Frequently Asked Questions

Even if you really enjoy following the financial news and managing your portfolio, you may find that you don’t have time to keep abreast of developments that may impact your financial future, including new types of investment vehicles, legislative changes, and market developments. You may have heard a good Social Security strategy but you also heard that the rules might have changed. Do you have time to research these questions thoroughly?

For some financial decisions, such as those regarding a pension, deferred compensation, or Social Security, you get one chance to make the right decision, which can have long-term consequences for your financial well-being. You may find that you benefit from having professional support with these important decisions.

It’s not unlike calling a plumber. Personally, I find plumbing quite interesting, and I really enjoy do-it-yourself projects, but I don’t have time to master the details right now, and I’m pretty sure the details are important. I could try fixing my own pipes. I might get lucky and do fine, but at my level of experience, I might also make a very expensive mess. I’m sure I’d be up to the task, given enough time, but right now I don’t have the time, so I call someone who has the necessary expertise.

It’s the same with finances. The outcome is very important to your future security and happiness, and missing a few details could really cost you.

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We are fiduciaries, which means we’re required to put our clients’ interests ahead of our own at all times. We are Certified Financial Planner™ professionals, which means we’ve had specific training in all areas of financial planning, and we are bound by a code of ethics and practice standards designed to protect the interests of our clients.

We have decades of experience helping people work toward financial independence, so that they may be able to retire in comfort. We can help you find ways to weather a tough market and profit from a strong one.

When something unexpected happens in your financial life, we are a trusted resource you can call to help you consider all the aspects of your situation. We can guide you to find the calm in the storm that financial markets can be, and help you develop the confidence to make great decisions for your financial future.

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As Peter Lynch said “Far more money has been lost by investors trying to anticipate corrections, than lost in the corrections themselves.” In other words, trying to beat or time the market is likely to cost you. What we can do is show you how to profit from the market by being patient, persistent and systematic in your investments and also in your financial planning.

Good investors build wealth through planning, saving, investing prudently, and being mindful of taxes and estate planning considerations.

We can show you how to make the most of your investments by keeping costs low, how to manage risk by diversifying, and how to stay out of situations where you need to sell assets in a severe market decline. We can help you think ahead and plan ahead so that you can avoid becoming trapped in the kinds of situations that lead to bad financial decisions.

We believe that the path to true wealth and financial success is found in long-term planning, diligent saving and patient adherence to sound financial principles.

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…according to studies by The Vanguard Group. It makes sense, when you think about it: Sometimes a team of analysts are able to pick stocks that will do better than average, and sometimes they can’t, but regardless of their success, all of these funds have to pay for the team to pick the stocks, and then they have to trade fairly often to execute their strategy. Trading costs and analysts’ salaries create a big headwind for the fund’s performance. Most actively managed funds can’t overcome these extra costs, even if their analysts do make some good picks from time to time.

You can get some information on costs by looking at a fund’s internal expense ratio, but that will not include trading costs. It’s often very difficult to find out exactly what a fund’s trading costs amount to, but they certainly affect your fund’s performance. In contrast, index funds seek to own the whole market, or the market segment you’re trying to capture. The index may not include every stock, but will attempt to create a representative sampling, rather than pick winners and losers. There will not be a team of expensive analysts, and trading will be minimal. While it is not possible to invest directly in an index, we can help you find low-cost investment vehicles that closely follow the index.

Through patient, disciplined investment strategies designed to minimize costs and diversify across the broad market, you can achieve your long-term goals with index-based investments.

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Robo advisors can give you a very general idea of how money will grow over time and be spent down in retirement, but they are not specific to your situation. We will take you through a detailed process of modelling and prioritizing your financial goals, assessing your resources, and projecting your financial future through a variety of scenarios. Your goals and wishes are unique, and deserve individual attention.