OUR SERVICES
Trust
People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
Theodore Roosevelt
Competence
An expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes that can be made in his subject, and how to avoid them.
Werner Heisenberg
I work with clients in a variety of capacities but they generally fall into one of the three categories I describe below. No matter the type of working relationship, I always uphold a fiduciary standard and try to provide 100% transparency regarding my services and fees.
Our Services
Personal CFO
When I serve as your personal CFO, you delegate the management of your financial affairs (financial planning, portfolio management, etc.) to my firm so that you can focus on the aspects of your life you want to prioritize – enjoying retirement, your career, family, entrepreneurial endeavors, philanthropy, etc. My goal is to provide white glove service and give you peace of mind in knowing your financial affairs are being managed with the expertise and care you deserve.
My personal CFO services include but are not limited to:
- Building & executing a comprehensive financial plan
- Income and cash flow needs
- Portfolio construction and management
- Ongoing financial planning
- Proactive risk management
- Improving tax efficiency
- Integrating Social Security strategy
- Optimized withdrawal strategy
- Legacy planning
- And more
Our Services
Hourly & fixed-fee consulting
If you are looking for guidance or consulting services, we can work on an hourly or fixed-fee basis. When considering a fixed-fee, I will estimate the scope of work required and provide a proposal prior to engagement. This arrangement typically works best for those who would like to leverage my expertise and objectivity but can manage their portfolio and execute financial planning maneuvers themselves.
I find this type of working relationship works well for a variety of situations including but not limited to:
- Financial plans
- Investment or product due diligence
- Portfolio audits
- Expert witness (opinion, analysis, and testimony)
Our Services
Life Insurance & Annuities
As the old adage says, life insurance is sold – not bought. I believe this goes for annuities as well. In my experience, the commission-based nature of these products motivates agents to sell them even when more optimal solutions or products may be available. I focus on education – not sales. Whether you are considering the purchase of or evaluating an annuity or life insurance policy you already own, I can help you assess personal need and determine which, if any, product is most suitable for your situation. As an independent agent, I obtain quotes from a variety of high-quality carriers to help you find the best terms. As a financial planner with deep analytical expertise, I can help you choose and optimize products for performance and tax efficiency.
FEES
In addition to transparently presenting the fees for my services below, I believe it is important for prospects and clients to understand the incentives behind various fee structures. Accordingly, I have included some of the pros and cons involved with each approach as well as a candid overview of how my fee structure has evolved to become more client-centric since starting my firm.
Percentage of assets
When serving as your personal CFO (comprehensive financial planning, investment management, etc.), my fees are charged as a percentage of the assets I manage on your behalf. My standard fee schedule starts at annual rate of 1% but is lower for assets exceeding thresholds as highlighted in the table below. These fees are billed quarterly (and pro-rated accordingly) in arrears based on the value of your portfolio(s) at the end of the quarterly period.
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Assets under management
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% Fee (minimum annual charge may apply)
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|---|---|
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Assets up to $1,000,000
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Charged at 1.0% per annum
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Further assets up to $5,000,000
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Charged at 0.75% per annum
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Further assets up to $10,000,000
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Charged at 0.50% per annum
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Assets in excess of $10,000,000
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Negotiable
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Pros:
This is my most popular fee structure. It is very transparent and aligns our interests in wanting to preserve and grow your wealth. These fees are conveniently deducted by the custodian where your assets reside (i.e., Charles Schwab).
Cons:
Charging fees as a percentage of assets will be more expensive for those with more assets.
Incentives:
This fee structure creates a monetary incentive for me to preserve and grow your assets since my fees increase and contract with the value of your portfolio.
Evolution of my fee structure
When I started my investment advisory business in 2010, I wanted to align my interests with those of my clients. So I set out to create a fee structure that eliminated as many conflicts of interest as possible. I settled on a fee-only approach whereby my compensation was based solely on fees paid to me from clients. These could be AUM or hourly/fixed fees as described above but no commissions from other entities.
In theory, this fee-only model would align my interests with those of my clients since they were the only ones buttering my bread. However, many prospects and clients were confused by this fee-only label, especially since dually-registered advisors of larger firms used the similar sounding but different meaning fee-based label. For the most part, prospects and clients simply wanted to know I was a fiduciary.
I also observed that many fee-only advisors were biased toward portfolio-based fees and against products such as annuities and life insurance. However, based on my own research conducted while I was a fee-only advisor (much of which is published), I regularly recommended income annuities and/or life insurance when I thought it was in the best interest of my clients. To be clear, I was shooting myself in the foot to the extent I would not receive any of the commissions paid and would actually reduce the size of the portfolio on which my fees were based. I never thought twice and upheld a fiduciary standard without regard to my own compensation. This model served me well and helped me grow my practice but I eventually encountered some issues.
When one of my financial plans recommended an annuity or life insurance product, I would work with a licensed agent to execute the product (typically someone the client or I already knew). They would receive the 100% of the commissions since I was fee-only. However, on a few occasions these agents tried to upsell the clients to different products – presumably ones that paid them a higher commission. Even worse, another agent offered my client their firm’s portfolio management services – effectively trying to take my client away from me. Luckily, my clients were loyal and kindly let me know.
After much deliberation and over 10 years serving as a fee-only advisor, I decided to get licensed for annuities and life insurance. Of course, I would still retain my fiduciary standard. However, I could now sell products that paid me commissions. I was anxious to find out how existing and new clients would perceive this change. Fortunately, the response was overwhelmingly positive. It turned out many people were confused by the fee-only label and preferred to deal solely with me instead of other agents.
As a result, monetary incentives still exist when I transact in annuities and life insurance products. However, funds invested in these products would naturally reduce any of my AUM fees. In this context, the monetary incentives with me are more balanced than with agents who simply push products to make or maximize their commissions. So I will continue to highlight these products when I believe they are in the best interests of my clients
I do not believe it is possible to eliminate all conflicts of interest when it comes to compensation for financial advice as each fee model has its own biases. So I figured the next best thing would be to make my fee structure transparent as possible. That is why I have take the time to openly share the ways I am compensated, highlight the pros and cons of each approach, and explain why I decided to structure my fees in this manner.