Your Decision Partner
On Your Financial Journey
Helping clients make smart financial decisions throughout their life journey in order to get the most benefit from their financial resources.
Our Story
We believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to obtain honest, unbiased financial advice. Financial Decisions was created to provide objective, high-quality, and fiduciary financial advice for the “everyday investor”, which was historically reserved for only high net worth clients. We work with our clients to make smart financial decisions throughout their life journey, with the goal of helping them get the most benefit from their financial resources.
Financial planning encompasses much more than your investments, and you may need a team of professionals to offer a comprehensive approach to resolving these complexities. Our team can serve as the hub of your network of trusted advisors by coordinating all elements of your financial life. We seek to coordinate, organize and simplify the many components of your financial plan, providing the financial clarity, solutions and service that allow you to focus on what you care about most.
Our Services
-
Your Road Map to Your Financial Goals
Your Financial Plan is your road map or game plan to your financial goals. We work with our clients to help them establish and define realistic and achievable financial goals. We do so by analyzing your current situation, learning about your specific goals, and finding ways to reach these desired goals. In summary, your financial plan defines where you are now, where you want to be, and how you plan to get there. Not only do we help develop your financial road map, we also stay on the path with you. We periodically check up on your progress toward goals, and recommend changes in direction when needed.
Depending on your specific situation and needs, your Comprehensive Financial Plan will include answers to questions like,
“How much should I be saving for retirement?”
“When can I retire?”
“How much can I safely withdraw for retirement income?””
“How much should I save for college funding?”
“What kind of life insurance do I need, and how much?”
“How should my savings be invested?”
“What types of accounts will give me the most tax benefits?”
“What legal / estate planning documents do we need?”
As your life changes, your goals and situation may also change. When this happens, and it does sometimes abruptly and unexpectedly, we recommend a full Financial Plan Update. During this process we re-evaluate your situation, adjust your goals, and make changes to your financial road map.
-
Optimized Investment Portfolios Based On Your Chosen Risk Level
Our portfolios are “Optimized” to maximize investment earnings available at each level of risk. Portfolio Optimization is based on the principles of Modern Portfolio Theory, which emphasizes diversification across a broad spectrum of investment classes, in order to maximize return and minimize risk.
Before helping you decide which portfolio to use, we clarify the purpose or goal for each of your accounts. We also try to determine your true tolerance for risk, which is basically how much you worry when investment values make big swings up or down. We then guide and advise on which portfolio option to choose, but the final decision is always yours.
After helping you choose the right portfolio for you, we implement your portfolio by:
– Opening new accounts
– Transferring or rolling over existing accounts
– Investing your funds according to the chosen portfolio
– Investing new deposits
– Making sure cash is available for planned withdrawals
– Rebalancing as needed to make sure your accounts stay in the right allocation
– Rebalancing is the disciplined way to take gains on assets that have grown and reinvest in assets that are low. This forces the process of buying low and selling high.
– Delivering quarterly portfolio reports so that you can monitor your progress
– Delivering end of year tax information on taxable gains or losses
– Meeting with you at least once a year to review your portfolio and make any needed changes
-
Our Fees Are Simple, Direct, and Transparent.
Financial planning services are billed at $90 an hour. In practice, we rarely bill for all the hours that are spent developing a client’s financial plan. Our intention is to provide a comprehensive financial plan for a total fee of $600 to $1,200. Financial plan updates generally take less time than the original financial plan, and therefore, the total fee is less. Financial plans at many advisory firms cost in the range of $2,000 - $3,000. For middle-income investors a fee of $2,000, or more, is just out of their affordability range. That’s why we have purposefully set our planning fees below the industry norms. We want to make objective, fiduciary financial advice available to everyone.
Limited scope consultation services are billed at $120 an hour.
For our investment management services, we bill our management fees quarterly, directly to the investment accounts that we are managing. Our investment management fee is .75% of the account value per year. That's equal to $75 per $10,000 managed. Typically, investment advisory firms charge fees of 1% to 2% of assets managed, and impose a minimum account size of $500,000. We’ve intentionally set our investment management fees below the industry norms, and we don’t impose any minimum account size to use our services.
The Financial Decisions Process
Our process is a collection of proprietary strategies designed to help you maximize the impact of your investments, achieve your financial planning goals and minimize taxes.
The PLAN Success Cycle is our ongoing process for understanding your financial goals and developing a plan to pursue them effectively through a four-phase cycle: Prepare, Learn, Align, and Navigate. Learn more >
The Wealth CheckPoints are our comprehensive and coordinated financial planning solutions designed to deliver definable value across five key areas: Investment Planning, Retirement Planning, Tax Planning, Legacy Planning, and Risk Management Planning. Learn more >
The Quadrant Plan defines the purpose of your portfolio and customizes your investment allocation around four priorities: Yield, Protection, Balance, and Growth. Learn more >
The Portfolio Pillars are five convictions that form the foundation of our investment management process: Smart Strategy, Rigorous Rebalancing, Disciplined Diversification, Intelligent Investments, and Meticulous Monitoring. Learn more >
Do you have a coordinated Income Plan keeping you on course to your goals?
An intentional income plan can help ensure your assets sufficiently meet your desired and required expenses today and over your lifetime. Contact us for a complimentary, no-strings-attached Income Plan.
Is your portfolio prepared for the transitions in your financial life?
It is critical to periodically review your portfolio to ensure that it continues to reflect the changes in your financial picture and the investment industry. Contact us for a complimentary, no-strings-attached Portfolio Analysis.
Timely Market Insights
Access our monthly Market Review commentary which provides a simple,
easy-to-understand assessment of the economy and financial markets.
