FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
'Pure' Asset-Based Fee Practice - A declining fee rate model We offer Free Complimentary Initial Portfolio Reviews. It is our goal to keep our "pure" fee-only practice competitive and we have found that that our clients understand the value-proposition between fees paid and the comprehensive financial, portfolio, retirement and estate planning services we continually provide. We also very much hope to have an opportunity to convey the value of our services to you. Our active advisory fees start at 1.0% of assets managed, declining to a low of 0.6% of assets for the highest net worth bracket of actively advised accounts (fee chart is provided at bottom of page). Studies show these advisory fees are approximately 30% lower on average than the overall financial advisory industry and are also in the bottom quartile for fee-based distribution for advisors. In fact, 25% of advisors charge more than 1.75%, while 30% charge more than 1.5% - which is exorbitant.* It is also important to recognize that industry research has shown that professional advisory services add value to client portfolios. For example, two different studies by both Evestnet & Vanguard found advisors beat market benchmarks by an average of +3% a year, with Evestnet finding tax benefits alone add up to more than +1% annually over the broad market (for 1995-2014 period). Similarly, the Vanguard study found advisors overall added +3% each year with portfolio construction, behavioral coaching (e.g. avoid emotional investment decisions like panic selling) and wealth management. Perhaps this added-value is why client satisfaction with financial advisors is amongst the highest relative to all of the industries monitored by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
BA, Economics & MBA from The Claremont Colleges along with Chartered Financial Analyst from CFA Institute