WHAT WE DO
Retirement Planning:
Long term forecasting, cash flow in retirement, your pensions and Social Security choices, investment allocation changes, action lists for improvement and confidence
Investment Planning:
Allocation decisions, investment vehicle choices specific to your goals (Roth vs. Traditional IRA, 529 vs. Coverdell, etc.), risk vs. reward requirements
Cash Flow Planning:
Debt management, making saving strategies easy, learning to spend after a lifetime of saving, pros and cons of paying off your mortgage now versus later
Estate Planning:
Creating a vision for your legacy, options to support your philanthropic goals, developing key points so that you can be efficient with your attorney’s time
Risk Planning:
Health, life, long term care and property / casualty insurance and analysis specific to your resources and opportunities
Tax Planning:
Proactive planning with your tax preparer, creative ideas to keep your tax bill manageable, determining the most tax efficient ways to meet your philanthropic goals, keeping your investments aligned with current tax law
Public employee-specific planning opportunities:
Oregon Savings Growth investment allocation, PERS claiming options, IAP rollovers, reviewing the myriad of PEBB benefits available to you
Physician-specific planning opportunities:
Business buyout schedules, building buyout tax planning, 401k and qualified plan rollovers, and sorting out the complexities around your small business and self-employment options
Professor-specific planning opportunities:
Options for your VALIC or TIAA-CREF investments, defined benefit, severance and emeritus choices
HOW WE DO IT
Establishing a relationship with a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional is one of the smartest things you can do to secure your financial well-being. It’s not uncommon to spend 20 or 30 years of your working career with your nose to the grindstone, socking away some money because you know you should, but lacking efficiency and a framework for how all your financial pieces fit together.
Ongoing Management & Support
For the majority of our client families, we are privileged to serve on an ongoing basis. We proactively manage their investments and help with their unending financial planning needs, a handful of which are outlined above. We have had the honor of working with some of our client families for over 35 years. The trust, rapport and friendship we establish over that time is not only comforting, it’s invaluable.
We are a fee-only firm. That means the percentage charged to your portfolio is the only fee paid. No commissions. No trailing kickbacks. Our typical fee range is between 0.50 and 1.50%, depending on the size of your portfolio. It’s our goal to be as transparent as possible about the services we provide and what our clients pay for those services. Advisory fees are deducted directly from the accounts we manage on a quarterly basis and are easily identifiable on your monthly statement. We are proud of the value that we add to our clients lives, and they agree that it is well worth the investment.
Our investment philosophy is one of prudent management and asset allocation. We strongly believe that keeping your investments diversified is the best protection against severe volatility. Discussion of asset allocation and the management of your portfolio is ongoing, but our clients trust us with the selection of the investments within their portfolio and the day to day management.
Project Based Planning
Our project based plans often serve as an introduction to hands-on financial planning for many of our clients.
A project-based plan is a good fit for those with a have a handful of static questions. Can I retire at 65? When should I take Social Security? Can I afford to put both of my grandkids through college? These are typical questions that a project-based plan can help answer.
A plan like this may span 3-5 months and involve 3-4 meetings, with emails, phone calls and other correspondence in between. It begins with identifying and setting your goals and the key questions you want answered. After we gather the necessary information, we begin our work to see what is possible. We develop step by step recommendations to help you meet your definition of success. You walk away with a written plan, clear and actionable steps and a professionally-guided path forward.
A project based plan usually runs between $3,000 and $8,000 depending on the complexity of your unique circumstance. After our initial meeting, we will provide you with a fee quote that we will stick to throughout the engagement, regardless of how long it takes or what surprises may pop up along the way. Many of our project based planning clients return to us, either to revisit and update their plan, or to join our client family under our ongoing service model.
