Yes, we provide Advice-Only financial planning where we help you create a holistic financial plan without having to transfer any assets to us.

Yes, you will have the ability to transfer or withdraw funds from your accounts. The employer’s plan document for each of your retirement plans determine how you may access your retirement savings.

Upon retirement or separation from your employer will normally provide the opportunity to access retirement funds either through transfers to another retirement account or withdrawals.

Some investments may not be available in a lump sum or may require a fee to withdraw. We will help assist you with determining how you are affected and what alternatives you have for withdrawing funds. 

A unique feature of the academic, medical and non-profit world is that there are milestones along the way where employees can access some or all of their assets prior to retirement. You must evaluate any potential tax consequences prior to making this decision. 

It is common advice to never touch retirement assets until you reach retirement! However, it is also quite common in the educational and medical fields for people to continue working beyond what is considered “conventional” retirement age. In these situations, it is vital to consider the opportunities and consequences that each client may face and to have plan that takes into account these unique factors.

Because of the depth of our knowledge of academic and medical retirement plans, we can help simplify and streamline your asset. However, first we will analyze whether there are features, options or investments that you may want for your financial plan prior to making any irrevocable decisions. 

Our focus begins holistically and then works into the unique nuances of each family member’s accounts. We make sure we coordinate all accounts to ensure the plan is made for the household and not on an individual basis.

The strength of a large firm is beneficial which is why we work with Schwab as our recordkeeper, one of the leading financial firms in the world. NewEdge is our partner for investment management, financial planning, compliance, technology, knowledge and best practice business management. 

We will certainly use them as a resource. However, a phone center representative that works with potentially hundreds of different plans will never be well-versed on the nuances of the plans we work with. In addition, they may only have a snapshot of your financial picture and goals and therefore may only answer the question you asked as opposed to understanding what question you should have asked.

The foundation of our investment philosophy is tax managed, low-cost fund preference, focused on constructing the portfolio to maintain consistent income during challenging markets and provide excess income during good markets. Our independence allows us to work with firms like Vanguard, Blackrock and many others to provide customized portfolios for our clients.

We are comfortable with investors who want to manage their assets themselves. We will give you our rules of thumb, a sounding board for decisions and a resource to consider overall asset allocation. However, if your investment philosophy doesn’t align with our principles, we are probably not a good fit for you. 

We use two service models depending on your preference: 

Comprehensive Wealth Management: clients who choose to have financial planning advice and want us to manage their investment portfolio pay their fee based on an annual percentage of the account balance. Most client portfolios (over one million in assets) will be .80% or less based on a sliding scale. We will present specific information depending on your assets and investment preferences following our introductory discussion.

Advice-Only Financial Planning (no investment management): financial planning fees are based on complexity, estimated time required, and household net worth. Our standard fees range between $4,200 to $8,000 per year. We will present a financial planning proposal to you after our introductory discussion.