Fequently Asked Questions
Do You Provide Documentation to Help Clients Understand Your Duties as a Financial Planner?
Yes. I provide an acknowledgment form intended to assist all clients with their understanding of my obligation to the CFP® Board's Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct.
What Type of Topics are included in Financial Planning?
I offer hourly and fee-based financial planning which covers many topics for review. There are several areas of focus which include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Estate Planning (trust review, will review, multi-generational planning,additional collaboration with estate attorney)
- Advanced Tax Planning (includes any collaboration with your CPA)
- Retirement Income Planning (social security review, pension, annuity)
- Asset Allocation Review (401k, taxable, tax-deferred accounts)
- Portfolio Risk/Reward Analysis (third-party asset manager review)
- Personal Financial Management (cash flow and budget planning)
- Education Planning (529, pre-paid tuition)
- Insurance Policy Review (property and casualty, health Insurance, life insurance, long-term care)
- Corporate Benefits Review (employee compensation, deferred compensation)
How Exactly Do You Manage Assets?
One of the benefits of my professional affiliation with LPL Financial is my ability to leverage independent research, enabling technology and access to some of the more prominent institutional money managers to implement my client's investment strategy recommended in their financial plan. I believe strongly that when acting with a fiduciary standard for you, implementation of an investment strategy should have several layers of ongoing due diligence and objectivity. I will be responsible for implementing a strategy tailored to your situation and not providing a predetermined investment model designed by a sales department looking to gain scale with retail investor assets. I am not paid a commission for implementing these strategies and base my fees as a percentage of assets under management. My incentive is to make sure the strategy I recommend matches exactly with your desired outcome as outlined in your financial plan. I have access to several investment strategies that include:
- Managed Mutual Funds
- Managed ETF's
- Separately Managed Accounts
- Stocks, Bonds, REITS, ADRs
- Alternative Strategies
- Tax Loss Harvesting
Most of the portfolios are managed on a discretionary basis, which means you are authorizing myself or a third-party money manager to make investment decisions and changes without your approval. Prior to this type of relationship, all of your goals and objectives will be documented before and continually monitored during implementation of discretionary portfolio management. There are some occurrances, such as when I am managing the portfolio, that I would require authorization from the client prior to making a buy or sell in the portfolio. This depends on the security type in the portfolio and is defined as non-discretionary portfolio management.
Does Your Annual Fee Schedule Include Expense Ratios and Additional Manager/Platform Fees?
No. Depending on the type of strategy and investment holding, other expenses can increase costs that are not quoted in the advisory fee schedule. All-in costs will be fully disclosed prior to implementation of ongoing investment management.
Does Your Annual Advisory Fee Include Ongoing Monitoring Of The Financial Plan?
Yes.
Will You Provide Investment Management Services If There Is Not A Current Financial Plan in Place?
Occasionally I feel comfortable that I fully understand a client's goals and objectives and will implement an investment strategy based on just a risk profile questionnaire. Normally, I do not recommend this strategy and prefer to have a recent plan in place (6 months or less) whether it was generated through me or at another firm.