Services Offered

STEWARDSHIP

Asset management should be about stewardship first and investment selection second.  There are two basic rules regarding my stewardship of a client’s assets:

  • The compensation method is fee-only.
  • No more risk is assumed than is necessary to meet the client’s goals.

While there are no asset minimums for a client, there are a couple of requirements.  For someone in the accumulation phase (typically pre-retirement), the savings rate must be high enough to meet the financial goals that have been set.  For someone in the distribution phase (typically post-retirement), the accumulated assets must be large enough to meet the financial goals and obligations that have been set.

 

BUILDING A LEGACY

The best clients are the ones who are wise enough to know they can’t take it with them, are smart enough to have something to leave behind, and are caring enough to want to improve this world, even after they’ve gone on to the next one.  I love working with wise, smart, caring people, and it’s a thrill to help them create a legacy that will benefit loved ones and good causes well into the future. 

 

FAMILY COACHING

While you may have your financial act together, that is no guarantee that children and other family members aren’t undermining your best efforts.  If a client faces such a dilemma, this objective, qualified financial advisor is in a position to help those family members chart their own financial course and cease impeding my client on his/her financial journey. 

 

REALITY CHECKS

While this service may be the most important of all, it is probably the hardest to measure.  Reality checks might involve setting realistic savings and spending goals or setting realistic assumptions about investment returns.  These are quantitative tasks that involve the left brain.  The real challenge involves reality checks that deal with the right brain where love, hate, fear, desire, and all our other human emotions reside.  Events around the globe or in our own home can lead to behaviors that destroy the fruit of years of discipline and sacrifice.  Not on my watch.

 

A FIRST DATE

Here’s what happens when someone is interested in our services.  A fairly brief financial questionnaire is sent to be completed.  This questionnaire is necessary to gauge the individual’s current situation.  Completing the questionnaire in a timely manner also indicates a seriousness about improving one's situation.  After the questionnaire has been received and reviewed, we will set up an appointment that typically lasts an hour or so.  That meeting is like a first date - no one is under any pressure to do anything.  Both parties are checking each other out to see if there is a basis for a second date; if there is, great.  If not, there is still a lot a person can learn from spending an hour with me.  Of course, there is no charge for this meeting.