Philosophy

Honesty -- Integrity -- Transparency

Our role is to be one of your trusted advisors helping you navigate the intersection of life and money. We believe that conducting ourselves 

Financial Planning:

We believe that a thought, thorough financial planning process is the foundation for making sound financial decisions.  Through the Design|Build|Protect planning approach, we begin by gaining a full and in-depth understanding of your life, your personal goals and your capital.  We then move into identify specific issues or opportunities that need action.  Next, we develop a comprehensive investment strategy.  Then, we can help you implement and monitor your strategy.  Finally, we will walk alongside you on your journey to provide advice and insights.

Portfolio Strategies:

We do not believe actively managed portfolios are a prudent way to invest client capital.  Study after study, for many years, affirms that most active money managers underperform their relevant benchmark.  Therefore, our portfolios are constructed with low cost, highly diversified ETFs and mutual funds.  A properly diversified, low cost portfolio is the best strategy to minimize risk while maximizing the portfolios expected rate of return. Go here to read more about our approach to portfolio strategy. 

We also believe taxes matter which is why we always consider the tax implications of recommendations we make.  As CPA, CFP® professionals, we have the knowledge and experience to go beyond simply building and managing your portfolio.

Fees:

As a Registered Investment Advisory firm, we have a fiduciary duty to put our client's best interest first.  One way we do that is by being transparent about how we get paid.  There are many different fees and fee structures in the financial advisory industry.  Most of them are loaded with hidden fees and backdoor arrangements that compensate the advisor.  There are only three potential fees you will pay when you work with us:

  1. Hourly fees for financial planning. Our current rate for these services is $300/hr.
  2. Asset management fee for investment management. Our fee begins at 0.9% and goes down from there, based on the total value of the portfolios we manage for you. 
  3. The expense ratio of the funds we use in our portfolio recommendations. The weighted average expense of our model portfolios ranges from 0.05% - 0.14%.  Morningstar reported in 2021 that the weighted average mutual fund expense ratios is 0.40%

You can read more about our fees in our ADV which you'll find a link to at the bottom of the page.