of Harry Markowitz, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1990.  One of the primary tenets of Modern Portfolio Theory is the idea that the future cannot be predicted, and neither can stock prices.  Another is that a portfolio composed of several asset classes will experience fewer price movements and volatility than more concentrated portfolios--even though the more diversified portfolio will inevitably include some losing positions at any given time.

Despite the scientific underpinnings, we believe that the investment discipline that we provide is not rocket science.  Many of our clients have the intellectual ability to practice it without us.  Yet our investment services are valuable to them because we take the emotions out of their decisions, and because we handle the messy paperwork associated with maintaining and monitoring an investment portfolio.

We believe that much of the “financial advice” people receive comes in the form of advertisements, which suggest, in powerful images, that happiness and/or fulfillment can be achieved by the purchase of this or that advertised item.  Our goal is to help people recognize their individual view of happiness and/or fulfillment, so they can determine which personal expenditures further their progress toward that goal.

Finally, we believe in the value of synergy--of the team approach to financial planning.  Effective communication and exchange of data and ideas between all related advisors is essential to creating an exceptional plan for you.  That means that we expect to routinely share your financial information as needed. However, we will NOT share your financial information with outside persons unless and until we receive direction from you to do so.

Our role is to provide financial leadership. It is said that a good leader takes people where they want to be, while a GREAT leader takes people where they OUGHT to be.

Mutual commitments

What are our obligations to you, and what are yours to us?

In consideration of the trust you place in us, we will commit:

To act as your fiduciary – treating your money with the same care and prudence that we would treat our own.  We routinely make recommendations that we believe are best for you.

To have no allegiance to any company, product, or service, beyond our belief in its ability to help you reach your goals.

To get to know you, your personal goals, your struggles and challenges around money, and to tailor our recommendations so that they help you create an abundant and free financial life.

To keep your financial information in strict confidentiality.

To treat you with respect, professionalism, honesty, and to maintain a nonjudgmental attitude toward the goals and information you present to us.

To be available to you during business hours, by phone or in person.

To deliver important advice even if it may create discomfort in the short-term.  The people we work with prefer us to be honest whenever we encounter what seem to be unrealistic expectations or a pattern of living beyond one’s means, or a disconnect between stated goals and financial or purchase decisions.

Recognizing our fiduciary responsibility to clients and the public, we will uphold the highest standards of care in the industry by espousing and practicing: Objectivity, Fairness, and Suitability, Full Disclosure, Confidentiality, Integrity and Honesty, Professionalism, Competence, and Regulatory Compliance.

Our mission is to offer you an open architecture structure in which we can customize a plan for you. Your unique plan will be created using only the tools in our toolbox that add value for your situation. Together, we will function as architect and builder of your plan of action. Additionally, we freely make available the wisdom we have acquired through years of experience to each of our clients as the opportunity arises.

What commitments do we expect from you in this working relationship?

If you become a client of ours, we hope and expect you to be honest and forthcoming about your personal and professional goals, and about your current financial situation.  The quality of our advice will depend on the quality of information that you provide to us.

Financial planning is personal, so we will ask you to share with us data and issues that you may not share with anyone but your family…even them.  The more effectively we are able to communicate with one another, the more personalized your long-term plan will be.

Specifically, we expect you to share your personal financial information and financial history with us, and to bring in relevant documents upon request.  Just as you have to disclose a great deal of information to your doctor, your lawyer, and your accountant in order for them to do their job well, we will need a great deal of information to make professional recommendations.  For example, your medical history may give us insights that we need for projecting mortality, for such areas as retirement or long term cash flow projections, as well as certain types of risk management (insurance).

We believe that a terrific financial plan requires a commitment of time from you.  The initial year will include several meetings over a period of the first year.  You need to be willing to attend each of these meetings.  We design these meetings to provide you with the knowledge and tools to make good decisions.  These meetings also provide us with the necessary information to create a unique plan for you.

As time goes on, we expect you to keep us informed - as soon as possible - about important changes that will have a significant effect on your financial and personal life, such as marriage, new baby, any new major financial obligation, and a change of income, health, or any similar life change.

We always ask that you carefully review all communications and statements immediately.  Promptly report any errors to us and/or ask for clarification on anything that you do not understand.

If the partnership between us is to be valuable and beneficial, you must be willing to allow yourself to trust the intentions and experience that we bring to the relationship. You should be comfortable that the advice we give comes from wanting to do only what is right and just for you and your circumstances.

In order to schedule time for analysis and communication with our clients, our meeting times are designed to last as long as necessary.

If, at any time, you find that we are speaking in terms that you don’t understand, we ask that you make us aware of it, and request clarification.

We ask you to follow our investment management recommendations for at least five years in order to allow any early market declines ample time to recover.

We ask you to follow all of our advice to the best of your ability and to the extent that it is compatible with the goals you have given us, even when that requires personal sacrifice, changing a behavior pattern, or overcoming inner resistance.

We ask that if you are reluctant to follow our advice, and/or if you don’t feel a real trust in our motives and advice, that you contact us immediately.  It has been our experience that much great advice is not taken because people lack a real trust in the giver of advice.  The result is that the advisory relationship becomes a cost, rather than a provider of benefits.

The most important element of getting the most out of a financial plan is giving it a chance to work.  This involves following through on the smallest details.  This does not mean that everything must be done exactly as it is initially planned.  It means that when an element of the plan needs to change, it is changed through the planning process.

Most financial plans quietly fade away into obscurity.  No meaningful goals are furthered by most financial plans.  Because the end results of the initial planning process is really only the first draft of the plan.  As elements of the plan fail to work they are dropped and little by little the plan is abandoned. 

The clients who make the most progress do so by making an honest effort to follow the plan.  The clients who enjoy exponential progress toward their goals continuously update their plans in annual meetings and fine tune the plans until they have an efficient goal-meeting machine tailored to their personality and individual needs.  For these clients, following the plan becomes effortless since it is perfectly designed for them and following it has become a habit.

We have embraced the following Core Covenants for our clients and ourselves…

You will honor our relationship by working to maintain an even deeper commitment to the realization and enjoyment of financial freedom for your family and you.

You promise to invest the necessary time and energy required to educate yourself about efficient capital markets, diversification and Modern Portfolio Theory in order to develop the absolute conviction that capitalism will always work.  This belief system will empower you to replace financial stress with peace of mind during the inevitable times of adversity and turmoil that surely will come to pass in the financial markets.

You are committed to following a disciplined financial planning approach and will stick to your plan so that you maximize the probability of achieving your family’s dream.

You promise to share these ideas and the belief that free markets work with the people you love and care about because it is the right thing to do. This will help them make smart choices about their money for a better life. 

You will ask other family members, and if they are interested in learning more, you will personally introduce them to this firm.  Through this action, they will know you care and you will have done your part to perpetuate the services it provides for you, for them.  Thus, in the event of your death, disability or retirement, they will be able to avoid the stress of finding another trusted financial advisor.

You will uphold the utmost integrity in our relationship by being completely open and forthright with us about your financial affairs, goals, dreams, and even your fears. You hereby direct and grant us permission to be your coach in order to maximize the probability of achieving your lifelong financial goals thereby fulfilling your true purpose for money.

We promise you that throughout all the years and even decades we work together, you will never find another private financial consultant who'll care more about you and your family, or who'll be more deeply committed to the realization of your financial goals than us.

We will invest your capital as carefully as we do our own, because we know that your hopes for your family's future are every bit as sacred to you as ours are to us.

We promise to tell you the plain, unvarnished truth all the time, especially when you may not want to hear it.  Understand clearly that investment returns are not guaranteed and financial markets go down as well as up.  You also understand that we do not control the financial markets.

When you ask us a question and we don't know the answer, we promise always to say, "I don't know but I'll find out" and then we will make every effort to get you the answer.

You can surely encounter financial advisors smarter than us, and just as surely you can find advisors who are less expensive than us.  However, we promise our fees will always remain reasonable and you will never in your life find an advisor you can trust more implicitly than you can trust us.

Because you have placed special trust and confidence in us, we are committed to making sure you receive lifelong impeccable advice and service.  We will do our utmost to create an environment that will perpetuate the continuation of our high quality relationship even in the event of the death, disability or retirement of the principals of our firm.

We provide a disciplined financial planning approach based on the absolute conviction that capitalism will always work.  We insist that you plan, and then stick to your plan. Beyond that, we encourage you to hope, because we know that in investing, optimism is the only long-term realism.

We ask you not to worry, because in a very real sense that's what you're hiring us to do.  If you are paying for our financial decisions and investment counsel, and then worry about it, you haven't gained the peace of mind for which you're paying us.  One of our most important responsibilities is to provide reassurance and comfort in times of adversity.

Understand clearly that you are being asked to entrust your family's financial future to us and the system of capitalism; not to a particular financial plan, nor to an investment portfolio, but to us and our firm.  We have accepted that responsibility and to that end will do our utmost on your behalf.