Our Client - YOU!

No person or business is all things to all people, and that's what makes for interesting capitalism in our society.  For example, depending on your tastes and disposable income, your choice of restaurant for eating out might be a fast-food franchise (emphasizing lower price, speed, and convenience) or a posh steakhouse (emphasizing food quality, service, and an experience).

​​Depending on your needs, you might be asking if we are a good fit for you and your family.  As we'd love to work with as many people as we can, it might be helpful to give you a sample of the clients with whom we collaborate.  One or more of them might sound like you!

• ​We work with younger clients who are in their initial employment phase, perhaps starting to build a family, helping them prioritize short- and long-term goals, begin investing, and establish certain protections for those in their care (e.g., we talk about insurance coverages, wills and trusts, et.al.);
• We work with all types of savers (in the jargon, these are people in the "accumulation" stages of life) who want help in organizing their finances, reducing duplication in investments, reducing investment costs, and simplifying their ability to monitor, re-balance, and occasionally change their financial assets and tools as their situations demand;
• We help people understand and work with their IRA and qualified plan accounts, including providing knowledge about the various tax rules affecting contributions, distributions, rollovers, and conversions.  We also can help a client review their investments in their 401(k) or qualified plan at work.
• We assist people who don't know much about finance or investment, want to increase their knowledge and their ability to manage their own financial lives  and are looking to work with an objective, trustworthy adviser who will both help them and possibly even coach them to their own independence!

​The Gist of It All...
​The general thread in the above descriptions is one of both planning and collaboration.  Sometimes, before you can garden, you need help in preparing the soil, planting the seeds, knowing when to prune, et.al.  Thus, our highest level of value to our clients is helping them both with their garden and to garden for themselves in the future.  There's no requirement that you ever have to go it alone, of course, but good planning gives you the option of being able to do so if you wish!

​So, if you are still unsure, or want to run a situation by us, or just want to chat to get a feel for who we are, give us a call!

And yet, we're not for everybody...

We aren't the financial planner for everyone.  Some clients might be looking for services that we can't or won't provide.  This is a short list of those products or advice topics, and we mean no disparagement in listing them.  We only wish to make you better informed before you visit with us:
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• ​We don't prepare tax returns or provide in-depth accounting services.  Most clients are better off having a specialist in this area.  A good CPA (Certified Public Accountant) or EA (Enrolled Agent) can be a great resource and a useful second set of eyes.
• We don't prepare legal documents.  This doesn't mean that estate planning goes undiscussed during the overall planning process.  It does mean that the completion of wills, trusts, powers of attorney, living wills, and other documents is typically performed by a lawyer.
• We don't sell insurance products.  These products are often useful to provide family protection, to create an annuity stream in retirement, or even as part of a 403(a) retirement plan.  However, as we are paid directly by our clients, and not by product commissions, we don't sell insurance.
• When we do assist clients with portfolio design, it is with the primary purpose of helping them achieve specific future goals, and the secondary purpose of helping them manage the technical and emotional aspects of market investment.  We don't make portfolio or investment recommendations with the purpose of beating a particular index or other target.  We also do not employ nor recommend strategies such as short-selling, the use of private equity or hedge funds, frequent trading, market timing, or other active management strategies.  Clients seeking such strategies should hire a money manager with the style and philosophy they want (and be aware, that is not an easy vetting process!).